With a solid and consolidated Latin American community, the United States of America has the second largest Spanish speaking population outside Spain, being the first one in Mexico. According to the North American Academy of the Spanish Language (ANLE, Spanish acronym), over 50 million people speak Spanish in the USA. That said, is the Spanish language blooming there? What is its current situation like? What challenges are awaiting Spanish speakers ahead in the US?

In a recent interview to Gerardo Piña-Rosales, director of the ANLE, recently published in the cultural section of “El País” newspaper, he analyzes the situation of the Spanish language in USA, its specific characteristics and the challenges involved.

ANLE logo

Spanish Language in the USA Today

According to Gerardo Piña-Rosales, Spanish is not flourishing in the US currently but its situation is not negative either. Many people speak it and a vast majority of them are well educated, which definitely contributes to the quality of the language spoken there.

There are quite a few signs of the positive status the Spanish language is currently enjoying in the US. On the one hand, he states that many U.S.-born young people of Latin American parents who stopped speaking Spanish at home are increasingly interested in learning the language. On the other hand, he mentions the fact that many politicians have incorporated Spanish in their speeches and that several TV networks offer content exclusively for Spanish speakers.

However, the Spanish spoken in the US has its own characteristics; it is rich in words and expressions derived from the American English that affect not only the vocabulary used but the way in which sentences and phrases are organized as well. These estadounidismos, as the ANLE calls them, are a clear reflection of the way Latin Americans living in the US try to convey the cultural reality of the country by using their mother tongue. In other words, estadounidismos are words or uses peculiar to Spanish spoken in the United States of America.

Spanglish and its Connection with the Spanish Language in the USA

Mr. Gerardo Piña-Rosales is quite positive when speaking about Spanglish and its connection with the Spanish Language in the USA. He says that those who do not master Spanish need to use Spanglish in order to communicate with other members of the Latin American community in a language different from English. He is convinced that it is a way of depriving themselves of integrating fully with the community but he says that it has a very little influence on the consolidation of Spanish in the US.  According to his own words, it should be seen more as a social phenomenon than as a linguistic one.

Speaking Spanish in the USA: Present and Future Challenges

Mr. Gerardo Piña-Rosales is convinced that the main challenges that the Spanish language faces and will face in the US are related to the presence and growth of certain “hispanophobic” groups that reject or threaten those that speak Spanish. Some of these groups are extremely powerful and can exercise a lot of influence amongst important political and economic sectors.

The other challenge is politically related. If there is no significant and positive economic change soon and if the political climate turns sharply rightwards, it is undeniable that English-only movements will become stronger and, therefore, the space allowed for Spanish speakers will be greatly reduced.

In Spain, a debate has been raging that extends beyond the subject to the language/s being used to propel it.   The subject is the language/s of education in Catalonia, the autonomous region of Spain whose official languages include both Catalan and Spanish.

Flags from  Spain and Catalonia

The factions are not as distinct as the languages, and the genesis of the debate is lengthy.  Although it has undoubtedly intensified in recent years, its roots go back to the late 70s, when Catalan was first introduced in the elementary and high schools in non-intensive/-exclusive way.  Since then, Catalan’s influence in education continued to grow, culminating in its 1992 ratification as the official language of instruction in all non-university schools and institutes in Catalonia.  The standard was reinforced by the Linguistic Policy Law of 1998 and again in 2006.  Soon after, a small group of Catalonians began to criticize the lack of Spanish in education, catalyzing several efforts (of varying degrees of success) to further include the language.

Although Spaniards are divided on the issue, with monolingual education—whether in Catalan or Spanish—being supported by some, and bilingual education by others, there does seem to be an aspect on which the factions almost unanimously agree: that the issue has become (or perhaps always was) excessively political, and that those who actually implement the policies, who educate, have had little say in the formation of such policies.

The voices of these individuals are beginning to emerge in various forums, but the debate continues still, a polemic most affecting those who have even smaller say than educators—the students themselves.

Particularities aside, the situation is representative of an important problem that all education systems, regardless of the region, state, or nation they correspond to, must face: that is, determining the best methodology with respect to language education (i.e. its policies and goals), and who should be made responsible for implementing it.

Private education might be considered a preemptory avoidance of the problem, although with its high cost and selectivity it may also be said to simply rearrange the imposition of specific, exclusive standards.  The fact that it is optional seems to be its only irrefutable point of exoneration.

However, that is assuming the students and others generally not involved in the formation of political and educational policy best know how to shape the educational system and, by extent, the future linguistic makeup of a place.  Most would grant that the majority of educators and politicians wielding power and influence likely wield knowledge and experience as well.

So, what’s the best way to handle the issue—in Catalonia, specifically, or more generally?  In another way: whose influence is best, most valid, true, etc., and how should it be promoted above the others?

Free image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

For most former, current or potential foreign language learners, one of the most important motivations for doing so involves the language’s future relevance—both as the language is being learned and afterward; in other words, the question of What will learning this language do for me?.  Of course, this varies from person to person—as do the more general, unintended circumstances of learning—, but some of the most common motivations include business competitiveness, immigration, travel, and personal study/improvement, among others.

Recent language growth trends shed some light on these motivations, i.e. who they propel to learn foreign languages—or, more importantly, which languages appeal most inclusively to the myriad relevancies and learning circumstances. Currently, the three most widely spoken languages are Chinese, Spanish and English, at 1.2 billion, 329 million and 328 million speakers, respectively.  Trends of the Internet, perhaps the most inclusive global communication device, are most useful to contextualizing the figures.  In 2000, there were roughly 34, 187 and 20 million online users of Chinese, English and Spanish, whereas in 2011 these numbers had risen to 509, 565 and 164 million.

Given its monumental rise in popularity, it seems that Chinese will likely be one language of the future—perhaps the language, i.e. that which comes to dwarf all others.  This is, of course, assuming that the Internet’s influence will continue to rise—to blur geographic boundaries—; for as it stands, Chinese’s geographic reach is far smaller than that of English and Spanish.

Related to this is the fact that traditional methods of language spread have been basically unaffected by the Internet—chief among them, immigration.  The United States is a prominent example: each year, 700 thousand to one million people legally migrate to the country, and over half of these come from Spanish-speaking countries.  Of the estimated 300 thousand undocumented immigrants that arrive each year, the percentage is even higher.  Whether intentional or not, this results in a massive rise of both English and Spanish in the U.S., a process not matched by Chinese beyond its originating region.  Besides, the process inevitably transfers and acquires more than just language: there is the speakers’ community and culture too, which further motivates and gives relevance to the learners’ efforts.

Because of nations such as the U.S., with their large populations of native Spanish speakers, native English speakers, and bilingual speakers living closely together, some believe that one language of the future might be more fully developed variant of Spanglish.  Considering this alongside the Internet’s seemingly indefinite growth, it’s not difficult to imagine a sort of mutant world language combining not only English and Spanish, but also Chinese, among others.

What do you think? Will the Internet, immigration, and other forces ultimately homogenize languages, or will the majority of popular languages maintain their numbers and continue to thrive independently?