If you speak Spanish you can communicate with nearly 500 million people in
the world! Think how many more employment options that gives you! This means you
will have a greater number of possibilities in the labor market.
Spanish in figures...
Spanish is the world's 3rd most spoken language, after Chinese and
English, and ranks 2nd in terms of native speakers.
At the end of the 19th century, 60 million people were Spanish speakers.
Today, nearly 500 million people across the world speak Spanish!
Spanish is the mother tongue of approximately 350 million people in 21
countries, and is widely spoken in another 21 countries where it is not an
official language.
Spanish is the second most used language in international communication,
and an official language of the UN and its organizations.
Economic Indicators...
29 million US residents above the age of 5 speak Spanish at home. That's
approximately 1 of every 10 US residents.
The US Hispanic population has grown by 60% in just one decade. The buying
power of US Hispanics is expected to exceed $926 million by 2007.
The dramatic growth in the Spanish language and Spanish speaking
populations has sparked world wide demand for Spanish language radio,
newspapers, and other media. In 2004, for example, China launched a Spanish
television channel.
The Latin American countries are experiencing strong economic growth and
they are becoming important commercial partners.
Newly created Mercosur and the existing free trade agreements between
South American nations and North America (ALADI, CACM, NAFTA, and G3) are
expected to bring further growth to Latin American economies.
This website was created by Seņor Mike Wooden. Please send mail to
mikewooden@walkerschools.org with any questions or comments about this web
site.
