My first post is about how prevalent the Spanish language really is, even if it doesn’t seem like it. It provides some national and international statistics to show the scale of Spanish. Along with that, it also will have some of the benefits to learning Spanish, or any foreign language, for that matter.
The world at times might seem like it is growing smaller and smaller. Inventions like planes and cars and radios have brought the world closer and foreign peoples to new lands. The Internet, too, has connected the modern era, allowing people across the world to communicate at the mere click of the button. It is in this world that the ability to speak a foreign language, and speak it proficiently becomes of increasing importance. And it is for these reasons that Lincoln Lutheran should both offer a middle school Spanish program and provide more outside-of-class help to struggling high school Spanish students, so that students at Lincoln Lutheran will have the proper skills to communicate in an ever-globalizing world.
Even though the world seems to be growing more and more connected, a person may still choose to not learn a language because it simply might not appear practical for them to do so. It may be that there aren’t any speakers of the target language for the student to talk to, or simply that “everyone speaks English anyway, so why learn it?” Either way, this simply isn’t the case. Locally (that is, in Nebraska), Spanish is a very practical language for someone in Nebraska to learn. There are currently 167,000 native Spanish-speakers in the state of Nebraska out of its 1.8 million people population (Tobias “Nebraska’s Hispanic/Latino Population Could Triple by 2050”). And according to the Omaha Center’s for Public Affairs Research, this number is only growing. It is predicted that by the year 2050, Spanish speakers will make up about 25 percent of the Nebraska population, which translates to about 538,900 speakers out of 2.24 million people in Nebraska (Tobias “Nebraska’s Hispanic/Latino Population Could Triple by 2050”).
If that number weren’t enough, the national statistics are even more convincing. As of summer 2015, the U.S. eclipsed Spain as the second largest Spanish speaking country (in terms of population) with 37 million Spanish speakers currently living in the United States (“17 Reasons Every American Should Learn Spanish.”). This correlates back to the Nebraska statistics, by the year 2050 America is predicted to eclipse even Mexico in terms of having the most Spanish speakers. On top of all of that, there are 329 million native speakers in the world (“17 Reasons Every American Should Learn Spanish.”). So, it is plain to see that when it comes to learning a language, Spanish is very applicable- both at the state and national levels.
Undoubtedly, with so many people speaking Spanish, knowing the language has to provide some advantage to a person able to learn it. Huffington Post’s 17 Reasons Every American Should Learn Spanish provides a menagerie of reasons to learn Spanish- 17 to be exact. Of all of them, perhaps the most prevalent is how it can help a person to be hired. In California alone, the demand for jobs of people who can speak Spanish fluently is high, but the state still has a (rather high) 10 percent unemployment rate. The state needs more people in the information sector, but is lacking in people who are skilled in government positions and can speak Spanish. So, in California, speaking Spanish certainly bolsters one’s chances of getting a job significantly.
Another boon to learning Spanish is that it can help one understand English better (“17 Reasons Every American Should Learn Spanish.”). It seems counterintuitive, but it makes sense in a way. By approaching a different language, one must familiarize themselves with the grammar structures of the target language. The simplest way to understand the construct of another language is through one’s own, and so important details in Spanish like Direct and Indirect objects help an English speaker understand the purpose of them in their native tongue.
Planas, Roque. “17 Reasons Every American Should Learn Spanish.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 04 Nov. 2012. Web. 10 Mar. 2016.
Tobias, Mike “Nebraska’s Hispanic/Latino Population Could Triple by 2050.” Nebraska’s Hispanic/Latino Population Could Triple by 2050. NET, Aug. 2013. Web. 10 Mar. 2016.
Nolan Schad 