WHY DON'T MORE SPANISH LEARN ENGLISH

Why don't more Spaniards learn English? It seems they are one of the poorest in Europe at doing so. Yet, the Spanish would benefit far more than those countries that are far better at it.

There are some things in life you need to avoid being disadvantaged; able to read, write, basic arithmetic, hold a driving licence or have the ability to use the internet... speak English.

English SPEAKING tourism is a mainstay of the Spanish economy yet even on the Costas where English speakers often outnumber the indigenous Spanish many Spaniards are woefully lacking.

Many in the professional and business communities fail to master even basic English. To do so would be great for the economy and liberating.

It is a fact that the English language is the most widely spoken language in the world; it is widespread. Half the world's 7 billion people have a familiarity with the English language. English is the recognised international language of business communications.

If the Spanish government were to put their shoulder behind a campaign to teach English to the Spaniards, not just to their children, Spain and the Spanish would benefit enormously. I am not English by the way. 

You've put the cat amongst the pigeons ! I'm sure you know Spanish is the second most spoken language  in the world, and as you live in the country, why not make an effort to learn it? I use "you" in a general sense, as I'm sure you speak fluent Spanish!

Many Spanish people speak English well, often the shop assistant is better at it than the surgeon.

I read somewhere that all Spanish children will learn English at school, whereas it is not  the same in UK.

http://www.eyeonspain.com/community-forum/32105/schools-used-by-condado-children.aspx

check this thread 

Actually Mandarin Chinese is the most widely spoken language in the world. 

English is the second but its influence is, in the main, because the Americans speak it. I think the British must be the worst practitioners of speaking a second language anywhere. Pop into any restaurant in this area and watch the Spanish waiter take orders and explain things in Spanish, English, German, Norwegian, Dutch and now even Russian. Go into any shop and someone there will speak English. Leroy Merlin and Aki, for example, have signs boasting all their assistants speak English. Try going into B&Q in UK and asking for a tin of magnolia emulsion in Spanish and see what you get. (You may be allright in Hindi or Polish nowadays).

I can see what you're getting at as English is now the world's business language and most business is conducted in that. Just watch and listen to virtually anyone from Western Europe talk to each other in their own language and switch effortlessly to English when required. Unless it's a Brit (or Irish as it's you who's posted) who will look baffled when any other language is spoken. 

Just look at the expats. Those in UK seem to gain fluency in English very quickly, Poles - Rumanians - those from SE Asia and so on do very well. Then look at the expats in Spain. Yes, some do try but most think if they shout a little louder and point at something they will get understood. 

My only gripe in this area is that when I start speaking Spanish everyone replies in English. Quite surreal the other day ordering a chair in the shop and arranging delivery with me speaking Spanish and the assistant responding in English. 

The UK is also heavily dependant on tourism but, apart from tour buses and the odd attraction, English is as English is. 

I've a Spanish pre school teacher friend who is required to conduct part of her lessons in English! When they grow up these children are going to be effortlessly bi lingual. 

In contrast we find that Spanish people understand our English better than our poor Spanish and we end up giving up trying which is a pity because as a result we have also stopped learning.

If the UK is going to equip its future citizens to speak another language it has to start at primary school  

Nice to see a few expressing their opinions, which I respect. What defines 'language familiarity' varies as one study defines familiarity differently from another.

I don't think the English are lazy at language learning. People, wherever they are, tend to focus on skills useful to them. As English is so universal English speakers don't find it necessary to use other languages. Spain is a very good example. Scandinavians, Russians, Czechs or Chinese (Mandarin) are highly unlikely to find anyone here who shares their language. They have little choice but to learn English, which is encouraged by their countries. Spain could do better and should as it has more to gain by doing so.

How often I have heard frustrated Spanish learners on the Costas say; “I try to practice but I so often I hear the dismissive, 'it's okay; I speak English.' Ironically, the person saying it is as likely to be non-Spanish as Spanish.

This is the reason an estimated 40% Europeans can get by in English; Spain is one of the lowest percentages of language learning take-up yet adversely, far more so than are the others, the Spanish economy is based on English speaking tourism.

I think only the Spanish believe their language to be the second most commonly spoken. Third perhaps but third can be a long way behind 1 and 2 (Mandarin / English or English – Mandarin). Diversity of use is far more important.

Mandarin is almost exclusively confined to China, just one of the world's 219 countries. Great if you are in China; elsewhere your Mandarin is as useless as a bull with tits.

Spanish again is largely confined to Spain, Latin and Central America. Hardly exclusively though. Portuguese is the language of Latin America's biggest and most populated countries, Brazil. There are a few ex-colonial outposts but who can remember where they are.

English on the other hand is widely spoken throughout the world. As a traveller and sailor I have visited over 60 countries. Language has never been a problem. Could I say the same had I been born Spanish or German, French or Italian?

It just seems commonsense to me to learn a skill (I hate computers) if it is going to help you – and your country.  

Actually Mike, if you look at current trends you will see that Spanish is set to overtake English as the second language spoken outside of its country of origin  by (if my memory serves me correctly) 2050.   I am sure you must be aware that now in huge chunks of the USA, you need as much Spanish as English to get by on a daily basis, and even more crucially, to do business.    English has had a stay of execution in terms of moving down the list because it is the preferred language of the internet.   My guess is that any reluctance on the part of the Spanish to learn English (which I am not convinced about anyway), is due to a perceived lack of respect by English speakers to Spanish, and a failure to acknowledge its importance internationally.  I am talking about the kind of disrespect displayed by words like:  'only the Spanish believe their language to be the second most commony spoken....'   We need to take the Chinese element out at the moment as it is not growing as in international language in the way Spanish is.   At the moment, only English and Spanish continue to grow outside of the country of origin - and English is slowing down significantly in that growth while Spanish is increasing. 

 In law, both in the UK and the USA, being able to offer Spanish and English is incredibly and increasingly valuable to any firm.        

I think it is that Spanish is spoken in the most countries, some of which are of course quite small.

I think Spain is the 4th language when the number of speakers is consider,

1st Mandarin,

2nd English

3 Hindustani

4 Spanish

5 Russian

Last week I had a guy tell me that after 11 years in Spain he had given up learning Spanish as he could get by with English, but that he had some Spanish. He could not understand why waiters said, "2 coffees with milk" when he asked for 'Dos coffees con leche?.  I looked to see him laugh, but he was serious.

Never mind, if the U.S. - EU - NATO triad keep provoking Russia then Russian could be the next useful language to learn. Have a great weekend, forum pals, it's not too far off now. Hasta luego...... Mike 

There is a simple answer to the question...The English teaching in schools is pathetic. So unless they change their curriculum they will never leave school with a decent level of Spanish. To give you an idea they start English at the age of 5 and get introduced to the past tense at the age of 10. 

At that speed they'll be dead before they learn it. One of the reasons why language schools are booming now. For adults it is a much more complicated issue. To teach an old dog new tricks is very slow and requires a lot of time, which most don't have. So the long term solution is to teach it at school. They need to change the system and the focus and the country will do better at languages. There are also talks of banning dubbed films to force people to improve their English....we'll see

Agree Mac.

Even be forte I had reasonable Spanish I had to talk to an English teacher in Spanish as she could not understand English. 

I have even had the same on the 902 102 112, reporting crimes in English, where I have had to speak Spanish.

  A couple of weeks ago I had a guy come to the Police Station to make a crime report (denuncia) the details of which he had given on the 902 number.   It said his motorhome had been broken into, It was in fact his villa !!!!

Just a word of warning,:   Anyone using the 902 service to give details of a crime (you don't make report on the phone)  never believe that what you said is what will appear on the crime report  you sign and get at the National police station

Well - I am going to be pedantic.  The most recent figures indicate that the rank order in terms of speakers is: Chinese (mandarin), Spanish, English and fourth Hindi.

However, the crucial point I was trying to make is determining the health of a language is how much it is growing, outside of the original country.  Spanish beats English hands down I am afraid.  

http://www.redlinels.com/2014/01/10/most-widely-spoken-languages/

For those interested.     

There are almost as many legal speaking Spanish in the USA as there are in the whole of Spain. Mexico has very few English speakers if you go out of the coastal resorts like Cancun, Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta. Obviously the coastal resorts do because the Americans go there for weekend breaks. One of the main reasons I learnt Spanish was after a weekend in Chetumal in the south of Quintana Roo and couldn't buy a battery for my camera without sign language and, typical Brit, lots of shouting.

A bit further away, the Phillipines were a Spanish speaking nation although Filipino (a derivative of Spanish) is now the official language. 

There are almost as many legal speaking Spanish in the USA as there are in the whole of Spain. Mexico has very few English speakers if you go out of the coastal resorts like Cancun, Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta. Obviously the coastal resorts do because the Americans go there for weekend breaks. One of the main reasons I learnt Spanish was after a weekend in Chetumal in the south of Quintana Roo and couldn't buy a battery for my camera without sign language and, typical Brit, lots of shouting.

A bit further away, the Phillipines were a Spanish speaking nation although Filipino (a derivative of Spanish) is now the official language. 

Jenno - not sure what your point is about China and Brazil having large populations?    The point I am making is that there is a general lack of respect for the Spanish language from English speakers.   And this is once again shown by your insistence that English is by far the most important language.   I can only repeat that English will continue to contract and Spanish will continue to grow.  Along with the growth surely will come greater command of commerce.   I am also pretty sure you are already being a bit narrow minded talking about by far the most important language for commerce being English.  It looks as though that could be Chinese  in the not too distant future!!   Come on - let's try not to be so anglo centric. 

One of the main reasons that many Spaniards might not learn English could be that if it's not taught from the first instance in school then, why do I need it? What use is it? If the Spanish person is one, or one of many that don't travel that much outside of Spain, will it be needed is probably another reason used. I know many English with this train of thought.

We in the UK are exactly the same, our schools are backwards when it comes to teaching us one, or more languages from the onset, and like the Spanish as you get older you lose the ability to remember the learnings of another language, so it's that much harder to learn another language, even worse if not used on a daily basis. Re-setting some of the latest gadgets like Iphones / computors etc come to mind, thankfully we have the nine year old kids who do know how to.

As for Chinese being the biggest spoken language, facts are correct that it is a vastly spoken language, but then every Chinese person I know speaks Chinese and English, and if this is getting to be the norm for them then spoken English is also getting to be the largest spoken word as well.

Bobaol  A bit further away, the Philippines were a Spanish speaking nation although Filipino (a derivative of Spanish) is now the official language.

Bob, sorry to disagree (and follow you off thread)  but my wife is Filipino. 

The USA expelled the Spanish, who had governed the Philippines for 3 centuries, in 1898.  English was progressively introduced.  However, Spanish, which had been the official language during the Spanish occupation, remained, along with English, as a de-facto official language until it was removed in 1973.  Since then English has been the official language.

Tagalog, which included many Spanish nouns,  is spoken almost everywhere in the 1,800 plus inhabited islands of the total of 7,107 islands which comprise the country, but many islands/provinces have their own language. There around 175 different languages, many of which other Filipinos  cannot understand

Can you point me, Jenna, to the part where I say that English is not currently the most important in business terms?  But my point is that the use of English as a world wide language is DECLINING, while that of Spanish is INCREASING.

It seems inevitable to me that this will in time transfer into the business world.   And the insistence that English is in all things dominant, is a good illustration of the kind of lack of respect I was originally talking about, toward the Spanish language. 

And while I did of course check the current situation on the internet, just for interest, majority and minority languages and their growth and decline was a major topic in the OU Diploma I did in Spanish - so it is a particular interest.