The Spanish!
So say the Eurobarometer 2018 surveys. Asked which new language they would most like to learn, young Europeans aged 15 to 30 say Spanish.
With this striking fact, a Czech professor, Jakub Marian, has designed the map that accompanies this information. In France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Austria, Greece, etc., the young people consulted overwhelmingly opted for Spanish as their new target language.The situation is obviously different in Spain, where the language young people are considering learning is German, as is the case in Portugal.
However, Jakub Marian qualifies: “It is important to remember that the map simply shows the languages that people would like to learn, but so far they have done nothing to do so.
So what are young Europeans waiting for to start learning Spanish? Perhaps they have work or academic commitments associated with other languages, such as French or German, as this survey also points out. But what is clear is that Spanish has a lot of pull.
There are many reasons to speak Spanish; it is the second most widely spoken (mother) language in the world after Chinese and opens the doors to the entire American continent, including the United States. The fact is that the Latino population in this country will exceed 130 million people in 2060, which will make it the country with the most Spanish speakers in the world, ahead of even Mexico.
Moreover, in the UK, the British Council ranks Spanish as the second most important language to learn after Mandarin Chinese.
In addition, Spanish has a powerful cultural and literary heritage, something to bear in mind: who wouldn’t like to be able to read García Márquez in his original language?
The dreams of young Europeans are written with the characteristic Spanish, let’s hope they can realise them.
“Do you want to learn Spanish?”
