Spanish ranks second, after Chinese, on the list of languages most spoken in the world, by to the total number of people who use it – 495 million. Information was provided on Monday at the presentation of the Cervantes Institute’s Yearbook for 2012, “Spanish in the world /El Español en el mundo” as the public broadcaster transmits.
The report, presented by the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, and Director of the Cervantes Institute, Víctor Garcia de la Concha, also shows that the number of Spanish speakers increased in 2012, while the number of people who speak English and Chinese decreased. After English, Spanish is second among of international communication languages, and the third, after China among the most used language on the Internet – an increase of over 800% in the last decade.
By 2030, 7.5% of the world population, about 535 million people will speak Spanish, and the percentage will be exceeded only by China, as stated in the report. Also, in three or four generations, also shows estimates, 10% of the world population will speak Spanish, and the U.S. will be the country with the largest population of people speaking this language, after Mexico.
18 million people currently learn Spanish everywhere in the world. In the last year it has been recorded an increase of 8% among students of Cervantes Institute and its subsidiaries – present in 77 cities in 44 countries, mainly in America and Asia. Garcia-Margallo said that Cervantes Institute is the “crown jewel” in terms of foreign affairs of Spain and drew attention to the danger posed by globalization, arguing that it could lead to “a uniform world culture in which Anglo-Saxon pattern will prevail.”
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