What are the countries with the three largest Spanish speaking populations?
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17 members have voted
Mandarin, Spanish , English, Hindi-Urdu, Arabic.
Quote: rdw4potusAre there more than 45 million Spanish speakers in the USA?
I won't spoil paco's fun, but I will point out Brazil's language is Portuguese.
Quote: rdw4potusI voted for Colombia. Now I'm getting worried about my answer. Are there more than 45 million Spanish speakers in the USA?
Hell, there are more than that in Texas. Texas also leads the nation in uninsured drivers at over 27%. Load up the bows!
Quote: AyecarumbaWhat constitutes "proficiency"? I can order chicken in four out of the five languages. Am I, "proficient" in those four?
That's pathetic! How hard can it be to learn the last one?
Quote: NareedI won't spoil paco's fun, but I will point out Brazil's language is Portuguese.
I was hoping to catch someone on this point.
Brazil was a classic example of the post WWII boom in Latin America (Latin languages include Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian among others). Portuguese is concentrated in Brazil, and French in Haiti.
Brazil passed Germany in 1961, Japan in 1977, and Russia in 1988 to become the 5th largest nation (same may say they didn't pass Russia until the USSR broke up in 1991). As the next wave in population shifts happens, Brazil will be passed by Nigeria and Pakistan in about 15 years. But they don't qualify for this quiz since they don't speak Spanish.
The former Spanish colonies that we purchased from Spain, and Mexico or won in wars are now twice the population of native Spain, and nearly as big as Mexico. Of course, not everyone who lives there speaks Spanish.
New Mexico
Nevada
Utah
Texas
California
Florida
Colorado (partial)
I also phrased my original point that the speakers of those 5 languages constitute more than half the world to give wide latitude as to what constitutes proficiency.
Previous estimates are that 36 million are first language speakers, another 10 million speak it as a second language.
In addition there are 6 million Spanish students, and 3.7 million people who live in Puerto Rico (nearly all of whom speak Spanish).
So it is close, but there are several million more Spanish speakers in USA than in the entire population of the following countries:
Spain 46,754,784
Colombia 44,725,543
Argentina 41,769,726
Venezuela 27,635,743
Mexico is by far the largest Spanish speaking nation in the world, a title which it is not predicted to lose in the next century.
Brazil is the largest "latino" country in the world.
A similar question is what are the three largest Mexican cities in the world? If you go buy number of Mexicans living in them, the answer is , of course, Mexico City, Los Angeles, and Guadalajara.
Quote: pacomartinA similar question is what are the three largest Mexican cities in the world? If you go buy number of Mexicans living in them, the answer is , of course, Mexico City, Los Angeles, and Guadalajara.
Amazing. I would have sworn Monterrey beat Guadalajara.
Do you know the full name the Spaniards gave to Los Angeles? I don't, but I recall it was named after Mary.
Quote: pacomartinThe official number of hispanics in the census last year are 50,477,594 which includes 4,623,716 Puerto Ricans living in the 50 states (not in PR). However, not all people who classify themselves as hispanic origin speak Spanish.
Previous estimates are that 36 million are first language speakers, another 10 million speak it as a second language.
In addition there are 6 million Spanish students, and 3.7 million people who live in Puerto Rico (nearly all of whom speak Spanish).
So it is close, but there are several million more Spanish speakers in USA than in the entire population of the following countries:
Spain 46,754,784
Colombia 44,725,543
Argentina 41,769,726
Venezuela 27,635,743
What about China? Spanish is taught in Chinese schools too. There has to be at least 200,000,000 Chinese students who could order chicken in Havana.
Quote: AyecarumbaWhat about China? Spanish is taught in Chinese schools too. There has to be at least 200,000,000 Chinese students who could order chicken in Havana.
I will quote a major Spanish language paper in Madrid. The article was written on 10 July 2008 and claimed 45 million speakers without even counting illegal immigrants (which would swell the number much higher). The article specifically says it is now the #2 country in the Spanish speaking world.
The study was conducted by Instituto Cervantes. Se titula Enciclopedia del español en los Estados Unidos
Más 'speak spanish' que en España
EE UU ya es el segundo país en hispanohablantes. -
En 2050 puede ser el primero, por delante de México -
Un informe del Cervantes retrata esta revolución idiomática
The article claims that The USA may even overtake México by the year 2050. Frankly, I find that difficult to swallow.
Spanish is the preferred language of American college students in 2006 at 822,985 students.
It has a clear advantage over French (206,426) and German (94,264).
China has roughly 300 million children and young adults between the ages of 10 and 24. I would be surprised if more than a few percent speak Spanish, and nowhere near 200 million.
Quote: pacomartinCompanion Question: What are the countries with the four largest English speaking populations? No looking in Wikipedia.
You didn't say in order and I am counting on that. My guess:
United States
India
Pakistan
Great Britian
Quote: downtownerYou didn't say in order and I am counting on that. My guess:
United States
India
Pakistan
Great Britian
USA & India are number #1 and #2. The others are wrong. The United Kingdom is #5 (which is what makes it a difficult question).
Canada
Quote: ten2winAustralia
Canada
No. I am talking about people who can speak English, not just first language speakers.
Quote: pacomartinNo. I am talking about people who can speak English, not just first language speakers.
Oh, then I'll take a wild guess and say China, Japan and South Korea
Quote: NareedOh, then I'll take a wild guess and say China, Japan and South Korea
I've been to Japan. My experience is very few people in Japan speak English.
Quote: downtownerI've been to Japan. My experience is very few people in Japan speak English.
I don't call it a wild guess for nothing :)
Quote: NareedOh, then I'll take a wild guess and say China, Japan and South Korea
You are under the mistaken belief that large countries with strong economic ties to the USA have large percentages of their population that speak English. So the answer is no.
You have to think of Empire and occupation. India was controlled by Great Britain and then the United Kingdom for a long time. While most people in Canada and Australia and New Zealand speak English, they are not very big countries.
while Pakistan and Bangladesh were nominally part of the British Empire, they are Muslim territories, and far from the centers of British influence in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore.
The last two countries are very large and were part of the British and/or American Empire. English became the lingua franca of these countries. In one case there are over 500 native languages. To choose one of these 500 as the national language would almost certainly bring about a civil war. Even though English was the language of the outside colonial empire, it makes for a convenient neutral language.
Quote: pacomartinYou are under the mistaken belief that large countries with strong economic ties to the USA have large percentages of their population that speak English. So the answer is no.
You do understand what a wild guess is, don't you? :)
Quote:The last two countries are very large and were part of the British and/or American Empire. English became the lingua franca of these countries. In one case there are over 500 native languages. To choose one of these 500 as the national language would almost certainly bring about a civil war. Even though English was the language of the outside colonial empire, it makes for a convenient neutral language.
So another wild guess: South Africa and some other African country
One of these is the Philippines. For the other I'd have to echo Nareed and say South Africa Nigeria.Quote: pacomartinThe last two countries are very large and were part of the British and/or American Empire. English became the lingua franca of these countries. In one case there are over 500 native languages. To choose one of these 500 as the national language would almost certainly bring about a civil war. Even though English was the language of the outside colonial empire, it makes for a convenient neutral language.
Quote: teddysOne of these is the Philippines. For the other I'd have to echo Nareed and say South Africa Nigeria.
Good guess.
Philippines is still smaller than Mexico, but a very high percentage of the population speaks English. Holdover from the American occupation, and the practical matter that much of there population works overseas. English is a very important part of there education.
Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa and was ruled by the UK for roughly 60 years. Upon independence, there was not one native language spoken by the majority of the people, so English was retained. However, most of the people speak a strong pidgin, even if they understand standard BrE.
BBC TV broadcast about radio personality who speaks in pidgin
For first language speakers it would be USA, UK, Canada, and Australia.
So USA now has the #1 position for English speakers, and #2 for Spanish speakers, and #3 for total population.
Quote: aluisioBrazil's population is of 190M of inhabitants. Of those, 24% speak English, which adds to 45,6M people. It makes English the foreign language most commony studied in Brazil. Spanish takes second place for an average of 35M speakers. As mentioned, Spanish is now mandatory in public schools, so in less than 20 years we will have 100M Spanish speakers in Brazil.
As you probably know, USA went from a population of 75 million in 1900 to 313 million today (a little more than 4 times), while Brazil went from 53.4 million in 1950 to 205.7 million today (a little less than 4 times in many fewer years).
But today, population growth of both countries hovers around 1%. Obviously immigration contributes more to USA growth than Brazil. Population growth is also fairly steady among the southern countries of Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile.
With this widespread study of Spanish, do you envision a day when Brazil becomes a magnet for immigration from the poorer faster growing Spanish speaking nations? Or is it just for the purposes of doing international business ?
| TFR | Country | 2012 pop |
|---|---|---|
| 1.87 | Chile | 17,028,743 |
| 1.87 | Uruguay | 3,316,328 |
| 2.06 | Paraguay | 6,541,591 |
| 2.16 | Brazil | 205,716,890 |
| 2.29 | Argentina | 42,192,494 |
| 2.29 | Peru | 29,549,517 |
| 2.38 | Ecuador | 15,223,680 |
| 2.40 | Venezuela | 28,047,938 |
| 2.93 | Bolivia | 10,290,003 |
Quote: dmHell, there are more than that in Texas. Texas also leads the nation in uninsured drivers at over 27%. Load up the bows!
I live in California (and don't take this as racist, because it's coming from an American of Mexican descent) and when I took a cruise to Mexico in 2007, it was easier to find people that speak English there than it is at home.
We have a saying here in California: "You're in America now. Speak Spanish!"
Quote: dmHell, there are more than that in Texas. Texas also leads the nation in uninsured drivers at over 27%. Load up the bows!
You should chime in on the thread about casual statistics.
There are about 26 million people in Texas, so it is impossible for there to be 45 million Spanish speakers.
For Texas: Language other than English spoken at home, pct age 5+, 2006-2010 34.2% (presumably most of these people speak Spanish)
Quote: pacomartinAs you probably know, USA went from a population of 75 million in 1900 to 313 million today (a little more than 4 times), while Brazil went from 53.4 million in 1950 to 205.7 million today (a little less than 4 times in many fewer years).
But today, population growth of both countries hovers around 1%. Obviously immigration contributes more to USA growth than Brazil. Population growth is also fairly steady among the southern countries of Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile.
With this widespread study of Spanish, do you envision a day when Brazil becomes a magnet for immigration from the poorer faster growing Spanish speaking nations? Or is it just for the purposes of doing international business ?
Paco, I agree with you that immigration contributes more to USA growth than Brazil. There are many reasons for that, first of all Brazil is a destination for money, because we have one of the highest interest rates in the world. This started back in 1994 when we decided to start attracting investors from all over the world and boost our economical growth. Nowadays I think Brazil is one of the safer places for foreign investors since we have a strong democratic government, a huge internal market and even bigger natural resources. Our bank system is the most profitable in the world ans probably one of the safest.
On the other hand, this economical panorama does not contribute to a change the quality of life for Brazilian people. We still have a minority of millionaires and tons of poor inhabitants. Of course it has been improving, but I don't think that in the next 20 years we are becoming much more attractive for immigration purposes. Actually, I have experienced life in America and realized that it is much cheaper to live, eat, go out, buy all the sort of goods in America than in Brazil. Brazil is also the most expensive country to live in South America.
Example:
Brazil is independent when it comes to oil, but even though ah average gas cost would be U$6,4/gallon. In a country where minnimum wage is U$340 you can have an idea of what this represents.
When you compare the immigration in south america you will notice that Argentina and Chile do get more immigrants, specially from Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay. That's because people want to move somewhere with better quality of life and equal/lower cost.
Quote: aluisioWe still have a minority of millionaires and tons of poor inhabitants. Of course it has been improving, but I don't think that in the next 20 years we are becoming much more attractive for immigration purposes. Actually, I have experienced life in America and realized that it is much cheaper to live, eat, go out, buy all the sort of goods in America than in Brazil
We don't see many images of Brazil in the USA (other than string bikinis). The last movie I think I saw was Central Station in 1998.
As I understand it, illiteracy is much more prevalent in Central America than in Brazil.
City of God got a lot of attention as well.
Try to watch Elite Squad I and Elite Squad II perhaps you will enjoy it.
