
According to the Cervantes Institute, the largest organization in the world responsible for promoting the study and the teaching of Spanish language and culture, there are approximately 600 million Spanish speakers worldwide, and World Atlas adds that Spanish is the second most spoken language in NYC with almost 20% of residents speaking the language at home.
And now, as reported by Express.co.uk, experts have stated that Spanish is on track to replace English as the main language in the U.S. The outlet writes:
This country’s ties between Spain have been found to be much larger than previously thought due to a significant part of its current territory once belonging to the Spanish Empire. The U.S. and Spain’s historical link has also increased immigration of Spanish speakers prompting researchers and linguists to predict what percentage of the population will speak Spanish including when.
And being that the U.S. is the second country in the world with the largest number of Spanish speakers, with certain parts of the country already home to more Spanish speakers than English speakers, such as Laredo, Texas, Linguist Humberto López Morales is predicting the Spanish language to dominate the U.S. by 2050.
Spanish is, after all, the second most spoken language in the world after Mandarin Chinese, and data from the US Census Bureau shows that between 2022 and 2023, the Hispanic population accounted for nearly 71% of America’s population growth–by 2060, they’re expected to make up about 28% of the U.S. population–so it does make sense that many places will soon see a shift in their official languages.
On the flip side, the Spanish language is also at risk of fading due to linguistic assimilation and a shift towards bilingualism, especially among the youth. So we’ll have to wait and see how it all plays out.