Por qué el español ya no es lengua extranjera en Estados Unidos

 Colegas:

Hace un tiempo nos compartió Iridea Beamonte un artículo interesante sobre las ventajas cognoscitivas del bilingüismo o multilingüismo. Les pongo aquí el enlace para que consulten el artículo, y lo que les reproduzco es la serie de láminas que aparece al final, que explican nueve razones por las que el español no debe ya considerarse lengua extranjera en Estados Unidos. Saludos,

Lucrecia


This is why Spanish isn't a 'Foreign Language'
 

1.
Dead giveaway. Some 37 million Americans spoke Spanish at home as of 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s a whopping 12.8 percent of the population. It's not very foreign when more than one in 10 people in your country are doing it.

Image: A furniture store that caters to Spanish speakers advertizes an American-style Valentine's Day sale in Spanish on January 22, 2003 in Santa Ana, California.

2.

Spanish was spoken in what is today the United States before English. Spanish colonizers first set foot in the area that would become the United States in the 16th century, founding a permanent colony in St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 -- well before the English set up Jamestown.

All European languages, on the other hand, are more foreign to North America than Karuk, Cherokee, Natchez, or the scores of other languages of the indigenous peoples of the continent.

Image: St Augustine, Florida, the first permanent Spanish colony in North America.

3.

Because it’s the country with the 5th-largest Hispanophone population in the world

Only Mexico, Spain, Colombia and Argentina have larger Spanish-speaking populations than the United States. 

 4.

Because we don’t have an official language. Despite what the nativists may think, English is not the official language of the United States. Those with limited English proficiency are entitled to assistance to access federally funded programs 

 5.

Because it’s the most-spoken language on the island of Puerto Rico. And Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory whose inhabitants are U.S. citizens.

Image: A Puerto Rican fan waves his country's flag as he watches a live telecast of the World Baseball Classic championship game between Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic in San Juan, Tuesday, March 19, 2013.

 

6.

Because a bunch of our states and cities have Spanish names: Nevada, Colorado, Los Angeles, Florida, Montana, San Antonio, California, Sacramento… the list goes on and on.

 7.

Because Spanish-language broadcaster beats NBC in ratings. Univision now holds the fourth spot for U.S. networks, pushing NBC down to fifth place.

8.

Because it’s becoming the second-most important language in politics: Tim Kaine (D-Va.) became the first U.S. Senator to give a full-length, Spanish-language speech before the Senate on June 11, 2013. Prior to that, Marco Rubio had given the first Spanish-language rebuttal to the State of the Union speech. 

Material tomado de: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/11/bilinguals-mental-flexibility_n_3908831.html