Ejercicio Text B - Task 1 · Inglés PAU Murcia Extraordinaria 2021

Text B

Spanish is on the rise

The position of the Spanish language in the world today remains strong. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language after Chinese. In the United States, after English, Spanish is the most common language, spoken by approximately 38 million people.

In the US, Spanish is by far the most commonly taught language in schools and has increased in popularity over the past 20 years. In 2008, 88% of the elementary schools with foreign language programs taught Spanish, compared to 79% in 1997, and 68% in 1987. At the same time, French and German decreased. In secondary schools, 93% of the schools with language programs offered Spanish, and this percentage increased since 1987 by 6%. Both French and German instruction decreased during this time period as well.

Over 572 million people speak Spanish worldwide, of which 477 million people are native speakers, according to a new report from the Spanish government’s Cervantes Institute. In its annual report, Spanish in the World (2017), the Institute found that the number of Spanish native speakers jumped by 5 million between 2016 and 2017.

According to the report, Spanish continues to be the second most spoken native language —topped only by Mandarin, which is spoken by 950 million people. Today, Spanish is spoken in 7.8% of the world, a percentage that is predicted to remain the same until at least 2050 —unlike those for Mandarin and English, which are expected to drop.

This number is expected to rise to 754 million people by 2050, pushed by population growth in Spanish-speaking countries as well as the growing number of Spanish speakers in the US.

Today, in the US, there are 43 million native Spanish speakers and another 15 million people with some knowledge of Spanish. Spanish has a lot of weight in Latin America, but the most interesting news is how Spanish has grown in the US. By the middle of this century, Spanish will break apart the English-only model.

1. Read the text and choose the best option (A, B, or C) for items 1.1 to 1.4. [Score: 4 items x 0.5 marks = 2 marks]