LOS ANGELES — According to the language learning software Babble, there are over 485 million native speakers of Spanish, making it the second most spoken language in the world. 

What You Need To Know

  • Instituto Cervantes is present in almost 90 cities in over 40 countries on five continents

  • By 2060, the U.S. will be the second largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, behind Mexico

  • According to Languagetesting.com, "research shows that those who are bilingual or multilingual can earn 5%-20% more per hour than those who aren’t"

  • In the U.S., 15 million people speak Spanish as a second language

According to the language learning software Babble, there are more than 485 million native speakers of Spanish, making it the second most spoken language in the world. 

In the U.S., 15 million people speak Spanish as a second language, and the economic power of Spanish is growing.

The Cervantes Institute in Hollywood is a new language center the Spanish government opened last year, in an effort to promote the Spanish language.  

The academic director of the Cervantes Institute, Ángels Ferrer Rovira, says Spanish is quickly becoming one of the most powerful languages in the world.

“Here in California but also in the U.S., in general, half the population has Hispanic origin,” Rovira says. “The numbers reveal that by 2060, the U.S. will be the second largest in the world with speaking Spanish. This already shows how important Spanish might become in the near future. That is why our students are perceiving that, but also many companies are perceiving that and hiring people who are bilingual and offering higher salaries to those who speak Spanish.”