The Idea of an Essay, Volume 3

156 The Idea of an Essay: Volume 3 Speaking Spanish in the United States Molly Bolender Molly is a sophomore International Studies major. In the fall she will be studying abroad in Spain, and she is currently a member of the track and field team at Cedarville. My first experience with the Spanish language occurred when I was in first grade. My brother and I were allowed to watch only one T.V. show after school, and “Dragon Tales” had the 3:30 time slot, so naturally that’s what we watched. One episode I remember very clearly was when the characters taught the viewers how to count to ten in Spanish. I remember thinking that counting to ten in a foreign language was so cool. During the show, I learned the numbers one through ten in Spanish, and I practiced and practiced using the numbers. I counted my steps in Spanish, the number of goldfish I ate, and so forth. Learning the numbers in Spanish at a young age got me interested in the language and helped me want to learn more words in the language. Spanish is the fastest growing and most popular language in the United States today. With the Spanish language becoming more widespread in the past few decades, the United States is beginning to incorporate the Spanish language into everyday life. On ordinary products, more companies are starting to place a Spanish translation under the English version. Hammer, a researcher from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development states, “[Spanish] is one of the fastest-growing [languages], with the number of speakers up to 233% since 1980, when there were 11 million Spanish speakers” (1251). The projected number of Spanish speakers in America in 2020 is between 37.5 million and 41 million. The number of Spanish speakers in the U.S has no decline in sight. With the growing rate of Spanish speakers in the U.S., it is important to educate children starting at the elementary level about the