Spanish language is the 2nd language in the world, after Chinese

Very informative piece of news here, about the current situation of Spanish language worldwide!

Image: 7.6% of the world population is today Spanish-speaking.

Spanish is the second most spoken mother tongue in the world, behind Mandarin Chinese, and the third most used on the Internet, according to the yearbook "Spanish in the world" 2018, presented today by the Cervantes Institute in Madrid.
The number of Spanish speakers increased to 577 million (from 572.6 million last year), of which 480 million have Spanish as their mother tongue. The figure implies that 7.6 percent of the world population speaks the language of Cervantes

In addition, it is the most studied foreign language in the United States. Nearly 22 million people learn Spanish in 107 countries, said the director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero, and other authorities during the presentation of the study.

Spanish is thus disputed with French and Chinese second place among the languages ​​most studied as a second language, behind English, and is perceived as "the most important language for the future" in the United Kingdom, according to the yearbook.

The 386-page study collects key data on Spanish in various scientific and economic sectors. They stand out for example those of the publishing house, where Spain appears like third exporting country of books of the world behind the United Kingdom and the United States.

With regard to the Internet, it is the third most used language - behind English and Chinese - and the second one in portals such as Wikipedia, Facebook and Twitter. Mexico is among the ten countries with the largest number of users on the Internet.

Instituto Cervantes was created in 1991 to promote the teaching, study and use of Spanish throughout the world. It has 87 centers distributed in 44 countries across the five continents, as detailed on its website.

"Spanish in the world" is its main specialized publication and this year celebrates its twentieth anniversary since it began to be published in 1998. Since then it has become a reference on Spanish-speaking demolinguistics for experts from all over the world.


Translation from the source in Spanish right here.

Malqui-Machay, the last resting place of the Inca

¡Hola!

Today I read an interesting article on Miami Herald, talking about the 'lost' treasure of the Inca Empire before the Spanish Conquest. It is said that the Inca had stashed a huge treasure of gold in the mountains. It was a ransom to get back their Emperor, Mr Atahualpa, from the Spaniards. But the ransom was not delivered, because the Emperor died before being able to do the exchange.

This is what has been said so far. However, Ms Estupiñán (a historian who has been studying about the Incas for 30 years) recently suggested another version, after doing some discoveries by reading a 4,000-pages book.

Amazingly, that book is written in Spanish. :O You should check it out and try to understand at least one letter. Honestly, I have not been able to get a word of it. =) And it took Ms Estupiñán almost a year to transcribe the 7-pages Testament of Atahualpa's son, also written in Spanish like this.

Hope you enjoy the article, thanks for checking it and have a nice day! :)

Pu Jie, the succesful Chinese singer who sings in Spanish

Talking about Bésame mucho, it worths reading this... :)

Pu Jie is a Chinese singer. When she went to Cuba, she started to enjoy Latin American music. Since then, she has been passionate about it. She has even recorded an album in China entitled "Gracias a la vida" (Thanks to the life), in which she sings Hispanic music known worldwide, like "Bésame mucho".

Check this video, she sings very well! :)

Pu Jie says that she admires Violeta Parra and Mercedes Sosa, and she dances and sings salsa. She started to learn salsa thanks to the Chinese internship program in Cuba. Apart from "Bésame mucho", she has also performed other hits like "Alma llanera", "Guantanamera" or the tango "El día que me quieras". And you know, although she pronounces quite well, she admitted that she is still not a fluent Spanish-speaker. =))

However, her willing is not to sing only Latin American songs in China. Actually, she wants to be a "cultural connection", a bridge so that both countries get to know each other better. In addition, she wants to introduce Chinese culture to Cuba, as well as Cuban culture in China. That is why she sings popular Chinese songs with her traditional dress, during her performances.

Therefore, this is a curious and interesting piece of news, and if you want you can check the complete explanation in Spanish for more details.

¡Muchas gracias por leer el post! :)
(Thank you very much for reading the post! :)