VIRTUALLY nobody in this civilized world doesn’t know a second language. Take the Philippines for example. The Philippines main language is Filipino but folks there speak lots of dialects. Take Cebu as a consideration. In Cebuano, the main tongue is Cebuano. But kids there are taught how to speak English and Filipino since nursery. Nursery rhymes for toddlers are even in English with matching action. In the Philippines, people learn English because it used to be a United States colony. After the country has gained its independence in 1946 after World War II, the Philippine Congress has made a law making English as the official medium of instruction. It was eventually signed into law by then Philippine President Manuel Roxas and implemented by the then Philippine Department of Education, Culture and Sports from nursery to college and even to programs leading to master’s and doctoral degrees.

When the Aquino government took over from the Marcos administration in 1986, elementary and secondary schools (both public and private) were delegated to the Department of Education while the Commission on Higher Education was in charge of all colleges in the country. English continues to become the medium of instruction. Filipino was also given focus especially in areas where it is not the native tongue. There are a lot of these areas especially in the Visayas and Mindanao where people speak as diverse dialects as Maranao, Chavacano, Ilonggo, Tausog, Cebuano, Maguindanao, among others.
Even in the United States himself, bilingual education is the trend. Most of the people in this country adopt English as the native tongue yet one cannot deny the emergence of the Latinos. Spanish is thus common in such states as California, Texas, Las Vegas and New York. There are also a few Americans who speak French such as those ones coming from Louisiana.

Let’s jump to Canada. Half of the Canadians are speaking English while the other half is using French. So in this country, bilingual education must be pursued and emphasized even at the elementary levels.

In Europe lies a peculiar scene. Although a very small contiguous continent, the European mainland is composed of countries peopled by folks who speak various languages. At the Iberian Peninsula itself, people are using lots of dialects. There’s Portuguese in Portugal; there’s Spanish, Catalan and Basque in the Spanish side. These countries share the same border with the Alps mountain range which is also situated in France and Italy. The French speak French, the Italians speak Italian. Because of this peculiarity, the European Union has mandated that all high school students in the continent learn a second language. This is for the goodness of the country – to make it competitive. This will make the Spanish easily deal with the French and vice versa.
Besides, learning a second language will also enhance one’s career as well. If you’re in the middle of the Philippines and you know enough Mandarin, you can be hired as a translator to all Chinese visitors coming in. Now that’s something lucrative.

SPANISH is one of the official languages of the United Nations because it is the official language of 25 countries which are members of the United Nations. Both its spoken and written forms are used by 400 million people all over the globe. Its written form follows the Roman alphabet, Roman being the antique parent language of the Spanish vernacular. That’s because Spain is largely influenced by Rome during the medieval times of the Crusades. Spanish is the official language of such countries as Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, Venezuela, Andorra, Belize and Gibraltar.
Hispanics make up the most of the minority in the United States and because of this; Fortune 500 companies have adopted Spanish-speaking programs in their respective corporate environments. More than 3/4s of Hispanics in this country speak both English and Spanish. Some are native Americans, others come from Puerto Rico, others come from Mexico with Ciudad Juarez a stone’s throw away from El Paso and others come from Cuba. The Cuban Americans are a curious pack because they cross here illegally and have ultimately embraced the American culture.

With their immense numbers, Spanish speaking people translate into large numbers. It is at this reason that these helpful and practical tips in communicating to a Spanish speaking person both in writing and in talking can best be used. It is suggested that Fortune 500 companies should invest heavily in training their non-Spanish staff to be fluent in the language. This is especially true for those companies which are heavily relying on customers to retain their business. Among these businesses are Sprint, T Mobile, Palm, Sony, Microsoft, EarthLink, Direct TV, SBC, Yahoo!, Dell, Hewlett Packard and everything else in between. Their customer service people must know how to be bilingual just in case someone on the line calls their toll-free number for English-speaking people. They usually call this number because they know perfect English but when they switch to Spanish because of poor performance of the company’s products and services. By this time, the customer service staff on the other end is at a loss if he or she has not received prior training in the Spanish language. This training is ideal for people who are at the front lines in entertaining customers both handling sales, technical support and billing.

In fact, communications provider Qwest has embarked on an outreach Spanish program called Motivate.Educate.Elevate. There are three components of the program and all of these are geared to the Hispanic minority. One of the three components entitles Qwest to provide millions of endowments to public elementary and high schools across the country which has a heavy Hispanic population. The second component is geared to finance missing Hispanic persons which are registered under the national missing persons program of the federal government. The last part of the budget of “Motivate.Educate.Elevate” is to finance programs aimed at preventing or minimizing identity theft victimizing Hispanic victims.