SPANISH IN SCHOOLS [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Your
correspondent quotes me as saying (in my address to the newly-formed Institute , of Hispanic. Studies) that Spanish is taught in 300 secondary schools in this country. What I really said (as reported correctly in The Times of October 10th) was that " nearly 300 secondary schools taught the language or presented pupils for examination in it." The clause underlined is important, as many schools not teaching Spanish present for examination a very small number of pupils who are of. Hispanic origin or who have acquired Spanish through residence abroad. Though the Institute's card-list of schools which actually teach Spanish .is not yet complete, I should estimate that there will not be more than 200 at most—an altogether inadequate number when one thinks•of the eighty millions of people who speak Spanish, to say nothing of fifty millions speaking Portuguese,
a language that can be acquired with the greatest ease by anyone with a knowledge of Spanish.
Further, your correspondent would like to know what type of school teaches Spanish, " if indeed they are any special type." They are emphatically of no special type, but range from ancient public schools to Junior Commercial schools and even to Central schools where only one foreign language is taught. The case for the teaching of Spanish in schools is not merely that it is frequently a useful language in commerce, but also that : (1) it is a far simpler language than either French or German, and is therefore more suitable than either of these for pupils who are slow at language- learning ; (2) in vocabulary, construction and history it is much more akin to French than is German, so that French- plus-Spanish is a more practical combination, except for unusually talented pupils, than French-plus-German. These are only two of many reasons which might be given but they will suffice to show why a substantial minority of schools . of all types are now teaching Spanish; and why the number of these is steadily growing.—I am, Sir, yours faithfully,
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