I hear this often, but I do question it. It's true that Spanish is BY FAR the 2nd most spoken language in the USA, but anecdotal evidence (and some studies I believe) show that just like any other immigrant population, by the 2nd generation they speak English primarily.
This also means though that Spanish doesn't seem to offer much help in terms of career/job because for almost any position, there will be an available Spanish-speaker that speaks it better than you. And I've found (much like other languages) that if I'm doing "formal" business with counterparts from Latin America or Spain, their English is much much better than I could ever hope my Spanish would be.
I have been in situations where Spanish may have come in handy to communicate with a newer immigrant, but usually they understand enough English and I can fill in gaps with a translator app or my vague HS Spanish that it's never been an issue. And honestly I've been in similar situations with immigrants in other languages as well.
So despite the popularity of Spanish and learning Spanish, it seems to be fair to evaluate it in terms of any other foreign language. Basically interest and specific need (such as travel). Seems like if an American has more interest in learning, say, Mongolian, then that would be ok over Spanish. But I thought I'd get the thoughts of this sub.
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