Ana Botella and some predictions about Spain's future bilingualism!

Last Saturday, our housewarming party coincided with the announcements for the 2020 Olympic bids.  Tokyo, Istanbul, and Madrid were all in the running, and Madrid was the first city eliminated (as expected).  We didn't even wait to hear the final results.  Eventually, I found out that Tokyo was chosen.  The one thing from that day that hasn't gone away though is the now infamous speech in "English" from Madrid's mayor, Ana Botella.  It's gone viral in Spain, but I doubt any of my family and friends in the United States or elsewhere have seen it.  This article in the Wall Street Journal pretty much sums up what happened. 

The main things I've been hearing from Spaniards in the past week have been statements of astonishment/outrage/ridicule/embarrassment that their representative politician chose to speak in English knowing full well that her skills were not up to par, and in the days leading up to the final speech she would not wear an earpiece or use a translator.  They then typically proceed to ask for my opinion, and I usually say some generic Spanish remark that would equate to "Yeah....I know....Well, that's how it is......Hmmmm......I know."  But honestly, the speech didn't surprise me at all or even seem that bad.  The level of English here is not great, and after listening to it almost every day for the past 3 years, I've just become accustomed to it.  It's part of my everyday life.  I guess I've just become so accepting or numb to it that it doesn't even phase me anymore.  I can understand why Ana Botella's speech was a huge embarrassment for the Spanish population, but they really have no right to ridicule her because at least she tried (and most of them talk like her anyway).

I do have one theory on how Spain is going to catch up with bilingual countries like Germany.  The government program, the BEDA program, and all the other private companies that sub-contract us "natives" out to schools all over Spain have been running for about 5-10 years now.  I predict that in 20 years, Spain's level of English might actually have improved...not because of the educational enlightenment that we are providing, but rather the amount of English speakers that wind up marrying Spaniards and will eventually procreate in Spain.  There it is, maybe it was a breeding program all along!!!