MIAMI – The United States must push a language policy that pays attention to the Spanish-speaking population to achieve an increase in “competitiveness and progress,” the chief executive officer of the Globalization and Localization Association, representing the world language industry, said Tuesday.

“It’s important to communicate with linguistic minorities, mainly the Hispanic one. It’s no longer acceptable to say that everyone has to learn English. That doesn’t work. It’s an obstacle to the growth” of the country, Hans Fenstermacher emphasized to Efe.

The GALA chief announced the creation of the language industry lobbying group in the United States.

This sector is responsible for the creation of more than 500,000 jobs and generates $25 billion per year, Fenstermacher said.

“We provide language services and technology, everything that is linked with translation (Google Translate, for example), the adaptation of products and services to other markets, such as communications media and social networks,” he said.

It is “a huge industry that is focused on everything related to language, the basis of trade and fundamental for guiding our country’s competitiveness in a global world,” the CEO of U.S.-based GALA emphasized.

“It’s easier to communicate with a population in their own language, but in the United States we still haven’t done that,” Fenstermacher said.

He emphasized the vitality of Spanish, which – after English – is the most vital language in the world for international communication, and the importance of the almost 50 million Hispanics making up the largest and fastest-growing minority in the United States. EFE