The most three spoken languages worldwide are by native speakers and in this order Chinese, Spanish and English. As China keeps growing so does the educational level of its citizens. In Hong Kong, which is one of the most developed cities in Asia, the interest for learning Spanish is growing extremely fast. Data extracted from Google trends shows that search for queries like “Spanish course in the city of Hong Kong” has increased in volume of yearly searches from just 3,000 to over 10,000.
Not only this but we spoke with the Spanish Cultural Association of Hong Kong and they explained us that the number of schools dedicated exclusively to teach Spanish has grown in the past 10 years from just 2 schools to more than 10 in the present moment.
Interest from adult learners has grown considerately. Nevertheless even kids as young as 3 or 4 years old only are taking regular courses once a week as an extra activity. Even many learning centers dedicated to teach a variety of subject like mathematics, science or painting have also started to provide Spanish as one of their learning options. Interest to learn Spanish amongst Hong Kong people is expected to keep growing in the years to come.
This also means that in the short and mid term more Chinese students are going to be interested in visiting Spain either for their vacation or to keep improving their Spanish speaking skills. In big Spanish cities like Malaga, Madrid, Seville, Valencia or Barcelona in the recent years the amount of Chinese tourists has grown to a point that many luxury brand stores are hiring Chinese staff to help attend their Chinese customers and seems that this tendency is here to stay.
On the other side, the Spanish Language Schools in Spain are adapting their Spanish programs to this emergent market. Is the case of Escuela de Idiomas Nerja, who teaches Spanish since 1980, and has adapted their Spanish programs to their students from all over the world in the aim of giving a full experience during their stay learning Spanish in the charming city of Nerja.
More in deep and as a part of the academic offer Escuela de Idiomas Nerja has personalised the Spanish courses to the Chinese student needs within a wide variety of Intensive and Superintensive Spanish Programs, for all levels and ages.