The Spanish and the German are senior (5)
I believe the answer is:
elder
'are senior' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'the spanish and the german' is the wordplay.
'the spanish' becomes 'el' ('the' in Spanish).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'the german' becomes 'der' ('the' in German).
'el'+'der'='ELDER'
(Other definitions for elder that I've seen before include "Bush" , "Shrub - church official" , "Tie up" , "more mature" , "Senior tribal figure" .)