Spanish is the native language of 332 million people in the world.
In addition to Spain, Spanish is the official language of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. And it is widely spoken in several other nations, including Canada, Morocco, the Philippines, and the United States.
Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several dialects of spoken Latin in central-northern Iberia and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the later Middle Ages.
In Spain and in some other parts of the Spanish-speaking world, Spanish is called castellano (Castilian) as well as español (Spanish), that is, the language of the region of Castile, contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician, Basque, and Catalan. Speakers of these regional languages prefer the term castellano, as they consider their own languages equally "Spanish".
The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the official language of the whole Spanish State, in contrast to "las demás lenguas españolas" (lit. the rest of the Spanish languages).
Article 3
El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. (...) Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas...
Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. (...) The rest of the Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities...
The Spanish Royal Academy, on the other hand, currently uses the term español in its publications but from 1713 to 1923 called the language castellano.
The Spanish language evolved from colloquial Latin, which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans in 210 B.C. Prior to that time, several pre-Roman languages (unrelated to Latin, and some of them unrelated even to Indo-European) were spoken in the Iberian Peninsula. These languages included Basque (still spoken today), Iberian, and Celtiberian.
El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. (...) Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas...
Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. (...) The rest of the Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities...
The Spanish Royal Academy, on the other hand, currently uses the term español in its publications but from 1713 to 1923 called the language castellano.
The Spanish language evolved from colloquial Latin, which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans in 210 B.C. Prior to that time, several pre-Roman languages (unrelated to Latin, and some of them unrelated even to Indo-European) were spoken in the Iberian Peninsula. These languages included Basque (still spoken today), Iberian, and Celtiberian.
Spanish is the third most spoken language by total number of speakers (after Mandarin and English). Internet usage statistics for 2007 show Spanish as the third most commonly used language on the Internet, after English and Mandarin.
Latin America
Most Spanish speakers are in Latin America, Mexico has the most native speakers of any country.
Most Spanish speakers are in Latin America, Mexico has the most native speakers of any country.
Spanish is the official language of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Uruguay, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Puerto Rico.
In USA, Spanish is the most widely taught language in the country after English, in the state of New Mexico, 40% of the population speaks Spanish, It also has strong influence in metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, Miami, San Antonio, New York City, Tampa, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Chicago, and in the twenty-first century the language has rapidly expanded in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Richmond, and Washington, DC. With a total of 37 million Spanish speakers, according to US Census Bureau.
In Africa, Spanish is official in Equatorial Guinea, and in Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, an unknown number of Sahrawis are able to read and write in Spanish.
In Asia, Spanish was used by the colonial governments and the educated classes in the former Spanish East Indies, namely the Philippines, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
From 1565 to 1973 it was an official language of the Philippines. Up to 1899 it was the language of government, trade and education, and spoken as a first language by Spaniards and educated Filipinos. Following the U.S. occupation and administration of the islands in 1899, the American government increasingly imposed English.
Among the countries and territories in Oceania, Spanish is also spoken in Easter Island, a territorial possession of Chile. The U.S. Territories of Guam and Northern Marianas, and the independent states of Palau, Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia all once had majority Spanish speakers, since the Marianas and the Caroline Islands were Spanish colonial possessions until the late nineteenth century.
Judaeo-Spanish (also known as Ladino), which is essentially medieval Spanish and closer to modern Spanish than any other language, is spoken by many descendants of the Sephardi Jews who were expelled from Spain in the fifteenth century.Therefore, its relationship to Spanish is comparable with that of the Yiddish language to German. Ladino speakers are currently almost exclusively Sephardi Jews, with family roots in Turkey, Greece or the Balkans; current speakers mostly live in Israel and Turkey, and the United States.
In USA, Spanish is the most widely taught language in the country after English, in the state of New Mexico, 40% of the population speaks Spanish, It also has strong influence in metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, Miami, San Antonio, New York City, Tampa, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Chicago, and in the twenty-first century the language has rapidly expanded in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Richmond, and Washington, DC. With a total of 37 million Spanish speakers, according to US Census Bureau.
In Africa, Spanish is official in Equatorial Guinea, and in Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, an unknown number of Sahrawis are able to read and write in Spanish.
In Asia, Spanish was used by the colonial governments and the educated classes in the former Spanish East Indies, namely the Philippines, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
From 1565 to 1973 it was an official language of the Philippines. Up to 1899 it was the language of government, trade and education, and spoken as a first language by Spaniards and educated Filipinos. Following the U.S. occupation and administration of the islands in 1899, the American government increasingly imposed English.
Among the countries and territories in Oceania, Spanish is also spoken in Easter Island, a territorial possession of Chile. The U.S. Territories of Guam and Northern Marianas, and the independent states of Palau, Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia all once had majority Spanish speakers, since the Marianas and the Caroline Islands were Spanish colonial possessions until the late nineteenth century.
Judaeo-Spanish (also known as Ladino), which is essentially medieval Spanish and closer to modern Spanish than any other language, is spoken by many descendants of the Sephardi Jews who were expelled from Spain in the fifteenth century.Therefore, its relationship to Spanish is comparable with that of the Yiddish language to German. Ladino speakers are currently almost exclusively Sephardi Jews, with family roots in Turkey, Greece or the Balkans; current speakers mostly live in Israel and Turkey, and the United States.
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