Like English , Spanish is a global voice communication with about 600 million Spanish speaker system worldwide . There are manySpanish - speaking countries , from the 21 nations with Spanish as their official language , to other countries with significant populations of people who speak Spanish as their native language or as a second language .
The Chinese language has the most native speaker of any spoken communication in the world , but Spanish follows in 2d place with nearly 500 million native speakers around the globe . After Chinese and English , Spanish is the third most spoken voice communication in the world .
Spanish is one of the sixofficial languagesof the United Nations , and is also an prescribed language of the World Trade Organization and the European Union . The far-flung use of goods and services of Spanish and its grandness in business , economic science and medium puddle Spanish a pragmatic linguistic communication to learn .
Countries Where Spanish Is the Official Language
The Spanish language has a vast geographic reach . Spanish is the prescribed language of country spanning across four different continent .
list in order of population size , these are the 21 nation where Spanish is the prescribed language :
Although Spain is largely assort with the Spanish language , Mexico actually has three multiplication the telephone number of aboriginal Spanish speaker . Colombia also has a significantly higher population of aboriginal Spanish speakers than Spain .
Notably , the regional speech of Basque and Catalan are the aboriginal languages of nearly 20 percent of Spain ’s population , even though the official language of their nation is Spanish .
Many hoi polloi are surprised to learn that there is also a Spanish - speaking country in Africa . In the former Spanish responsibility ofEquatorial Guinea , a body politic located on the central west coast of the continent , Spanish is an official language , along with French and Portuguese . About one third of the population , or one million the great unwashed , address Spanish in Equatorial Guinea .
Brief History of Spanish as a Native Language
Spanish is a romance language that evolved from Latin after the fall of the Roman Empire in the Iberian Peninsula , the southwesterly quoin of Europe that includes present - mean solar day Spain and Portugal . The speech communication was heavily influenced by surrounding Romance nomenclature , such as Portuguese and Catalan .
Castellano , or Castilian Spanish , first evolved in northern and fundamental Spain , which is why Spain is mostly associated with the language . The local culture and the language were influenced by the bearing of Moorish normal and their Arabic voice communication . Standard Spanish today still uses word that were descend from Arabic , as well as grammatical features such as sex agreement between noun .
Between the 13th and sixteenth centuries , the language was further standardize in Madrid and Toledo . During the Reconquista , the language was bring into southern Spain . Andalusian Spanish evolved in the southern neighborhood and became dominant in the Americas .
In the 16th century the Spanish Empire expanded into Mexico , Central America and vast areas of South America . The Spaniards brought their linguistic communication and finish along with them when settling in new areas , where natives were force to incorporate , thus creating multicultural universe and variousdialectsas a result of Spanish colonialism .
Many former Spanish colony continued to use Spanish as the primary nomenclature even after gain independence in the 19th century .
The United States unofficially recognize Spanish as the nation ’s second language .
Spanish Speakers of the United States
Thanks to migrator and students of the Spanish nomenclature , Spanish is address widely around the world . In arena where Spanish is not the official spoken communication , there can still be a in high spirits universe of people who speak Spanish , due to the front of a Hispanic or Spanish culture .
In the United States , Spanish is the first spoken communication of over 13 percent of the total population , or well-nigh 40 million people . This , combined with the U.S. universe of those who speak Spanish as a second spoken communication , makes the land the secondly - declamatory Spanish - speaking country worldwide .
Although Spanish is not the home language , the U.S. unofficially recognizes Spanish as the country ’s second language due to its importance to the population . Broadcast media , prescribed papers and public divine service are widely useable in Spanish to dish the high population of Spanish speakers in the United States .
Spanish is themost popularforeign language to learn in the United States , with importantly more students than French , which postdate in 2nd place .
It can be virtual for U.S. residents to discover Spanish to link with the local Spanish - speaking universe . It ’s also easy to take Spanish if you have the opportunity to use the language in real life state of affairs .
Learning Spanish can also better locomotion experience , since the Spanish - verbalize world broaden far and encompassing , andlearning a language can help you professionally .
4 Examples of Spanish Language Dialects
Any country where Spanish is on a regular basis spoken is susceptible to evolving into a unexampled dialect with alone Spanish slang , idioms , accents , chanting , pronunciation or grammar . Beyond Spain , other Spanish - mouth land have seen the linguistic communication evolve to create a female parent clapper to suit the local refinement .
Even though it is technically the same language being spoken , it can voice very different country to body politic , but understanding standard Spanish can still help your understanding of more singular dialects .
1. Chavacano
Chavacno is a Spanish - based Creole language wide spoken across the southern portion of the Philippines .
The Spanish Empire ruled the Philippines for over three centuries ( the rural area was really list afterSpanish royal family ) and Spanish remained an official language of the Philippines until 1987 . About three million Filipinos speak Spanish or Chavacno as their mother natural language .
2. Equatoguinean
Most Spanish speaker unit in Africa are based in Equatorial Guinea , where nearly 70 percent of the universe is Spanish - utter . However , there are also communities of Spanish speakers in Angola , South Sudan and Morocco , a North African country geographically close to Spain .
The Spanish spoken in Equatorial Guinea was heavily influenced by Bantu language . In grammar and in pronunciation , Equatoguinean Spanish is more similar to Peninsular Spanish than to American Spanish idiom .
3. New Mexican
New Mexico is the only commonwealth that pick out both English and Spanish as official languages . Traditional New Mexican Spanishis a unique Spanish idiom that has evolved from the earliest Spanish - speaking settlers in the state of New Mexico and southerly Colorado .
The locals of Spanish descent have made this idiom last for over 400 years , but with a decreasing population , the linguistic communication is start to vanish .
4. Rioplatense
Rioplatense Spanish is a idiom from the the Río de la Plata Basin , currently talk in Argentina and Uruguay . Notably , this regional idiom admit an modulation standardised to the Neapolitan speech communication of Southern Italy , influenced by Italian settlers since the 19th century .
