The Spanish language is indigenous to Spain’s central … Galician belongs, along with Spanish, to the group of Iberian Romance languages, and is closely related to Portuguese, with which it formed linguistic unity (Galician-Portuguese) during the Middle Ages. Spain actually has four official languages. Spain was chosen as the setting for Bollywood movies, thanks to the passion for life of the Spanish people and the fiestas held here throughout the … Approximately 6.1 million people in Spain were born in different countries. Within Spain, approximately 88% of the population speaks it as their native language, and 99% are able to speak it. Spain is, along with Colombia[4] and after Mexico and the United States,[5] ranked third in the world as the country with the most Spanish speakers. Some English speakers are British-born, others use English for business transactions. Spanish is the only official language in Asturias, Cantabria, La Rioja, Aragon, Castile and León, Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, Andalusia, the Canary Islands and the region of Murcia, as well as Ceuta, Melilla, and half of Navarre. The varieties of the language in existence in Spain are collectively referred to as Iberian Spanish or Peninsular Spanish or European Spanis… Spanish, the official language in the entire country, is the predominant native language in almost all of the autonomous communities in Spain. However, you might not … Galician is spoken by 9% of the population of Spain, mainly in Galicia which is an autonomous region in the northwest and is related to Portuguese. More often than not, the people of Spain refer to their language as castellano rather than español because the latter can be any of the other languages spoken in the country. The official language for the whole of Spain, including Andalusia, is Spanish, as defined by t he Spanish Royal Academy of Language. It also means that the languages can be used at meetings within the EU though here … (in Spanish … Approximately 40% of the Spanish population live in areas with two official languages. Castellano - the more precise name for the Spanish we know - is spoken throughout Spain and is the country's official language. In total, Catalan is the language spoken at home by approximately 4,452,000 Spanish citizens. The predominance of Spanish started in the Middle Ages with the Reconquista, expanding throughout the Kingdom of Castile (in which the language was born) and later to other areas in the Iberian peninsula; it had cultural prestige and was also spoken in part of the Kingdom of Aragon and of the Kingdom of Navarre. These languages are widely used in newspapers, books, on TV, and in local government. In all of these territories the official name for the language is Catalan, while in Valencia the official name is Valencian. The recognized regional languages are Aragonese, Asturian, and Leonese. German is spoken by only 2% of the population. To find information on other destinations in Spain, and lots more interesting travel ideas, we recommend the international version of the Spain.info website. Basque is the language spoken in and around Bilbao, also called “Basque Country” in Spain. Spanish is the official language of Spain. However, there are other co-official languages spoken in Spain´s many culturally diverse regions that form an important part of the Spanish cultural patrimony. In Spain, which has a multicultural structure, languages such as different Basque, Catalan and Galician are spoken in various regions. In the Aran Valley, Spanish is the native language of 38.8% of the population (many of them born elsewhere), Aranese is the native language of 34.2% and Catalan of 19.4%, according to the data from the census in 2001. Spanish… or Castilian? Also referred to as Castilian, it is a Romance language with origins in the Castile region of Spain. Spain’s co-official languages in the EU. The main foreign languages of Spain are English, French, and German. It is the official language of Andorra and is als… In fact, according to some Galician and Portuguese authors, they should still be considered a single language today despite the differences that have appeared since the Middle Ages (see Reintegrationism). Las Fallas De Valencia (Festival Of Fire) No list of Spanish festivals names can … There is a variety of Vernacular languages spoken in Spain. 2 The constitution states that “Castilian is the Spanish official language of the State,” but that “all other Spanish languages (including Euskera [Basque], Catalan, and Galician) will also be official in the corresponding autonomous communities.” Occitan is also spoken in Catalonia where the inhabitants use a subdialect called Aranese. There are many other languages and dialects, some of which have co-official status in the particular region in which they are used. It is spoken in whole Spain as well as in South America. Castilian Spanish then quickly became the official language for all educational materials and official documents in all of Spain. Aragonese is spoken Aragon by between 10,000 and 30,000 people. Do you like Bollywood movies? Isabella and Ferdinand declared Castilian Spanish to be the official dialect. Official Web Site of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture. Latin, the origin of the Spanish language. The language we know today as Spanish originally derived … In the following centuries Spanish continued its expansion at the expense of the languages bordering with it; this is shown clearly in the case of the Leonese and Aragonese languages, and also in the case of Basque. The romance language of Spanish originated in the Castile region of Spain but Spanish is not the only official language the country has. To understand the reason for this geographical reference, we need to briefly look at the history of the Spanish language, starting from the Roman era. Galician has three main dialectal areas: western, central, and eastern; those are subdivided into other areas. At least 90% of the population speak Castilian Spanish as a first or second language. Leonese is spoken in Castile and León by between 20,000 and 50,000 people. If you think that Spanish or Castilian is the language of Spain, you're only partly right. Of the foreign languages spoken in Spain, three in particular have a significant role in Spanish society. Currently, Spain has five official languages. All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions © 2020 worldatlas.com. In addition to Galicia, Galician is spoken in western Asturias and in the westernmost area of the provinces of Leon and Zamora. It is also co-official with other languages in Catalonia, Balearic Islands, Valencia, Galicia, Basque Country and the Basque zone of Navarre. About 17% of the population speaks Catalan, making its speakers one of the largest bilingual, non-state communities in Europe. Affiliation between one subgroup or the other is a cause for active discussion. The languages of Spain, or Spanish languages (lenguas españolas or lenguas hispánicas), are those languages that are either currently or were once spoken in Spain.The main languages of Spain fall into the category of Romance languages, of which Spanish—the Castilian variety of Spanish—is the sole official language for … Spain's Official Language Spanish, also known as Castilian Spanish or just Castilian, is the official national language. [13] Aranese is the native language of about 2,800 people, representing 0.007% of the population of Spain. It is spoken in the independent communities of Catalan, Valencia, Aragón, Murcia and on the Balearic Islands, with various regional differences.With around 11 million speakers in four countries, Catalan is also the most spoken regional language within the European Union. Basque is the only non-Romance language with official status in the country and is in fact, not related to any other language. According to the Survey of the Involvement of the Adult Population in Learning Activities[2] distributed by the National Institute of Statistics with data from 2016, in regards to the languages in Spain that are native languages or languages that are not native but used, 98.9% of the population speaks Spanish, 17.5% speaks Catalan, 6.2% speaks Galician, 5.8% speaks Valencian (a variety of Catalan) and 3.0% speaks Basque. Where Spanish was born. The Fala of the Valley of Jalama in northwestern Extremadura is related to Portuguese and also to Galician. Asturian is spoken in Asturias by about 100,000 native speakers and 450,000 speakers as a second language. Unofficial regional languages include Cantabrian (an Astur-Leonese dialect), Extremaduran (spoken in the autonomous region of Extremadura), Judaeo-Spanish (spoken by Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492), Riffian Berber (spoken by Muslim immigrants from Morocco, Eonavian (spoken by 45,000 native speakers), Fala (spoken by 10,500 people), Portuguese, Iberian Romani (consists of Caló and Erromintxela), and the Gomeran whistled language (used to communicate across valleys in the Canary Islands). Today, hundreds of millions of people speak Spanish as their first language. In Catalonia, Catalan has two main varieties: Catalan spoken in the Balearic Islands, or, In Valencia, Valencian is a western variety of the Catalan language spoken in this autonomous community. By Amber Pariona on December 28 2020 in Society. Example: Benvingut (Welcome)Catalan is by far the most widely spoken regional language in Spain. 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