Spanish Learning Community and Resources

*Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha

Spanish is a Romance Language 

Actually, it is the largest Romance language in the world! But one step at a time. What exactly are Romance languages and how many are there? Romance languages are a linguistic group derived from Latin, which, as you all know, was the language of the Roman Empire. Since determining what constitutes a “language” or “dialect” is debatable, there is no official consensus on how many Romance languages exist. Either way, more than 900 million people speak one of these languages, namely Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian and Catalan/Valencian being the most widely spoken. Due to their shared ancestry, the grammatical structures and vocabularies are remarkably similar. So, if you already speak a Romance language, congratulations, you are well ahead of the game in achieving fluency in Spanish! 

MANY people speak Spanish  

To the point that it is the second most spoken language in the world, in terms of native speakers, with nearly 493 million. If we include people like you who are studying or have some knowledge of the tongue, buckle up, because the tally reaches 591 million, which equals 7.6% of the globe’s population!!! Only English (1.13 billion), Chinese Mandarin (1.11 billion) and Hindi (615 million) can boast to have more speakers overall. 

Spanish is the official and/or national language of 21 countries 

We already know how many people speak the language, so let's try and locate its speakers on the map. Undoubtedly, you will bump into a native speaker in the following 21 countries, where the tongue is officially recognised, along with other national, indigenous and/or minority languages: 

Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico (US), Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela.  

Yes, you’ve seen it right, Spanish also marks its presence in the African country of Equatorial Guinea, where it is spoken by approximately 85% of the population. The reason for this is that Equatorial Guinea, formerly known as Spanish Guinea, was also colonised by Spain from 1778 till 1968. But that’s not all. The Spanish language is also commonly used in the United States (wait for more on that), Belize, Andorra, Aruba, the Caribbean Netherlands, Guam, Gibraltar and the Philippines.  

Mexico is the country with most Spanish speakers 

Mexico is the largest Spanish-speaking nation in the world, with close to 130 million users. As a fun fact, this federal republic has no official tongue, but 69 national languages among which Spanish, Nahuatl, Mayan, Tseltal and Tzotzil stand out. Can you tell which country ranks second? Surprisingly (or not), the United States of America (USA) hosts the second-biggest population of Spanish speakers around the globe, ahead of Colombia, Spain and Argentina. In 2021, there were almost 57 million speakers, 42 of which were native users. The latter figure corresponds to 13.5% of the whole population! These numbers are expected to rise further, reaching a total of 111 million speakers by 2060. In other words, nearly one-third of all US citizens will be fluent in Spanish. 

You can use both, since the terms “español” and “castellano” in Spanish refer to the same language. The tongue we all know in English as “Spanish” originated from vulgar Latin in the Castile area of Spain, hence the name “Castilian.” Depending on where you are, you will hear one or the other. For example, in the bilingual (or even trilingual) regions of Spain, people tend to employ the word “castellano” to differentiate this language from their regional Spanish tongues. However, "español" is extensively used internationally to designate the whole language, in preference to “castellano" which is associated with European Spanish. In this regard, the Spanish Royal Academy (RAE) recommends favouring the term “español” as it lacks ambiguity and reserves “castellano” to talk about the Spanish dialect currently spoken in the former Kingdom of Castile. In any case, whatever name you choose, everyone will understand you! 

*Español VS Castellano

Spanish vocabulary has Arabic roots  

After Latin, the language that has historically exerted the biggest influence on Spanish is Arabic! For almost 800 hundred years, large parts of the Iberian Peninsula were under Muslim rule, where Arabic and Mozarabic (a group of Romance dialects with a wealth of Arabic loanwords) were spoken and flourished. In 1492, following the famous "Reconquista" (Reconquest in English), the Arabs (and the Jews) were expelled from the area by Christian forces, but they left their mark in the vocabulary of our tongue. It is estimated that around 10,000 words of modern Spanish have their origins in the Arabic language. Some of them include: Aceite (oil), aceituna (olive), almohada (pillow), arroz (rice), berenjena (aubergine), hasta (until) and jarra (jug).  

The letters “b” and “v” sound exactly the same 

One of the most common headaches for people who are learning Spanish is knowing when to write “b” or “v.” This is because there is no difference between them as far as sound goes. They are both pronounced as the English “b.” Aside from some speakers influenced by their regional languages, you won’t find the labio-dental “v” sound because it doesn’t exist in Spanish. And what’s the point?, you may wonder. Even if they are completely indistinguishable, having both “b” and “v” in the alphabet is useful, especially to differentiate words which sound the same but have different meanings, that is homophones. An example is “bello,” which means beautiful, and “vello,” which indicates body hair. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but your listening skills alone won’t be of any help. You’ll have to learn a few rules! 

Spanish uses inverted questions and exclamation marks  

Which, to be honest, is quite useful, as it gives you a heads-up on what’s coming! Some hundred years ago, the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) recommended the usage of upside-down question marks and exclamation points to indicate the beginning of a question or an exclamation. This allows the reader to anticipate what kind of intonation is required for that given bit before ending the sentence. In Spanish, the word order of an interrogation does not change, so the inverted question mark functions as an added reading guide. When texting or writing informally, people don't use it because it's faster that way, but it is mandatory in any other domain. This linguistic peculiarity is mostly unique to the Spanish language, although it can be found in other tongues that coexist with it, such as Asturleonese. ¿Creéis que es un buen método? 

Bonus track 

• Spanish speakers love in two different ways: In Spanish, we have two words that serve to express our affection for someone: “Te amo” and “Te quiero.” Both are translated as “I love you” but there’s a difference in the degree of intensity. The first one has a deeper meaning and is commonly used in romantic relationships or very close relatives, whilst the latter is less intense and said to friends or recent relationships. 

• The origins of the “Ñ”: The written form of this palatal nasal sound arose in the Spanish monasteries during the Middle Ages, when it was represented as "nn." Due to the shortage of scrolls, monks, who were also working as scribes, started to abbreviate some double letters to fit more words in the lines in a bid to save time and money. Fast forward to present days, this peculiar character has become a marker of the Spanish language, and can be spotted in almost 16,000 words! 

That’s all for today! I hope you’ve enjoyed it :-) I'm interested in knowing your thoughts on the blog post. Share your comments and/or questions here.  

Bernat, OLS Community Manager - Spanish 

*Alhambra, Granada, Andalucía