Spanish language language group. Which countries speak Spanish? Spanish speaking countries? Do they speak Russian in Spain?

Spanish: How Many "Spanish Languages" Actually Are There?

In terms of the number of speakers (people who speak the language), Spanish is the second largest language in the world. Only Chinese is ahead of him. more than half a million inhabitants of the earth consider Spanish their native language, in twenty-one states it is recognized as official: in Spain, in most countries of Latin America, in some states of the USA and even in several countries of Asia and Africa (former Spanish colonies: Equatorial Guinea, Western Sahara, in the Philippines). In the United States, Spanish is the second most spoken language after English. Most government agencies in the US (White House, Government, etc.) keep records in both English and Spanish.

The peoples and states for which Spanish is their native and official language feel like a multinational community and are called Hispanidad. The understanding of Spanish-speaking peoples as a cultural community began in the 18th century: in 1713, the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language was created, whose task was to standardize the Spanish language used throughout the world. In the 19th century, most of the Spanish colonies gained independence or came under the control of other states, but the self-perception of Spanish speakers as a community did not disappear and still exists. In some Spanish-speaking countries, the day of the unity of the peoples of the Spanish language, Día de la Hispanidad, is celebrated as a national holiday.

The official language of Spain is the Castilian dialect. This type of Spanish is spoken by more than forty million people. In addition to the official, Spain has three semi-official languages ​​- Catalan, Basque and Galician - and many unrecognized dialects, the most popular of which is Asturian Spanish.

About ten million people speak Catalan: residents of Valencia, the Balearic Islands and Catalonia. The Galician dialect of Spanish is widespread in the regions neighboring Portugal and appeared as a result of mixing Portuguese and Spanish. In terms of grammatical structure, Galician is close to Portuguese, and its phonetics is similar to Spanish. Galician is spoken by over 3 million people in Galicia and Galician communities around the world.

The language of the Basques, a people living in the northern part of Spain and the adjacent southern regions of France, has a mysterious theory of origin. This type of Spanish is not related to Indo-European or any of the other known language families, and is a so-called isolated language. The genetic links of the language have not been established, however, Basque is traditionally included by scientists in the so-called Paleo-Spanish languages, and in a broader sense, in an unclassified and probably heterogeneous group of Mediterranean languages. The Basque dialect is spoken by about 800,000 people, most of whom live in the Spanish-speaking part of the Basque Country region.

The many dialects of Spanish in Latin America are grouped into five main groups. Dialects of the first, Caribbean group, are spoken by Spanish speakers in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama, the Caribbean part of Colombia, and the Caribbean parts of Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Mexico. In the dialects of the second group - in the South American Pacific region - Peru, Chile and Guayaquil, Ecuador. The third, Central American group, includes the dialects of the Spanish language of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. The fourth group is the Argentine-Uruguayan-Paraguayan variant (Argentine-Uruguayan-Paraguayan variant), which includes Eastern Bolivia (Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando). The fifth group is conditionally called Highland Latin American Spanish. This language is spoken by the inhabitants of Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, belonging to the Andes of Colombia and Venezuela, Quito (located at an altitude of 2800 m, the capital of Ecuador), the Peruvian mountain range and Bolivia.

Latin dialects of Spanish are notable for the simplification of some grammatical forms. For example, in comparison with the Castilian dialect, the forms of tense formation are greatly facilitated. The vocabulary and pronunciation of the Latin dialects of the Spanish language are also quite different.

Learning Spanish as a foreign language is becoming more and more popular every year. Spanish is needed today in many areas, from business and business cooperation to travel and personal communication. And how could it be otherwise with a language spoken by half a million people? When teachers from Russia's leading liberal arts universities were asked to choose the most promising languages ​​for learning, they replied that in the next ten years, English, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic should be taught first of all. Every year these languages ​​will become more and more in demand.

And, of course, any school of foreign languages ​​today offers a huge number of Spanish courses based on a variety of methods. Professionals consider communicative one of the most effective and popular methods of learning Spanish. It is based on the fact that classes are held exclusively in Spanish. This contributes to complete immersion in the language environment and overcoming the language barrier by students. The fastest and most meaningful results can be achieved by learning Spanish with a native speaker. But whatever method of learning you choose - Spanish courses or Spanish classes with a native speaker - first of all it all depends on you, your willingness to learn the language and love for it.

It is one of the most widely spoken languages ​​on the planet and is represented on almost all continents, this is due both to the colonial past of Spain and to the active settlement of the Spaniards around the world in the 20th century. The civil war that shook the country in the 20th century became a catalyst for the active movement of Spaniards around the world, and many supporters of communism, fleeing from fascist persecutors, ended up even in the Soviet Union.

Spanish speaking countries

Based on the fact that a Spanish-speaking country is considered with a fairly large number of people for whom Spanish is native, then in the world you can count more than forty countries that meet this criterion.

First of all, of course, Spanish is the official language. But there are twenty-two other countries in which Spanish is officially recognized. The community of Spanish-speaking countries traditionally includes states where the language has official status.

The list of Spanish speaking countries is as follows:

• Argentina;
• Chile;
• Colombia;
• Bolivia;
• Costa Rica;
• Cuba;
• Dominican Republic;
• Ecuador;
• Guatemala;
• Honduras;
• Mexico;
• Nicaragua;
• Panama;
• Paraguay;
• Peru;
• Puerto Rico;
• Salvador;
• Uruguay;
• Venezuela;
• Spain;
• Philippines.

The Spanish-speaking countries of Africa include the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic. The dominant position of the Spanish language in these countries was achieved thanks to the aggressive colonialist policy of Spain, which lasted for four centuries. During this time, Spanish-speaking countries appeared in all parts of the world, and the language spread from Easter Island, which is now under the control of the Chilean Republic, to the countries

Jewish influence

However, not only colonialism contributed to the spread of the language around the world. There were other events, no less tragic, that influenced this process.

In 1492, the Spanish Queen Isabella shocked the large Jewish community of her country with a decree of incredible cruelty: all Jews had to leave the country or receive holy baptism, which, of course, was unacceptable to orthodox Jews. Death awaited those who disobeyed.

Within three months, many Jewish families left the kingdom, carrying with them, in addition to personal belongings, also the language and culture of the Spanish kingdom. So the Spanish language was brought to the territory of the Ottoman Empire, and then to the State of Israel.

In addition, numerous Spanish and Jewish settlers brought the language to Morocco, where it was safe for a long time due to the traditional religious tolerance of the Islamic rulers.

Spanish in the USA

The United States constitution does not contain a word about the state language, and most states do not have special laws regulating this issue. However, along with English, Spanish is widely used in the country, therefore, although the United States is not considered a Spanish-speaking country, in some states Spanish is also used in public institutions.

A large number of Hispanic Americans is associated not only with migration, as it may seem, but also with the historical events of the nineteenth century, when Mexico and the United States actively competed for influence in North America.

The result of this confrontation was a devastating war that lasted two years from 1846 to 1848. As a result of the war, more than a million square kilometers of land were alienated from Mexico, which accounted for almost half of the territory of the losing country. Along with these lands, the United States also got Spanish-speaking citizens. Since then, Spanish has been the second most spoken language in many southern states, and in some states Spanish is spoken by the majority of the population.

Spanish will definitely come in handy in life, especially if you are going to travel to Latin America and other countries where it is spoken.

Of course, it is not as popular for learning as English, but it also boasts a multimillion-dollar army of speakers. In addition, it is the second largest in the world in terms of the number of speakers, after Chinese. At last count, more than half a billion people speak it fluently!

Named after Spain, it actually originated in the medieval kingdom of Castile. It is also called Castilian, both names are common among the Hispanic population. Researchers have not come to a consensus on which option is correct.

Spanish dialects

Differences in dialects are observed both in grammar and vocabulary, and in phonetics. This difference is especially visible when comparing the dialect with the "classical" Castilian variant. For example, some grammatical aspects are greatly simplified in dialects, and many synonyms are used in vocabulary. Many dialects are common in Latin America: Argentine, Cuban, Mexican and others.

As for Basque, Galician and Catalan, these are separate languages ​​with their own history. The study of Spanish is usually based on the national version of Castilian Spanish, and textbooks are published in it.

Mexico

The place where it is most common, surprisingly, is Mexico. The number of Spanish speakers here exceeds 100 million people. However, this is not surprising if we recall the history - after the discovery of America, Mexico was settled by the Spanish conquistadors.

At the end of the 15th century, the language was standardized and spread throughout the world. In Mexico, it is also divided into dialects, for example, there is North American and Peruvian. Although Mexico positions itself as a multinational state and recognizes 68 more languages ​​along with Spanish. After all, the population of this country consists of indigenous peoples who lived here even before the arrival of the conquerors from the Old World.

It took several centuries for the number of Spanish speakers in Mexico to exceed 90% of the population. Now the government of the country intends to preserve those indigenous dialects that still remain. Interestingly, any resident of Mexico can apply to government agencies in their native language, and not in Spanish.

Spain

The second country where they speak Spanish, of course, is Spain. Over 47 million people speak it here. By the way, there is still debate about how to call it correctly - Spanish or Castilian. In addition, in Spain you can meet others - for example, Catalan and Baksky.

And the official language of the country itself originated in Castile, and earlier it was called Castilian. However, the name Castilian is more suitable for the variant spoken in this region in the Middle Ages. But Spanish also sounds incorrect, because there are other dialects in Spain. As a result, the Spaniards agreed in unanimous opinion and call it Castilian when it is spoken about inside the country, and abroad they say "Spanish".

In general, the Spaniards are very reverent for their languages ​​and try to revive even the rarest dialects. For example, Aragonese is practically on the verge of extinction, but the authorities are conducting special programs to preserve it.

Colombia

In the Republic of Colombia, which neighbors Brazil, Spanish is spoken by more than 45 million people - almost the population of Spain. In this country, there is an active mixture of many cultures, primarily Europeans, indigenous peoples and Africans. Colombia is on the list of states where Spanish is official - almost 99% of the population speaks it.

On the territory of Colombia, you can find dialects of indigenous peoples, even rare ones such as Creole or Gypsy. And the classical version itself in this country is divided into various dialects that differ in morphology, syntax and semantics. However, they all have characteristic Spanish features that unite them.

Argentina

It is home to 41 million Hispanic residents. As in other South American lands, he came here along with the colonists. Almost the entire indigenous population of these lands was destroyed with the arrival of Europeans, in particular, the Spaniards. More than 85% of the population of Argentina are descendants of Spanish settlers, and only 1.5% are the remaining indigenous peoples.

However, here Spanish also has its own dialects that cannot be found elsewhere. Dominant throughout the country is the Rioplat dialect - an dialect formed from the first European colonists. Each region has its own dialect, distinct from others, derived from the Rioplat dialect.

USA

There are 35 million Hispanics in the United States of America. This is approximately 12% of the total population. This also happened historically - the territory, which is now called, several centuries ago attracted several influential states at once.

Spain, England, France and others fought for the right to live here. Of course, the Spanish navigators were the first, but soon their influence weakened. The British and French arrived on the continent, and the division of territories began. In the course of land development and the war between the US and Mexico, mostly English-speaking states were formed, but there are also Spanish ones.

Jewish influence

A huge influence on the spread of Spanish around the world was not only the Spaniards who went to the New World. Queen Isabella of Castile, under whom the era of the exploration of America began, is famous for the Spanish Inquisition. Starting in the 1480s, she, along with her husband Ferdinand, expelled 10,000 Jews from Spain.

They had a choice - to change their faith or leave the country. Those who refused were tortured and placed in closed quarters called ghettos. Most of the Jews still went abroad and spread the Spanish culture in different parts of the world.

In addition, Spanish is spoken in Peru, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Chile, Venezuela, Honduras and other countries. There is even a special term, Hispanidad, which refers to a group of countries where Spanish is recognized as official. In total, this group includes 23 states.