It is possible to think that you are an expert on Spanish. But, Spanish is everywhere around us. Read more amazing facts about Spanish!
Spanish is an increasingly popular language. It is a beautiful language that has a large global impact on culture and business.
It is spoken in many different areas of the globe, so Spanish speakers can communicate with people from all walks of life in Spanish-speaking countries.
Despite its ubiquitous nature, there are still some interesting facts about Spanish. These interesting facts about Spanish will spark your curiosity.
12 Unbelievably Interesting Facts about Spanish Language
1. Over 400 million people speak Spanish
Spanish is spoken by an estimated 400-450 millions people worldwide, making it the second most used language.
Spanish is second to Chinese, which is spoken daily by more than a billion people. It far surpasses all other languages.
Spanish is more popular than English due to its greater number of speakers. English, however, comes in third with 335,000,000 native speakers all over the globe.
2. Spanish is the official language of 21 countries
Spanish is an official language in 21 countries throughout Europe, Africa and South America. This makes it a highly important global language.
It is not only the main language of these 21 sovereign countries, but it is also used in a few dependent territories.
Many people living in these areas use Spanish as their only language to communicate. All official correspondence is in Spanish. Spanish is also taught in schools.
English is spoken in 112 different countries. This makes it the most widely used language in terms of number of people who speak it. French comes in second place with 60 languages, while Arabic is third with 57 countries that speak Arabic.
Although Spanish is fourth in this category, it still ranks as one of the most important languages in the world. Many international organizations and companies, including the United Nations have adopted Spanish as their official language.
3. Spanish is a Romance Language
Spanish is one of the Indo-European languages. These languages include French, English and Russian as well as German, Slavic, Scandinavian, and various Indian languages. The Indo-European languages were first spread throughout Europe and South Asia, before being colonized in other parts of the globe.
“Indo-European” is a geographic name that refers to the languages’ most eastern reaches in India and their most western reaches across Europe.
Spanish, Catalan and Italian are all classified as Romance languages.
Although you probably know that Spanish is a Romance language at some level, the significance of this language goes much deeper than you might think. These intercontinental connections are what give Spanish an advantage. Understanding Spanish’s roots and relationships to other languages will help you understand it linguistically, historically, and culturally.
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4. Spanish is Latin in origin
A particular type of spoken Latin is the source of the Spanish language. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 5th century, this dialect was developed in central-northern Iberian Peninsula.
From the 13th century to the 16th century, Toledo created a standard written language and Madrid did the same through the 1500s. The language has spread southward towards the Mediterranean over the past 1,000 years.
It was adopted by the Spanish Empire, and also the Spanish colonies on the American continents.
5. Spanish can be described in two ways: Castellano or Espanol
Spanish speakers frequently refer to their language as espanol and castellano. Castellano is the Spanish word that means “Castilian”.
These terms can vary from one region to another and can reflect social and political views. The term “Castilian Spanish”, as it is commonly used in English, can refer to the Spanish dialects spoken in the central and northern parts of Spain. Sometimes, the term “Castilian Spanish” is used loosely to refer only to Spanish spoken in Spain.
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6. Spanish is a phonetic language
The majority of people speak a little bit of Spanish. They know tapas (tapas), siesta, cava, tortilla and other words. Spanish also borrows a few words of English from English such as el hotel (hotel) and los jeans (jeans).
However, there are some major differences between English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Spanish, for example, is a phonetic language. This means that each letter is pronounced the same way and represents a particular sound. This means that Spanish is easy to learn for beginners, especially in spelling and speech.
Because of the links between letters and sounds, there are usually no spelling mistakes.
It’s not easy, but it is possible. You can also learn some other tricks from native English speakers.
Spanish is a Latin language that has both masculine and feminine articles and words. Both the genders and articles of adjectives should agree with their associated nouns.
Spanish has more verb parts and tenses than English, with Spanish having more. There are three ways it can address people: tu is the informal “you”, usted the formal “you,” while vosotros is the informal plural form of tu (much as “you all” in Spain or “y’all”) All of these have an impact on verb forms, possessives, and pronouns.
7. The Royal Spanish Academy is the “in charge” for the language
Officially, the Spanish language is maintained by the Royal Spanish Academy. It is based in Madrid, and runs many language academies through its Association of Spanish Language Academies.
The Academy was founded in 18th century. Since then, it has published grammar rules books and dictionaries. These have been adopted by Spain and other Spanish-speaking nations.
The Academy is proud to have invented the inverted question mark and exclamation marks. These are both unique features of Spanish. It is also responsible for the introduction of the letter n to the alphabet in the 18th century.
8. Spanish has many regional accents
We know that Spanish is a descendant of Latin and spread from Iberian Peninsula to Latin America via colonization.
It is fascinating to see that there are many differences between Spanish in Spain and Latin American Spanish. You will also find many differences within Latin America’s Spanish language!
However, there are very few differences in vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and grammar. Communication is easy. It is possible to communicate with almost anyone in the Spanish-speaking world and travel with “neutral” Spanish.
These differences resulted from the fact that colonies developed independently of one another and even Spain.
Some elements of the older Spanish language were preserved and some others lost because communication was very limited. You’ll also find that different regions have developed their own vocabulary, slangs, accents, and language usage quirks over the years.
You can see this in Paraguay and Uruguay, where it is also used. This word is originally used in Spanish, but it was later transferred to the Americas. Vosotros, which means “you” (or “you all”), is used in Spain as the second-person plural. In the three countries mentioned, vos is used now as a polite second-person singular pronoun.
Spain has stopped using it in this manner long ago, but if your visit Buenos Aires, you will likely be asked “?de dos sos?” (Where are you from?) As opposed to “?de dode eres?”
9. Spanish influenced by Arabic
In 711, Arab armies began to conquer the Iberian Peninsula. They brought Arabic art, architecture, and language to the area. The language we speak today is a combination of Arabic and Spanish.
The language was left with 8,000 Arabic words after Spain expelled the Arabs. Spanish is largely influenced by Arabic, Latin and other languages. Many Spanish words you know already come from Arabic.
You’ll find many Spanish places, regions, and historical sites named after Arabic characters as you travel through Spain.
10. Spanish texts dating back over 1000 years are the earliest known.
Las Glosas Emilianenses (Glosses Saint Emilianus), were written in 964 and are widely believed to be the first Spanish texts ever written. These notes are a combination of Spanish and Basque words written on a Latin manuscript.
It is believed that the unknown author was a monk from the Suso monastery. However, in 2010, the Real Academia Espanola announced the discovery of the first written Spanish examples in medieval documents dating back to 9th century. These documents were known as the “Cartularies de Valpuesta” from the Burgos region.
11. Spanish has long sentences and is poetic.
Your text will likely expand between 15 and 25% when you translate from English into Spanish. This is not because Spanish words are more long than English words, and they certainly aren’t as long as German words.
Spanish is more poetic, detailed and expressive than English. This expansion is due to the fact that Spanish has more detail. Spanish uses more words than English to describe something.
The phrase “en el sendido delas agujas” literally means “in direction of the clock’s needles,” but English would say “clockwise”. Spanish does not have a word for “clockwise”, so we must use the phrase!
12. Spanish learning is in high demand
Spain has been a popular destination for foreign students and travel. Spanish language courses at universities and schools have also become more popular. The language is becoming increasingly popular in Asia, which reflects its importance in global economic markets.
Spanish has been used online by 800% more people than ever in recent years. This makes it the third most-used language on the Internet after English and Mandarin.
An estimated 18 million people are studying Spanish as a foreign tongue at the moment. According to forecasts, 10% of the world’s population could learn Spanish in the next few generations, compared with 6% currently. This is a huge leap!
These amazing facts about Spanish language show its long history and how it has grown in today’s world.
This will hopefully be an incentive for people from all walks of life to learn Spanish and enjoy the many benefits it can offer.
