10 Interesting Fun Facts about the Spanish Language
Spanish is a Romance language that originated in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It is native to 483 million native speakers who are mostly from America and Spain. You must be curious to know about this amazing language. Let’s have a look at 10 interesting fun facts about the Spanish language.
Official Language of 21 countries
Spanish is the official language of 21 countries. These 21 countries are from Africa, Europe, North and South America. It makes Spanish a global language. It is not only the language of these 21 states, but it is also the language of dependent territories. In all these places, Spanish is used for communication and all official documents and correspondence are done in Spanish. It is also used in schools for teaching. Although English is spoken in 112 countries and it is a widespread language in terms of the number of speakers, French is second with 60 countries speaking the language and Arabic is third with 57 countries that communicate in Arabic. Spanish ranks at a fourth-place that makes it an important language in the world. Many global organizations and companies including the United Nations are using Spanish as one of their official languages.
The Spanish language is derived from a specific type of spoken Latin. This dialect is from the central-northern region of the Iberian Peninsula that was developed after the demise of the Western Roman Empire. In the 13th till 16th centuries, Toledo developed a written language and Madrid also followed it in the 1500s. In the last 1000 years, the language spread from the South towards the Mediterranean. It was then adopted by the Spanish empire, especially in the Spanish colonies that are established in the American continents.
The Spanish language is from the Indo-European group of languages that includes English, French, German, Russian, Scandinavian, Slavic languages, and various languages from India. These languages spread across Europe and many areas of South Asia before entering the different parts of the world through colonization. Spanish is known as a Romance language just like Catalan, French, Italian, Romanian, and Portuguese. The Spanish as a Romance language has very deeper importance because all these intercontinental connections give Spanish a separate identity. If we understand the roots and relationships of the Spanish language with other languages, then we can understand this amazing language, historically, culturally, and linguistically.
Two Spanish names: Castellano and Español
The other two names of the Spanish language are Espanol and Castellano. The Castellano is the Spanish word for Castilian. These terms vary from region to region, and they also depict political and social views. Castilian Spanish depicts individual Spanish that is spoken in central and northern parts of Spain. It also depicts Spanish that is spoken in Spain in contradiction with Spanish spoken in Latin America.
Spanish is a phonetic language that shows that every letter is pronounced consistently and every letter represents a certain sound. It is a very easy language for novices to learn. Spanish is also a gendered language about masculine, feminine, words, and articles. The gender adjectives are related to their accompanying nouns, and they represent articles of those nouns. Spanish has more tenses and a great number of verbs as compared to English. It impacts the verb forms, pronouns, and possessives.
Long Sentences and Poetic Language
While translation from English to Spanish, your text will expand from 15 to 25%. No doubt that words in Spanish are longer than English words, but they are not longer than German words. The reason behind this expansion is that Spanish is a more poetic, more expressive, and more detailed language.
Royal Spanish Academy
The Royal Spanish Academy regulates the Spanish language. Its head office is in Madrid. It operates different language academies through the association of Spanish language academies in 21 countries. This academy came into existence in the 18th century. It has developed grammar rule books and published dictionaries. These books are officially adopted in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries. This academy is the first to invent exclamation marks and inverted questions. It is a unique addition to the Spanish language.
Arabic Influence on the Spanish Language
Arab armies conquered the Iberian Peninsula in 711. It brought architecture, Arabic art, and the language in the region. Spanish mixed with Arabic became the language that is spoken today. When Arabs left Spain in 1492, the Arab language at that time had 8,000 Arabic words. Just like Latin, the Arabic language has a great contribution to the Spanish language. Many words that we speak in the Spanish language come from Arabic. If you get a chance to travel to Spain, then you will come across many historic sites and regions that are named in the Arabic language.
Different Dialects of Spanish Language
There is a little difference in Spanish of Latin America and Spanish of Spain, but there is a great discrepancy in the Spanish that is spoken within Latin America. The important thing to note is that there are vocabulary, punctuation, and grammar differences, but communication is easy. If you have a neutral Spanish speaking skill, then you can manage your trip to Spain. The discrepancy is because the colonies developed independently in Spain and in other regions. At that time there is not much communication, so a glimpse of older Spanish is seen in the language. Moreover, in many areas’ different dialects of vocabulary and slang are developed with time.
Learning Spanish is in demand
Spain is a very famous tourist spot and people from all around the world came here for studies. In many schools and universities, Spanish is taught religiously. Spanish is a very important language in Asia and in global economic markets. There are approximately 18 million people that are studying Spanish as a foreign language. This shows that in near future 10% of the world’s population will understand Spanish.
Spanish is the language of great heritage and civilization. It is very important to know Spanish so that you can make your place in the globalized world. If you are in the learning phase and want a translation of documents in Spanish, Don’t worry. CCJK is here for you. We have a team of native translators that can provide you with robust Spanish translation services in fast turnaround time and economical rates. For further details, Contact us.
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