Do you know that another name for Spanish is Castilian? It is an Iberian Romance language. Spanish is a beautiful language. It is widely used in global business. People living in Spain compare this language with other languages that people around the world call it Español. On the contrary, if they compare it to other languages that people speak in Spain called Catalan, Basque, and Galician. In 1978, the constitution of Spain declared it an official language of Spain.
Facts About the Spanish Language
Around, 450 million people speak Spanish around the world. It ranked 2nd number after Mandarin Chinese. According to Spain’s Cervantes Institute, 8% of the global population speaks this language. The majority of Spanish people reside in Mexico. Moreover, the second largest Spanish nation is the USA because the largest Spanish-speaking community known as the Hispanic community resides there. To communicate with 8% of the world’s population, Spanish translation services can be of great help.
Let’s dive into some of the facts about Spanish.
Spanish is Derived from Vulgar Latin
The Spanish language has a great association with the Arabic language. This is because of Arab rule in Spain in the Middle ages. The Spanish gained popularity after Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula. The Spanish language spread during Spain,s colonial empire in America. During this era, many Amerindian words at included in it.
Arabic has Great Influence on Spanish
Arabs conquered the Iberian Peninsula in 711. They brought with them Arabic architecture, art, and language to the region. Arab mixed with Spanish resulted in the Spanish language that we speak today. The Spanish expelled the Arabs in 1492, However, at that time Spanish contains around 8,000 Arabic words. Other than Latin, the Spanish language contains several Arabic words. Therefore to differentiate between the Arab and Spanish languages, you must take assistance from professional Arabic translation services.
Spanish Texts are Thousand Years Old
It was observed that Las Glosas Emilianenses was composed in 964 AD. They were the written manuscripts written in Basque and Spanish. It was considered that the author of this manuscript was Monk. Another assumption made by Real Academia Espanola in 2010 was that written scripts of Spanish were found in the Burgos province’s “Cartularies of Valpuesta in the ninth century. Moreover, the first literary work of Spanish was witnessed in the 12th century in the form anonymous poem El Cantar del Mio Cid,
People Speak Spanish with Regional Dialects
Spanish is derived from Latin and spread from the Iberian Peninsula of Latin America because of colonization. The Spanish spoken in Spain is entirely different from the Spanish spoken in Latin America. The important thing to note is that you can find variations in the Spanish language within Latin America. The difference in vocabulary, punctuation, and vocabulary are recognizable. Therefore, if you want to visit a Spanish-speaking country in the world then if you can speak neutral Spanish you want to face any problem.
The difference in dialects is because of colonies that emerged independently from one another and even in Spain. At that time there were no telephones, emails, Skype, and WhatsApp. Therefore some part of the Spanish language was retained. Moreover, many regions have developed their vocabulary, accents, and slang with time.
Spanish is Lexically Similar to French
In the world of linguists, lexical similarity means the use of similar words in both languages. It is checked by comparing a list of standardized words in both languages. Then the list is made containing the same meaning in both languages. 85% shows that languages are quite similar. The Spanish and Catalan have 85% lexical similarities. When we compare Spanish and French then they are 75% lexically similar. For example, the country is called pais in Spanish and pays in French. The research has shown that despite lexical similarities, the Spanish person is unable to understand French. Here the French translation services can be of great help.
The Royal Spanish Academy is Responsible for the Language Growth
The custodian of the Spanish language is Royal Spanish Academy. The head office of this academy is in Madrid. It runs different other language institutes in all the Spanish-speaking countries with the assistance of Spanish language Academies. This academy created exclamation marks and questions in the Spanish language. They introduced the letter n in the eighteenth century and they are still responsible for it.
The Spanish language is High in Demand
Spain is a very famous tourist and foreign study destination. People from around the world come to Spain to pursue higher education. Many universities in developing countries have made it compulsory to study one foreign language in their post-graduate program. Because of the popularity of the Spanish language, people are selecting the Spanish language for learning.
Spanish is the third most used language on the internet after Mandarin and English. It is estimated that 10% of the world’s population will start understanding Spanish in the coming years.
Wrapping Up
The above-mentioned facts show the Spanish language enriched the heritage. This language holds a significant position in the linguistic world. Whether it is in English-speaking countries in Africa or Asia, it is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world.
