SPANISH FACTS:

NATIVE: Español

NATIVE SPEAKERS: 570 million total

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE IN 20 COUNTRIES: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, Venezuela

WRITING SYSTEMS: Latin (Spanish alphabet)

REGULATED BY: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (Association of Spanish Language Academies)

Language

Spanish is a Romance language and part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages. Like other Romance languages, Spanish generally features SVO (subject-verb-object) syntax and is right branching. The noun system is two-gendered.

Economic Significance

With 570 million speakers, no international business can ignore the importance of the Spanish language.

History

Spanish evolved from the Latin dialect spoken in the northern Iberian Peninsula after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Old Spanish was spoken between the 5^th century and 16^th century. Attempts at standardization occurred in the 13^th century by King Alfonzo X of Castille. Modern Spanish began in the 16^th century. Spanish was brought to the Americas in the 15^th century.

Dialects

Regional variations of the Spanish language are quite different from one another, especially in pronunciation and vocabulary, but less so in grammar.

Hispanic American Spanish: Mexico and the United States, Caribbean, Andean-Pacific, Rioplatense, Central American, Chilean

Old World Spanish: Northern Peninsular, Southern Peninsular, Central-Southern Peninsular, Canarian