The Spanish Language

Sometimes also known as Castilian, Spanish originated in the Castile region of the country and is spoken, as a native tongue, by some 400 million people.

In terms of native speakers this puts it second only to Mandarin! Spanish is an official language of the EU, the UN and Mercosur. Spanish was first documented in the 9th century, in central northern region of the Iberian Peninsula, after which it spread, along with the Kingdom of Castile, across the rest of Iberia. From its earliest days Spanish vocabulary was influenced by several Ibero-Romance languages, especially Basque.

However, following the Moorish occupation of the region it began to incorporate numerous Arabic words. In addition, words from non-Iberian languages, such as Occitan, Italian, Sardinian and French and in more recent times English have also been added. During the 16th century the Spanish language was exported to the country’s newly acquired territories around the world, including North and South America, the Caribbean, Oceania, Africa and the Philippines.

Today, there are large populations of Spanish speakers across the Americas, from Patagonia in the south to New York in the north, making it the most widely understood and spoken language in the Western Hemisphere. For many decades French retained its position as the world’s second most studied language in international communication, behind English.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, however, there is a strong case for arguing that Spanish has leapfrogged into second place. What is more, it is now being taught in more schools and colleges around the world than ever before and there is an ever growing demand for Spanish speaking interpreters and translators.