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The Spanish LanguageSpanish, a Romance language, derives from Latin, with Castilian being considered to be the purest form of Spanish. Spanish or Castilian is an Iberian Romance language spoken as a first language by about 352 million people, or by 417 million including non-native speakers. Spanish and English are practically neck in neck to be the second most commonly used language in the world.
Other countries or semi-autonomous areas with significant Spanish-speaking populations include Andorra, Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Gibraltar, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, the United States and Venezuela. Source: Ethnologue. In Spain, the North Castilian dialect is generally considered to be the standard type. In Latin America, Mexico, Colombia, Peru or Bolivia have their own regional dialects but share one standard variety also known as "High Land Spanish". Spanish in Spain and Spanish in Latin America vary slightly with the evolving development since the colonization of the Americas. In Latin America the use of indigenous words and differing pronunciation mark the differences between the mainland’s Spanish. Modern Spanish has an estimated 4,000 words with Arabic roots. |
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The majority
of Spanish speakers are in Latin America; followed by the United States
and Spain itself. Nearly no Spanish is spoken in Africa, except for
Equatorial Guinea and Western Sahara, or Asia, where it is only spoken
in some areas of the Philippines.