Interesting facts about the language

Before the Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, Celts, Iberians, Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Basques settled in the area we know today as Spain. All of these peoples' languages were therefore widespread in this region.

In 200 BC, the Second Punic War broke out between the rising Roman Empire and Carthage, which also extended to the Carthaginian settlements on the Iberian Peninsula. With the Roman victory, the influence of the Roman Empire extended across the entire Iberian Peninsula. Only in the western Pyrenees region did the Roman conquerors resist the Romans. To this day, Basque, spoken there, has maintained its independence and stood its ground in the face of all changes.

The Romans were powerful occupiers who spread their language by force of the sword (i.e., through a massive military presence) throughout their sphere of influence. The languages previously established there (including Iberian, Celtic, and Celtiberian) were thus displaced by Latin. Only a few (especially words that were used very frequently in everyday life) were incorporated into the Latin vocabulary. When we speak of "Latin" here, we don't mean the High Latin you may have learned in school. This High Latin was already in use at that time – albeit only as a written language. The language actually spoken was so-called Vulgar Latin. This Vulgar Latin is also considered the "original language" of all Romance languages. This language was spoken throughout the Roman sphere of influence and adopted by the conquered peoples, enriching them with their own vocabulary. This is how the Romance languages developed.

But now back to the history of the Spanish language: Until around 400 AD, the Romans exerted significant influence on Spain. After that (414 AD to be precise), the Goths invaded Spain and ruled the country for the next 300 years. This rule, however, had very little impact on the language. Latin continued to be spoken, and only a few words of Germanic origin found their way into the vocabulary of the developing Spanish language.

Only one other language has left its mark on Spanish history: Arabic. In 711, Arab conquerors invaded and occupied Spain. Their culture left far more traces than that of the Goths. Arabic influences can be found not only in the language but also in Spanish cuisine. A linguistic example: The Spanish word for "hopefully" – ojalá – is of Arabic origin and is derived from the expression "Inshallah – God willing."

Over the centuries, different dialects developed, each deviating to a greater or lesser extent from Vulgar Latin. Among all these different Latin dialects, the dialect spoken in the Kingdom of Castile eventually prevailed. Initially, all documents and inscriptions were written in Castilian (Castellano). Eventually, Castilian became the language of the Spanish court.

And today, Castilian, the language of Spain, is a global language. If you ask yourself, "Do you speak Spanish? – Hablas español?", around 360 million people will answer "Sí. – Yes." Another 80 million people can also answer these questions in the affirmative, because they speak Spanish as a second language. Not counting the many millions who have learned it as a foreign language – and you will soon be able to count yourself among them.

With 360 million native speakers, Spanish is the fourth most widely spoken language in the world, after Mandarin (with over 870 million native speakers), English, and Hindi. Spanish is spoken on four continents. In Europe, Spanish is found—of course—in Spain. In the Americas, it is spoken in Mexico and in all Latin American countries (except Brazil). In addition, there are around 30 million native Spanish speakers in the United States. In Africa, Spanish is the official language (along with French) in Equatorial Guinea.

And last but not least, Spanish is spoken by a minority in Asia, namely in the Philippines. The Philippines was once one of Spain's numerous colonies. The Spanish alphabet consists of 29 letters and three language-specific special letters.