query: what countries has spanish as their official language?

title: Spanish language

text: English and Mandarin. In Europe, Spanish is an official language of Spain, the country after which it is named and from which it originated. It is widely spoken in Gibraltar, and also commonly spoken in Andorra, although Catalan is the official language there. Spanish is also spoken by small communities in other European countries, such as the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany. Spanish is an official language of the European Union. In Switzerland, which had a massive influx of Spanish migrants in the 20th century, Spanish is the native language of 2.2% of the population. Most Spanish speakers are

title: History of the Spanish language

text: and early 20th centuries. There, the countries' large (or sizable minority) population groups of second- and third-generation descendants adopted the Spanish language as part of their governments' official assimilation policies to include Europeans. In some countries, they had to be Catholics and agreed to take an oath of allegiance to their chosen nation's government. When Puerto Rico became a possession of the United States as a consequence of the Spanish–American War, its population—almost entirely of Spanish and mixed Afro-Caribbean/Spanish ("mulatto" and "mestizo") descent—retained its inherited Spanish language as a mother tongue, in co-existence with the American-imposed English as co-official. In

title: Spanish language

text: in Hispanic America; of all countries with a majority of Spanish speakers, only Spain and Equatorial Guinea are outside the Americas. Nationally, Spanish is the official language—either "de facto" or "de jure"—of Argentina, Bolivia (co-official with Quechua, Aymara, Guarani, and 34 other languages), Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico (co-official with 63 indigenous languages), Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay (co-official with Guaraní), Peru (co-official with Quechua, Aymara, and "the other indigenous languages"), Puerto Rico (co-official with English), Uruguay, and Venezuela. Spanish has no official recognition in the former British colony of Belize; however, per the

title: History of the Spanish language

text: fought by these colonies in the 19th century, the new ruling elites extended their Spanish to the whole population, including the Amerindian majority, to strengthen national unity, and nowadays it is the first and official language of the resulting republics, except in very isolated parts of the former Spanish colonies. In the late 19th century, the still-Spanish colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico encouraged more immigrants from Spain, and similarly other Spanish-speaking countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, and to a lesser extent Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela, attracted waves of European immigration, Spanish and non-Spanish, in the late 19th

title: Portuguese-speaking African countries

text: Portuguese-speaking African countries The Portuguese-speaking African countries (also referred to as Lusophone Africa) consist of six African countries in which the Portuguese language is an official language: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and, since 2011, Equatorial Guinea. The six countries are former colonies of the Portuguese Empire. From 1778 until independence, Equatorial Guinea was also a colony of the Spanish Empire. In 1992, the five Lusophone African countries formed an interstate organisation called PALOP, a colloquial acronym that translates to African Countries of Portuguese Official Language (). The PALOP countries have signed official agreements with Portugal,

title: Spanish language

text: such as those of Los Angeles, Miami, San Antonio, New York, San Francisco, Dallas, and Phoenix; as well as more recently, Chicago, Las Vegas, Boston, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Nashville, Orlando, Tampa, Raleigh and Baltimore-Washington, D.C. due to 20th- and 21st-century immigration. In Africa, Spanish is official (along with Portuguese and French) in Equatorial Guinea, as well as an official language of the African Union. In Equatorial Guinea, Spanish is the predominant language when native and non-native speakers (around 500,000 people) are counted, while Fang is the most spoken language by number of native speakers.

title: Catalan Countries

text: countries") or others (such as "the linguistic domain of Catalan language") are used instead. Catalan and its variants are spoken in: Catalan is the official language of Andorra, co-official with Spanish and Occitan in Catalonia, co-official with Spanish in the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community—with the denomination of "Valencian" in the latter—and co-official with Italian in the city of Alghero. It is also part of the recognized minority languages of Italy along with Sardinian, also spoken in Alghero. It is not official in Aragon, Murcia or the Pyrénées-Orientales, even though on 10 December 2007 the General Council of the

title: Spanish language

text: in Spain, Equatorial Guinea, and 19 countries in the Americas. Speakers in the Americas total some 418 million. It is also an optional language in the Philippines as it was a Spanish colony from 1569 to 1899. In the European Union, Spanish is the mother tongue of 8% of the population, with an additional 7% speaking it as a second language. Spanish is the most popular second language learned in the United States. In 2011 it was estimated by the American Community Survey that of the 55 million Hispanic United States residents who are five years of age and over,

title: Spanish language in the United States

text: from 78 to 73 percent. As noted above, the only major exception is the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, where Spanish is the official and most commonly used language. Throughout the history of the Southwest United States, the controversial issue of language as part of cultural rights and bilingual state government representation has caused socio-cultural friction between Anglophones and Hispanophones. Currently, Spanish is the most widely taught second language in the United States. California's first constitution recognized Spanish language rights: By 1870, English-speaking Americans were a majority in California; in 1879, the state promulgated a new constitution under which all

title: Spanish language in the United States

text: English is the state's "de facto" official language (though it lacks "de jure" status) and is used in government. However, the continual influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants increased the import of Spanish in Texas. Although it is a part of the Southern United States, Texas's counties bordering Mexico are mostly Hispanic, and consequently, Spanish is commonly spoken in the region. The Government of Texas, through Section 2054.116 of the Government Code, mandates that state agencies provide information on their websites in Spanish to assist residents who have limited English proficiency. The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico recognizes Spanish and English as official

title: Belizean Spanish

text: the central and western parts of the country, including approximately 40,000 Salvadorans (including Salvadoran Mennonites), Guatemalans, Hondurans and Nicaraguans immigrated to Belize in this decade of strife in neighboring countries between 1980 and 1990, this, along with a high fertility rate, dramatically increased the number of Hispanics in Belize, causing concern over the rapid growth of the Spanish language in a country where the official language is English. Belizean Spanish Belizean Spanish (Spanish: "español beliceño") is the dialect of Spanish spoken in Belize. It is similar to Caribbean Spanish, Andalusian Spanish, and Canarian Spanish. While English is the only official

title: Portuguese-speaking African countries

text: postcolonial discourse that attempts to explain the development of the modern nation-state in Lusophone Africa and shed light on its failures. Portuguese-speaking African countries The Portuguese-speaking African countries (also referred to as Lusophone Africa) consist of six African countries in which the Portuguese language is an official language: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and, since 2011, Equatorial Guinea. The six countries are former colonies of the Portuguese Empire. From 1778 until independence, Equatorial Guinea was also a colony of the Spanish Empire. In 1992, the five Lusophone African countries formed an interstate organisation called PALOP, a

title: History of the Spanish language

text: beginning with the Cuban Revolution in 1959, and followed by other Latin American groups; the local majority is now Spanish-speaking). Spanish is now treated as the country's "second language," and over 5 percent of the U.S. population are Spanish-speaking, but most Latino/Hispanic Americans are bilingual or also regularly speak English. The presence of Spanish in Equatorial Guinea dates from the late 18th century, and it was adopted as the official language when independence was granted in 1968. Spanish is widely spoken in Western Sahara, which was a protectorate/colony of Spain from the 1880s to the 1970s. In 1492 Spain expelled

title: Spanish language

text: language course in both public and private secondary schools in Brazil. In September 2016 this law was revoked by Michel Temer after impeachment of Dilma Rousseff. In many border towns and villages along Paraguay and Uruguay, a mixed language known as Portuñol is spoken. According to 2006 census data, 44.3 million people of the U.S. population were Hispanic or Hispanic American by origin; 38.3 million people, 13 percent of the population over five years old speak Spanish at home. The Spanish language has a long history of presence in the United States due to early Spanish and, later, Mexican administration

title: Official language

text: to the government in their native languages. In countries that do not formally designate an official language, a "de facto" national language usually evolves. English is the most common official language, with recognized status in 51 countries. Arabic, French, and Spanish are also widely recognized. An official language that is also an indigenous language is called "endoglossic", one that is not indigenous is "exoglossic". An instance is Nigeria which has three endoglossic official languages. By this the country aims to protect the indigenous languages although at the same time recognising the English language as its lingua franca. Around 500 BC,

title: Official language

text: third with 26 countries and Spanish is fourth with 19 countries, Portuguese is the official language of 9 countries and German is official in 6. Some countries—like Australia, United Kingdom and the United States—have no official language recognized as such at national level. On the other extreme, Bolivia officially recognizes 37 languages, the most by any country in the world. Second to Bolivia is India with 23 official languages. South Africa is the country with the most official languages, all at equal status to one another, in the world. As Bolivia gives primacy to Spanish and India gives primacy to

title: Spanish language

text: 2000 census, it is spoken by 43% of the population. Mainly, it is spoken by the descendants of Hispanics who have been in the region since the seventeenth century; however, English is the official language. Due to their proximity to Spanish-speaking countries, Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil have implemented Spanish language teaching into their education systems. The Trinidad government launched the "Spanish as a First Foreign Language" (SAFFL) initiative in March 2005. In 2005, the National Congress of Brazil approved a bill, signed into law by the President, making it mandatory for schools to offer Spanish as an alternative foreign

title: Official language

text: both English and Hindi. The selection of an official language (or no official language) is often contentious. An alternative to having a single official language is "official multilingualism", where a government recognizes multiple official languages. Under this system, all government services are available in all official languages. Each citizen may choose their preferred language when conducting business. Most countries are multilingual and many are officially multilingual. Taiwan, Canada, Philippines, Belgium, Switzerland, and the European Union are examples of official multilingualism. This has been described as controversial and, in some other areas where it has been proposed, the idea has been

title: Spanish language

text: is a worldwide nonprofit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991. This organization has branched out in over 20 different countries, with 54 centers devoted to the Spanish and Hispanic American cultures and Spanish language. The ultimate goals of the Institute are to promote universally the education, the study, and the use of Spanish as a second language, to support methods and activities that help the process of Spanish-language education, and to contribute to the advancement of the Spanish and Hispanic American cultures in non-Spanish-speaking countries. The Institute's 2015 report "El español, una lengua viva" (Spanish, a living language)

title: Official language

text: one, or the only, official language, while courts have found that residents in the 50 states do not have a right to government services in their preferred language. Public debate in the last few decades has focused on whether Spanish should be recognized by the government, or whether all business should be done in English. California allows people to take their driving test in the following 32 languages: Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Chinese, Croatian, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Laotian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Spanish, Tagalog/Filipino, Thai, Tongan, Turkish, and

title: Official language

text: language with government agencies. German is the official language of Germany. However, its minority languages include Sorbian (Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian), Romani, Danish and North Frisian, which are officially recognised. Migrant languages like Turkish, Russian and Spanish are widespread, but are not officially recognised languages. Hong Kong has two official languages: English and Chinese. Hong Kong Cantonese is used in daily conversation and Traditional Chinese used to be the common Chinese writing system in Hong Kong. English is considered as second language of most of the Hong Kongers. Since 1997 handover, Hong Kong's written official spoken Chinese language are

title: Official language

text: United States) have never declared official languages at the national level. Other nations have declared non-indigenous official languages. "The Philippines and parts of Africa live with a peculiar cultural paradox. Although the official languages [in Africa] may be French or English, these are not the languages most widely spoken by [the country's] residents." Worldwide, 178 countries have at least one official language, and 101 of these countries recognise more than one language. Many of the world's constitutions mention one or more official or national languages. Some countries use the official language designation to empower indigenous groups by giving them access

title: Spanish as a second or foreign language

text: Spanish)) and was approved by Resolution 28 in January 2005. The CELU (Certificate of Use of Language in Spanish) is a certificate of competence in the Spanish language from Argentina. Like the DELE (Diploma de Español como Lengua Extranjera), it also has international validity. The Certificate can be taken by speakers of any language other than Spanish in order to validate their knowledge of Spanish as a second language in their work or study. In Argentina it is the only examination officially recognised by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Culture. Any speaker who can

title: Spanish language

text: their first and only language and about 60% of the population spoke it as their second or third language. Despite American administration after the defeat of Spain in the Spanish–American War in 1898, the usage of Spanish continued in Philippine literature and press during the early years of American administration. Gradually, however, the American government began increasingly promoting the use of English, and it characterized Spanish as a negative influence of the past. Eventually, by the 1920s, English became the primary language of administration and education. But despite a significant decrease in influence and speakers, Spanish remained an official language

title: Official language

text: Official language An official language is a language given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a country's official language refers to the language used within government (judiciary, legislature, administration). Since "the means of expression of a people cannot be changed by any law", the term "official language" does not typically refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government. About half the countries of the world have declared one or more official languages. The government of Italy officialised Italian only in 1999, and some nations (such as the

title: Spanish language in the United States

text: well" in the 2000 U.S. Census. This percentage increased to 57% in the 2013-2017 American Community Survey. The United States is among the Spanish-speaking countries that has its own Academy of the Spanish Language. There are more Spanish-speakers in the United States than speakers of French, German, Italian, Hawaiian, varieties of Chinese and Native American languages combined. According to the 2012 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, Spanish is the primary language spoken at home by 38.3 million people aged five or older, more than twice that of 1990. The Spanish language has been present in what

title: Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language

text: Romulo, religious figures such as Emeritus Archbishop of Cebú Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, and academics like Guillermo Gómez Rivera and Miguel Bernad. Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language The Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language (, abbreviated AFLE; ) is the language regulator for the Spanish language in the Philippines. It is one of two Spanish language regulators located in countries where the language does not have an official status nationwide, the other being the North American Academy of the Spanish Language in the United States. A founding member of the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (ASALE), the Academy

title: Spanish as a second or foreign language

text: Meanwhile in 2004, a group of national universities created an inter-university consortium oriented towards the teaching, evaluation and certification of Spanish as a Second or Foreign Language (o ELSE from the Spanish, Español como Lengua Segunda y Extranjera), aiming to contribute to political and educational linguistics. By June of the same year, three national universities (University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Universidad Litoral (UNL) and the University of Córdoba (UNC)) were working together to design and implement the first official examination to measure competence of Spanish as a foreign language. The exam is called CELU (Certificate of Use of Language in

title: History of the Spanish language

text: History of the Spanish language The language known today as Spanish is derived from a dialect of spoken Latin that evolved in the north-central part of the Iberian Peninsula after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century. A written standard was developed in the cities of Toledo (13th to 16th centuries) and Madrid (from the 1560s). Over the past 1,000 years, the language expanded south to the Mediterranean Sea, and was later transferred to the Spanish colonial empire, most notably to the Americas. Today it is the official language of 20 countries, as well as an

title: Official language

text: after unifying the country in 221 BC. Classical Chinese would remain the standard written language for the next 2000 years. Standardization of the spoken language received less political attention, and Mandarin developed on an "ad hoc" basis from the dialects of the various imperial capitals until being officially standardized in the early twentieth century. According to an undated chart by the American pro-English-only organization known as U.S. English, 178 countries have an official language at the national level. Among those, English is the most common with 67 nations giving it official status. French is second with 29 countries, Arabic is

text: Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language The Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language (, abbreviated AFLE; ) is the language regulator for the Spanish language in the Philippines. It is one of two Spanish language regulators located in countries where the language does not have an official status nationwide, the other being the North American Academy of the Spanish Language in the United States. A founding member of the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (ASALE), the Academy was formerly headquartered in the Casino Español de Manila in Ermita, Manila before moving to its current headquarters in Makati. The

title: Spanish language

text: of the Philippines when it became independent in 1946, alongside English and Filipino, a standardized version of Tagalog. Spanish was removed from official status in 1973 under the administration of Ferdinand Marcos, but regained its status as an official language two months later under Presidential Decree No. 155, dated 15 March 1973. It remained an official language until 1987, with the ratification of the present constitution, in which it was re-designated as a voluntary and optional auxiliary language. In 2010, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo encouraged the reintroduction of Spanish-language teaching in the Philippine education system. But by 2012, the number of

title: Official language

text: (according to Article 77 of the Satversme), the initiative, in fact, proposed discontinuing an existing state and establishing a new one that is no longer a nation-state wherein Latvians exercise their rights to self-determination, enjoying and maintaining their cultural uniqueness New Zealand has three official languages. English is the "de facto" and principle official language, accepted in all situations. The Māori language and New Zealand Sign Language both have limited "de jure" official status under the Māori Language Act 1987 and New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006 Urdu is the national language of Pakistan. Urdu and English both are official

title: Spanish language in the United States

text: the United States has no de jure official language, English is the dominant language of business, education, government, religion, media, culture, civil society, and the public sphere. Virtually all state and federal government agencies and large corporations use English as their internal working language, especially at the management level. Some states, such as New Mexico, provide bilingual legislated notices and official documents, in Spanish and English, and other commonly used languages. English is the home language of most Americans, including a growing proportion of Hispanic Americans; between 2000 and 2015, the proportion of Hispanics who spoke Spanish at home decreased

title: Spanish language in the Philippines

text: Spanish language in the Philippines Spanish was the official language of the Philippines from the beginning of Spanish rule in the late 16th century, through the conclusion of the Spanish–American War in 1898. It remained, along with English, as co-official language until 1987. It was at first removed in 1973 by a constitutional change, but after a few months it was re-designated an official language by presidential decree and remained official until 1987, with the present Constitution re-designating it instead as an "optional and voluntary language". Philippine Spanish () is a variant of standard Spanish, spoken in the Philippines by

title: Spanish language

text: Union of South American Nations, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the African Union and by many other international organizations. It is estimated that more than 437 million people speak Spanish as a native language, which qualifies it as second on the lists of languages by number of native speakers. Instituto Cervantes claims that there are an estimated 477 million Spanish speakers with native competence and 572 million Spanish speakers as a first or second language—including speakers with limited competence—and more than 21 million students of Spanish as a foreign language. Spanish is the official or national language

title: Spanish language

text: on the next-to-last (penultimate) syllable. Exceptions to those rules are indicated by an acute accent mark over the vowel of the stressed syllable. (See Spanish orthography.) Spanish is the primary language of 20 countries worldwide. It is estimated that the combined total number of Spanish speakers is between 470 and 500 million, making it the second most widely spoken language in terms of native speakers. Spanish is the third most spoken language by total number of speakers (after Mandarin and English). Internet usage statistics for 2007 also show Spanish as the third most commonly used language on the Internet, after

title: Spanish language

text: era in the Iberian Peninsula. With around 8% of its vocabulary being Arabic in origin, this language is the second most important influence after Latin. It has also been influenced by Basque, Iberian, Celtiberian, Visigothic, and by neighboring Ibero-Romance languages.. Additionally, it has absorbed vocabulary from other languages, particularly the Romance languages—French, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Occitan, and Sardinian—as well as from Nahuatl, Quechua, and other indigenous languages of the Americas. Spanish is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. It is also used as an official language by the European Union, the Organization of American States, the

title: Spanish language

text: contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician, Basque, Asturian, Catalan, Aragonese and Occitan. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term to define the official language of the whole Spanish State in contrast to (lit. "the other Spanish languages"). Article III reads as follows: The Spanish Royal Academy, on the other hand, currently uses the term in its publications, but from 1713 to 1923 called the language . The (a language guide published by the Spanish Royal Academy) states that, although the Spanish Royal Academy prefers to use the term in its publications when referring to

title: Spanish language in the United States

text: business. New Mexico is commonly thought to have Spanish as an official language alongside English because of its wide usage and legal promotion of Spanish in the state; however, the state has no official language. New Mexico's laws are promulgated bilingually in Spanish and English. Although English is the state government's paper working language, government business is often conducted in Spanish, particularly at the local level. Spanish has been spoken in the New Mexico-Colorado border and the contemporary U.S.–Mexico border since the 16th century. Because of its relative isolation from other Spanish-speaking areas over most of its 400-year existence, New

title: Spanish language

text: communities in Angola because of the Cuban influence from the Cold War and in South Sudan among South Sudanese natives that relocated to Cuba during the Sudanese wars and returned in time for their country's independence. In Western Sahara, formerly Spanish Sahara, Spanish was officially spoken during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Today, Spanish in this disputed territory is maintained by populations of Sahrawi nomads numbering about 500,000 people, and is de facto official alongside Arabic in the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, although this entity receives limited international recognition. Spanish was an official language of the Philippines from the

title: Spanish language in the United States

text: Diaz. General: Spanish language in the United States The United States has forty-five million people aged five or older that speak Spanish at home, making Spanish the second most spoken language of the United States. Spanish is the most studied foreign language in United States, with about six million students. With over 50 million native speakers, heritage language speakers and second language speakers, the United States now has the second largest Spanish-speaking population in the world after Mexico, although it is not an official language of the country. About half of all American Spanish speakers also assessed themselves as speaking

title: Spanish language in the United States

text: Spanish language in the United States The United States has forty-five million people aged five or older that speak Spanish at home, making Spanish the second most spoken language of the United States. Spanish is the most studied foreign language in United States, with about six million students. With over 50 million native speakers, heritage language speakers and second language speakers, the United States now has the second largest Spanish-speaking population in the world after Mexico, although it is not an official language of the country. About half of all American Spanish speakers also assessed themselves as speaking English "very

title: Spanish as a second or foreign language

text: are six exams (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2) which can be taken independently (i.e. it is not necessary to pass A1 to get B2) no matter the method of instruction used by the learners. Español en Toledo, a Spanish course started by the University of Castile-La Mancha General Foundation, brings students to monuments and historical sites in the city of Toledo, Spain for more experiential learning. The "Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera" (Certificates of Spanish as a Foreign Language) is an official diploma granted by the Instituto Cervantes on behalf of the Spanish Ministry of Education to

title: Spanish language in the Philippines

text: a speech in the 1920s entitled "Message to My People" in English and in Spanish. Spanish remained an official language of government until a new constitution ratified on January 17, 1973 designated English and Pilipino, spelled in that draft of the constitution with a "P" instead of the more modern "F", as official languages. Shortly thereafter, Presidential Proclamation No. 155 dated March 15, 1973 ordered that the Spanish language should continue to be recognized as an official language so long as government documents in that language remained untranslated. A later constitution ratified in 1987 designated Filipino and English as official

title: Spanish language in the Philippines

text: official language of the Philippines, was quickly redesignated as an official language, and finally did lose official status with the ratification of a subsequent constitution in 1987. The 21st century has seen a revival of interest in the language, with the numbers of those studying it formally at college or taking private courses rising markedly in recent years. Today, the Philippine constitution provides that Spanish shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis. A great portion of the history of the Philippines is written in Spanish and, up until recently, many land titles, contracts, newspapers and literature were still

title: Spanish language

text: indirect object pronouns are a continuation, respectively, of the accusative and dative pronouns of Latin, the ancestor language of Spanish. Deviations from this norm (more common in Spain than in the Americas) are called "", "", or "", according to which respective pronoun, , , or , has expanded beyond the etymological usage ( as a direct object, or or as an indirect object). Some words can be significantly different in different Hispanophone countries. Most Spanish speakers can recognize other Spanish forms even in places where they are not commonly used, but Spaniards generally do not recognize specifically American usages.

title: History of the Spanish language

text: its Jewish population. Their Judaeo-Spanish language, called Ladino, developed along its own lines and continues to be spoken by a dwindling number of speakers, mainly in Israel, Turkey, and Greece. In the Marianas, the Spanish language was retained until the Pacific War, but is no longer spoken there by any significant number of people. Language politics in Francoist Spain declared Spanish as the only official language in Spain, and to this day it is the most widely used language in government, business, public education, the workplace, cultural arts, and the media. But in the 1960s and 1970s, the Spanish parliament

title: English as a second or foreign language

text: state school curriculum in countries where English has no special status (what linguistic theorist Braj Kachru calls the "expanding circle countries"); it may also be supplemented by lessons paid for privately. Teachers of EFL generally assume that students are literate in their mother tongue. The "Chinese EFL Journal" and "Iranian EFL Journal" are examples of international journals dedicated to specifics of English language learning within countries where English is used as a foreign language. The other broad grouping is the use of English within the English-speaking world. In what Braj Kachru calls "the inner circle", i.e., countries such as the

title: Official language

text: languages in Pakistan. Pakistan has more than 60 languages. 52 of them are types of Punjabi. Russian is the official language of the Russian Federation and in all federal subjects, however many minority languages have official status in the areas where they are indigenous. One type of federal subject in Russia, republics, are allowed to adopt additional official languages alongside Russian in their own constitutions. Republics are often based around particular native ethnic groups, and are often areas where ethnic Russians and native Russian-language speakers are a minority. South Africa has eleven official languages that are mostly indigenous. Due to

title: Spanish language

text: Spanish is also spoken in the integral territories of Spain in North Africa, which include the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla, the Plazas de soberanía, and the Canary Islands archipelago (population 2,000,000), located some off the northwest coast of mainland Africa. In northern Morocco, a former Spanish protectorate that is also geographically close to Spain, approximately 20,000 people speak Spanish as a second language, while Arabic is the "de jure" official language. A small number of Moroccan Jews also speak the Sephardic Spanish dialect Haketia (related to the Ladino dialect spoken in Israel). Spanish is spoken by some small

title: Spanish as a second or foreign language

text: evaluate a person's knowledge of Spanish. There are six levels of qualification, each corresponding to a certain level described by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: There are a vast number of resources online, including both resources dedicated specifically to the study of Spanish as a second language, as well as more general resources, such as Infoling. Spanish as a second or foreign language The term Spanish as a second or foreign language is the learning or teaching of the Spanish language for those whose first language is not Spanish. In October 2001, the Ministry of Education, Science

title: Spanish as a second or foreign language

text: Spanish as a second or foreign language The term Spanish as a second or foreign language is the learning or teaching of the Spanish language for those whose first language is not Spanish. In October 2001, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Foreign Relations, International Commerce and Culture of the Argentine Republic approved the guidelines in order to evaluate the knowledge and use of Spanish as a Second or Foreign Language in Argentina. Known as the 'Resoluciones 919 del MECyT and 3164 MRREECIyC)', it recognised the role of universities in the development of the evaluation.

title: Spanish language in South America

text: Spanish language in South America The Spanish language in South America varies within the different countries and regions of the continent. The term "South American Spanish" (Spanish: "español sudamericano" or "español suramericano") is sometimes used as a broad name for the dialects of Spanish spoken on the continent, but such a term is only "geographical" and has little or no "linguistic" relevance. The diverse Spanish dialects of the continent have no unifying feature to set them apart from non-South American varieties. The Spanish of the Andean highlands is historically conservative, having some traits in common with the Spanish of central

title: Spanish language in South America

text: Mexico, while varieties spoken in Argentina and Venezuela share some phonological innovations with the Spanish spoken on Caribbean islands. In some cases a single South American country—for example Colombia—presents a broad spectrum of conservative and innovative dialects. Spanish language in South America The Spanish language in South America varies within the different countries and regions of the continent. The term "South American Spanish" (Spanish: "español sudamericano" or "español suramericano") is sometimes used as a broad name for the dialects of Spanish spoken on the continent, but such a term is only "geographical" and has little or no "linguistic" relevance. The

title: Certificate of Use of Language in Spanish

text: Certificate of Use of Language in Spanish The Certificate of Use of Language in Spanish, or CELU (Spanish: "Certificado de Español: Lengua y Uso"), is an exam designed to determine the level of proficiency in the Argentinian Spanish language. The exam can be taken by anyone whose mother language is not Spanish and needs to demonstrate he has a certain level of proficiency of the language, whether it is for working or studying, in Spanish speaking countries. The exam is required by universities in Argentina for foreigners and it is also accepted as a valid exam in Brazil and China.

title: Official language

text: languages of Taiwan. In 2012 debate over adopting Russian as a regional language in Ukraine caused "an all-out brawl in Parliament", protests, and the resignation of a lawmaker in attempt to block the bill. The de facto official language of the United Kingdom is English. In Wales, the Welsh language, spoken by approximately 20% of the population, has limited de jure official status.. English is the de facto national language of the United States. While there is no official language at the federal level, 32 of the 50 U.S. states and all six inhabited U.S. territories have designated English as

title: Official languages of the United Nations

text: just one official language, French. IFAD has four official languages: Arabic, English, French, and Spanish. The next largest international grouping after the UN is the Commonwealth of Nations which is exclusively English speaking. All other international bodies in commerce, transport and sport have tended to the adoption of one or a few languages as the means of communication. This is usually English, closely followed by French (see: list of international organisations which have French as an official language). Regional groups have adopted what is common to other elements of their ethnic or religious background. Standard Arabic is usually adopted across

title: Spanish language in the Philippines

text: in the Philippine Islands. The revolutionary Malolos Republic of 1899 designated the Spanish language for official use in its constitution, drawn up during the Constitutional Convention in Malolos, Bulacan. During this period, the nascent republic published a number of laws, acts, decrees, and other official issuances. These were published variously in the Spanish, English, and Tagalog languages, with the Spanish language predominating. Spanish was also designated the official language of the Cantonal Republic of Negros of 1898 and the Republic of Zamboanga of 1899. Many Spanish-speaking Filipino families perished during the Philippine–American War. According to the historian James B. Goodno,

title: Names given to the Spanish language

text: the official Spanish language, is the Castilian language (as opposed to regional Spanish languages like Catalan, Asturleonese and Basque). As such both names, "español" and "castellano", have distinct and independent meanings that may be required for clarity in some specific contexts. Generally speaking, though, both terms can be used to refer to the (national) Spanish language as a whole, with a preference for one over the other that depends on the context or the speaker's origin. "Castellano" (as well as "Castilian" in English) has another, more restricted, meaning, relating either to the old Romance language spoken in the Kingdom of

title: History of the Spanish language

text: founded with the voyages of Columbus. Because Old Spanish resembles the modern written language to a relatively high degree, a reader of Modern Spanish can learn to read medieval documents without much difficulty. The Spanish Royal Academy was founded in 1713, largely with the purpose of standardizing the language. The Academy published its first dictionary in six volumes over the period 1726–1739, and its first grammar in 1771, and it continues to produce new editions of both from time to time. (The Academy's dictionary is now accessible on the Internet.) Today, each of the Spanish-speaking countries has an analogous language

text: of Mexican and Hispanic American emigration to the Spanish East Indies over the years. In the Philippines, even if the official languages are Filipino and English, it is clear that Spanish is considered a "de facto" official language, as Section 7, Article XIV of the present 1987 Philippine Constitution specifies Spanish (along with Arabic) as a language to "be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis". Spanish was the language of government, education and trade throughout the three centuries (333 years) of the Philippines being part of the Spanish Empire and continued to serve as a "lingua franca" until the

title: Official language

text: official languages. The Northwest Territories has eleven official languages. All provinces, however, offer some necessary services in both English and French. Canadian advocates of a single official language say it promotes national identity. In Canada, debate has focused on whether the local majority language should be made the exclusive language of public business. In the Canadian province of Quebec, for example, laws restrict the use of the minority English in education, on signs, and in the workplace. According to the Finnish constitution, Finnish and Swedish are the official languages of the republic. Citizens have the right to communicate in either

title: Spanish language in the Philippines

text: It was the main language of many classical writers and Ilustrados such as Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Antonio Luna and Marcelo del Pilar. It is regulated by the Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española, the main Spanish-language regulating body in the Philippines, and a member of the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española, the entity which regulates the Spanish language worldwide. Spanish was the language of government, education and trade throughout the three centuries of Spanish rule and continued to serve as a lingua franca until the first half of the 20th century. Spanish was the official language of

title: Community of Portuguese Language Countries

text: Community of Portuguese Language Countries The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (Portuguese: Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa; abbreviated as CPLP), occasionally known in English as the Lusophone Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organization of Lusophone nations across four continents, where Portuguese is an official language, mostly of former colonies of the Portuguese Empire. The CPLP operates as a privileged multilateral forum for the mutual cooperation of the governments of its members, on both executive and ministerial levels, non-governmental organizations, and the various branches of the CPLP itself. CPLP is a multilateral forum created to deepen mutual friendship and cooperation among

title: Spanish language in the United States

text: become reduced through generational assimilation. Spanish disappeared in several countries and U.S. territories during the 20th century, notably in the Philippines and in the Pacific Island countries of Guam, Micronesia, Palau, the Northern Marianas islands, and the Marshall Islands. The English-only movement seeks to establish English as the sole official language of the United States. Generally, they exert political public pressure upon Hispanophone immigrants to learn English and speak it publicly; as universities, business, and the professions use English, there is much social pressure to learn English for upward socio-economic mobility. Generally, Hispanic American origin US residents (13.4% of the

title: Judaeo-Spanish

text: Judaeo-Spanish Judaeo-Spanish or Judeo-Spanish (, Hebrew script: , Cyrillic: ), commonly referred to as Ladino, is a Romance language derived from Old Spanish. Originally spoken in Spain and then after the Edict of Expulsion spreading through the former territories of the Ottoman Empire (the Balkans, Turkey, the Middle East, and North Africa) as well as France, Italy, the Netherlands, Morocco, and the United Kingdom, it is today spoken mainly by Sephardic minorities in more than 30 countries, with most of the speakers residing in Israel. Although it has no official status in any country, it has been acknowledged as a

title: Official language

text: Cantonese and Mandarin, with spoken Chinese language are simplified and traditional. China's official language is Mandarin and Simplified Chinese which is used as the standard writing system. As time goes by, signage in simplified characters has gained some popularity in a few areas. Some Hong Kong companies may have changed the characters of the signs whilst nearly all Hong Kong people continue to use traditional characters. The Constitution of India (part 17) designates the official language of the Government of India as English as well as Standard Hindi written in the Devanagari script. The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution

title: Names given to the Spanish language

text: Names given to the Spanish language There are two names given in Spanish to the Spanish language: español ("Spanish") and castellano ("Castilian"). Spanish speakers from different countries or backgrounds can show a preference for one term or the other, or use them indiscriminately, but political issues or common usage might lead speakers to prefer one term over the other. This article identifies the differences between those terms, the countries or backgrounds that show a preference for one or the other, and the implications the choice of words might have for a native Spanish-speaker. Formally speaking, the national language of Spain,

title: Spanish language

text: and fricative, the "voiced" ones alternate allophonically (i.e. without phonemic contrast) between plosive and approximant pronunciations. Spanish is classified by its rhythm as a syllable-timed language: each syllable has approximately the same duration regardless of stress. Spanish intonation varies significantly according to dialect but generally conforms to a pattern of falling tone for declarative sentences and wh-questions (who, what, why, etc.) and rising tone for yes/no questions. There are no syntactic markers to distinguish between questions and statements and thus, the recognition of declarative or interrogative depends entirely on intonation. Stress most often occurs on any of the last three

title: Official language

text: differences and keep the country divided. The language used in Montenegro, traditionally considered a dialect of Serbian, became standardized as the Montenegrin language upon Montenegro's declaration (2006) of independence. Official language An official language is a language given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a country's official language refers to the language used within government (judiciary, legislature, administration). Since "the means of expression of a people cannot be changed by any law", the term "official language" does not typically refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government.

title: Spanish language

text: over territories now forming the southwestern states, also Louisiana ruled by Spain from 1762 to 1802, as well as Florida, which was Spanish territory until 1821. Spanish is by far the most common second language in the US, with over 50 million total speakers if non-native or second-language speakers are included. While English is the de facto national language of the country, Spanish is often used in public services and notices at the federal and state levels. Spanish is also used in administration in the state of New Mexico. The language also has a strong influence in major metropolitan areas

title: Official multilingualism

text: official languages. The Philippine constitution designates Filipino as the national language and – along with English – as official languages. Spanish was the national and official language of the country for more than three centuries under Spanish colonial rule, and became the lingua franca of the Philippines in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It remained, along with English, as a de facto official language until removed in 1973 by a constitutional change. After a few months it was re-designated an official language by presidential decree and remained official until 1987, when the present Constitution removed its official status. Spanish

title: Spanish language in the Philippines

text: in the country. Until the Second World War, Spanish was the language of Manila. After the war, the English-speaking U.S. having won three wars [in 1898, against Spain (Spanish–American War); in 1913 (from Philippine–American War to Moro Rebellion) against the Filipino independence; in 1945 against Japan (Philippines Campaign)], the English language was imposed. The Spanish language flourished in the first two decades of the 20th century due to the partial freedom of the press and as an act of defiance against the new rulers. Spanish declined due to the imposition of English as the official language and medium of instruction

title: Spanish language in the Philippines

text: languages, Chinese dialects, and later Japanese produced a series of pidgins, known as Bamboo Spanish, and the Spanish-based creole Chavacano. At one point these were the language of a substantial proportion of the Philippine population. Unsurprisingly, given that the Philippines was administrated for centuries from New Spain in present-day Mexico, Philippine Spanish is broadly similar to American Spanish, not only in vocabulary, but in pronunciation and grammar. Although the Philippines were not as culturally hispanized as Hispanic America, the Spanish language was the official language used by the civil and judicial administration, and was spoken by the majority of the

title: Spanish language

text: de Nebrija, was the first grammar written for a modern European language. According to a popular anecdote, when Nebrija presented it to Queen Isabella I, she asked him what was the use of such a work, and he answered that language is the instrument of empire. In his introduction to the grammar, dated 18 August 1492, Nebrija wrote that "... language was always the companion of empire." From the sixteenth century onwards, the language was taken to America and the Spanish East Indies via Spanish colonization of America. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, author of "Don Quixote", is such a well-known

title: Names given to the Spanish language

text: transformed in each nation through daily usage, with "castellano" as the basis for all variants. Names given to the Spanish language There are two names given in Spanish to the Spanish language: español ("Spanish") and castellano ("Castilian"). Spanish speakers from different countries or backgrounds can show a preference for one term or the other, or use them indiscriminately, but political issues or common usage might lead speakers to prefer one term over the other. This article identifies the differences between those terms, the countries or backgrounds that show a preference for one or the other, and the implications the choice

title: English-language radio

text: International Community Radio Taipei have been on the rise. The location of most English-language radio stations can be determined by their proximity to large populations of English speakers. Geneva, Switzerland, for example, has many English speakers and expatriates, also the Spanish coastal areas, and thus English radio broadcasts. Radio stations in places such as Baja California and Costa Rica also serve the increasing number of English speakers. English-language radio English-language radio refers to radio stations that broadcast primarily in the English language and are located in countries where English is not an official language or majority language. Often referred to

title: History of the Spanish language

text: Spanish was designated one of its five official languages (along with Chinese, English, French, and Russian; a sixth language, Arabic, was added in 1973). The list of Nobel laureates in Literature includes eleven authors who wrote in Spanish (José Echegaray, Jacinto Benavente, Gabriela Mistral, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Miguel Ángel Asturias, Pablo Neruda, Vicente Aleixandre, Gabriel García Márquez, Camilo José Cela, Octavio Paz, and Mario Vargas Llosa). The mention of "influences" on the Spanish language refers primarily to lexical borrowing. Throughout its history, Spanish has accepted loanwords, first from pre-Roman languages (including Basque, Iberian, Celtiberian and Gallaecian), and later from Greek,

title: Spanish Sign Language

text: distinct dialects or even languages separate from Spanish Sign Language, depending on the methods used to determine language versus dialect. Some linguists consider both these and the Spanish Sign language three variants of a polymorphic sign language. Spanish sign language using an avatar has been produced using software, telling passages from the Bible. Spanish Sign Language Spanish Sign Language () is a sign language used mainly by deaf people in Spain and the people who live with them. Although there are not many reliable statistics, it is estimated that there are over 100,000 speakers, 20-30% of whom use it as

title: Spanish language in the Philippines

text: awakening nationalism were written in Spanish. The Philippine Revolution fought for reforms and later for independence from Spain. However, it did not oppose Spain's cultural legacy in the islands or the Spanish language. Even Graciano López Jaena's La Solidaridad article in 1889 praised the young women of Malolos who petitioned to Governor-General Valeriano Weyler to open a night school to teach the Spanish language. In fact, the Malolos Congress of 1899 chose Spanish as the official language. According to Horacio de la Costa, nationalism would not have been possible without Spanish. by then increasingly aware of nationalistic ideas and independence

title: English as a second or foreign language

text: United Kingdom and the United States, this use of English is generally by refugees, immigrants, and their children. It also includes the use of English in "outer circle" countries, often former British colonies and the Philippines, where English is an official language even if it is not spoken as a mother tongue by a majority of the population. In the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand this use of English is called "ESL" (English as a second language). This term has been criticized on the grounds that many learners already speak more than one language. A counter-argument says that the

title: Spanish language in the Americas

text: to western Andalusia (Seville, Cádiz) and the Canary Islands. Coastal language vernaculars throughout Hispanic America show particularly strong similarities to Atlantic-Andalusian speech patterns while inland regions in Mexico and Andean countries are not similar to any particular dialect in Spain. Spanish language in the Americas The different varieties of the Spanish language spoken in the Americas are distinct from Peninsular Spanish and Spanish spoken elsewhere, such as in Africa and Asia. Linguistically, this grouping is somewhat arbitrary, akin to having a term for "overseas English" encompassing variants spoken in the United States, Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand and Ireland, but

title: Official script

text: aspects of life. Below is a partial list of official scripts used in different countries. Those in "italics" are states that have limited international recognition. Official script An official script is a writing system that is specifically designated to be official in the constitutions or other applicable laws of countries, states, and other jurisdictions. Akin to an official language, an official script is much rarer. It is used primarily where an official language is in practice written with two or more scripts. As, in these languages, use of script often has cultural or political connotations, proclamation of an official script

title: Official language

text: main teaching language is Hebrew, English is taught as a second language, and most students learn a third language, usually Arabic but not necessarily. Other public schools have Arabic as their main teaching language, and they teach Hebrew as a second language and English as a third one. There are also bilingual schools which aim to teach in both Hebrew and Arabic equally. Some languages other than Hebrew and Arabic, such as English, Russian, Amharic, Yiddish and Ladino enjoy a somewhat special status, but are not considered to be official languages. For instance, at least 5% of the broadcasting time

title: Official language

text: the country had four official languages—Serbo-Croatian, Slovene, Albanian and Macedonian. Serbo-Croatian was used as a "lingua franca" for mutual understanding and was also the language of the military. When Croatia declared independence (1991) it defined its official language as Croatian, and Serbia likewise defined its official language as Serbian. Bosnia-Herzegovina defined three official languages: Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian. From the linguistic point of view, the different names refer to national varieties of the same language, which is known under the appellation of Serbo-Croatian. It is said by some that the Bosnian government chose to define three languages to reinforce ethnic

title: Official language

text: Vietnamese. New York state provides voter-registration forms in the following five languages: Bengali, Chinese, English, Korean and Spanish. The same languages are also on ballot papers in certain parts of the state (namely, New York City). The pro-English-only website U.S. English sees a multilingual government as one in which its "services actually encourage the growth of linguistic enclaves...[and] contributes to racial and ethnic conflicts". Opponents of an official language policy in the United States argue that it would hamper "the government's ability to reach out, communicate, and warn people in the event of a natural or man-made disaster such as

title: Official language

text: a hurricane, pandemic, or...another terrorist attack". Professor of politics Alan Patten argues that disengagement (officially ignoring the issue) works well in religious issues but that it is not possible with language issues because it must offer public services in some language. Even if it makes a conscious effort not to establish an official language, a "de facto" official language, or the "national language", will nevertheless emerge. Indeed, two-thirds of Americans believe that English is the United States' official language. Sometimes an official language definition can be motivated more by national identity than by linguistic concerns. When Yugoslavia dissolved in 1991,

title: Spanish language in the Philippines

text: results. The Under-Secretary of the Department of Education, Vilma L. Labrador, circulated a Memorandum (17/XII/2007), on the ""Restoration of the Spanish language in Philippine Education"". In it, the Department mandates secondary schools to offer basic and advanced Spanish. There has been a resurgence of learning Spanish among Filipinos, for various reasons. Interest in the language and recuperation of it as part of their history, namely their written, cultural history, interest in their connection to the Spanish-speaking world, among others. Due to the huge demand for Spanish speakers among business process outsourcing companies in the Philippines, Filipinos are flocking to Instituto

title: Spanish language

text: Spanish language Spanish (; ) or Castilian (, ), is a Western Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain and today has hundreds of millions of native speakers in the Americas and Spain. It is usually considered a global language and the world's second-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese. Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come from mid-northern Iberia in the 9th

title: Spanish language

text: even to Indo-European—were spoken in the Iberian Peninsula. These languages included Basque (still spoken today), Iberian, Celtiberian and Gallaecian. The first documents to show traces of what is today regarded as the precursor of modern Spanish are from the 9th century. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era, the most important influences on the Spanish lexicon came from neighboring Romance languages—Mozarabic (Andalusi Romance), Navarro-Aragonese, Leonese, Catalan, Portuguese, Galician, Occitan, and later, French and Italian. Spanish also borrowed a considerable number of words from Arabic, as well as a minor influence from the Germanic Gothic language through the migration

title: Official language

text: lists 22 languages, which have been referred to as scheduled languages and given recognition, status and official encouragement. In addition, the Government of India has awarded the distinction of classical language to Tamil, Sanskrit, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Odia. On 19 July 2018, the Knesset passed a basic law under the title , which defines Hebrew as "the State's language" and Arabic as a language with "a special status in the State" (article 4). The law further says that it should not be interpreted as compromising the status of the Arabic language in practice prior to the enactment of the

title: Spanish language in the Philippines

text: a minority today, though it was quite widespread up to the early 20th century. The variant is very similar to Mexican Spanish, because the Philippines was ruled from New Spain in present-day Mexico, for over three centuries. During that period, there was much Spanish and Mexican emigration to the Spanish East Indies. It was the language of the Philippine Revolution and the country's first official language, as proclaimed in the Malolos Constitution of the First Philippine Republic in 1899. It was the language of commerce, law, politics and the arts during the colonial period and well into the 20th century.

title: Guaymí language

text: on this misnomer: “El ngäbere no es una variedad del español o de otra lengua conocida, de manera que por desconocimiento se suele decir dialecto al ngäbere, cuando en realidad es una lengua.” (Ngäbere is not a variety of Spanish or of any other known language. Through ignorance people usually call Ngäbere “dialect,” when in reality it is a language.) "Dialecto" is a word used popularly to refer to languages that are considered inferior. As Spanish is the official language of 21 countries, spoken by more than 500 million people and has an institution that sets the rules of the

title: Names given to the Spanish language

text: legal unification date is disputed, but commonly agreed to have occurred not earlier than the eighteenth century at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession. Only then did the Castilian language begin to be commonly called Spanish. In 1492, the arrival of Christopher Columbus on a Castilian-paid expedition paved the way for the Spanish colonization of the Americas. As a result of this process, most countries in South America now speak the same language as Castile. Until about the eighteenth century, the Kingdom of Castile, and not Spain as a whole, was the colonizing power, and the language

title: Spanish language

text: the North American Free Trade Agreement, and numerous other international organizations. Spanish language Spanish (; ) or Castilian (, ), is a Western Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain and today has hundreds of millions of native speakers in the Americas and Spain. It is usually considered a global language and the world's second-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese. Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts

title: Flag of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries

text: Flag of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries The flag of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (or "flag of the CPLP") represents the intergovernmental organization for friendship among Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) nations where Portuguese is an official language. The Portuguese language countries are home to more than 223 million people located across the globe. The CPLP nations cover a combined area of about . The CPLP was formed in 1996 with seven countries: Portugal, Brazil, a former colony in South America, and five former colonies in Africa—Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe. East Timor joined the

title: Names given to the Spanish language

text: Academy is a normative body that rules on the orthography and general usage rules of the language. The Academy has used "castellano" since the 18th century, but since 1923, its dictionary and grammar are "de la lengua española" ("of the Spanish language"). The Academy's usage of one term is not necessarily a condemnation of the other. There are many other academies (grouped under the Association of Spanish Language Academies) that may or may not have an official normative recognition but nevertheless cooperate in the creation of the "Diccionario panhispánico de dudas" (a compendium of corrected typical mistakes and doubts). The

title: Heritage language

text: . as well as world languages that are commonly spoken in many other regions of the world (Spanish in the United States, Arabic in France)". However, that view is not shared worldwide. In Canada, for example, Indigenous languages are not classified as heritage languages. The label "heritage" is given to a language based principally on the social status of its speakers and not necessarily on any linguistic property. Thus, while Spanish typically comes in second in terms of native speakers worldwide and has official status in a number of countries, it is considered a heritage language in the English-dominant United

title: History of the Spanish language

text: academy, and an Association of Spanish Language Academies was created in 1951. Beginning in the 16th century, Spanish colonization brought the language to the Americas (Mexico, Central America, and western and southern South America), where it is spoken today, as well as to several island groups in the Pacific where it is no longer spoken by any large numbers of people: the Philippines, Palau, the Marianas (including Guam), and what is today the Federated States of Micronesia. Use of the language in the Americas was continued by descendants of the Spaniards: Spanish "criollos" and Mestizos. After the wars of independence