Spanish

Spanish belongs to the Romance languages. It has its origin in the northern area of Spain. Between the 15th and 19th centuries the language was taken to Africa, the Americas and Asia Pacific, which were brought under Spanish colonial rule during that period. Today, Spanish is one of the official languages of Spain, most Latin American countries and Equatorial Guinea. In total, 21 nations use Spanish as their primary language.

Map of Spanish language speakers.
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Map of Spanish language speakers.

Basic stats

Total speakers: 417 million (of which 322 to 358 million use it as first language)

Main Countries: Central and southern Spain and the Canary Islands, also spoken in Andorra, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Jamaica, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, U.S. Virgin Islands, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela

Alternate names: Español, Castellano, Castilian

ISO 639-3 Code: spa


Language Sample

Todos los seres humanos nacen libres e iguales en dignidad y derechos y, dotados como están de razón y conciencia, deben comportarse fraternalmente los unos con los otros.

(Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1)


Some proverbs in Spanish:

Agua que no has de beber, déjala correr
Water you are not going to drink, let it run

Al mal tiempo, buena cara
Put a nice face to the bad times

Donde caben dos, caben tres
Where there is room for two there is room for three

Product Availability

The following products are currently available in Spanish:

  • For Consumers

(Coming soon)

Sources

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