Why is Spanish spoken in America

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One of the most important languages ​​in the world today is Spanish, being one of the languages ​​with the largest number of native speakers on the planet. The continent with the largest number of speakers is America, with many countries in this area where Spanish is spoken. Due to the importance of Spanish in America, in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we are going to talk about why in America they speak Spanish.

Index

1. The importance of Spanish in the world
2. The reasons why Spanish is spoken in America
3. Origin of the Spanish language
4. American countries where Spanish is spoken

First of all, you must understand the importance of Spanish in our current world, in order to Thanks to that, to understand how important it is to speak in a territory as wide as America is.

Spanish is a Romance languageIn other words, it is a language that comes from Latin, like other European languages ​​such as French or Portuguese, sharing many similarities with the rest of the Romance languages. Its origin can be found in the ancient

The Spanish is the second language in the world with a greater number of native speakers, that is, as a mother tongue, being only surpassed by Mandarin Chinese. At the same time, it is the third most widely spoken language in the world, second only to English and Mandarin Chinese.

Image: BBC.com

The origin of the Spanish language in America can be found in the conquests of the Spanish Empireof the American territories throughout the Modern Age. During these decades the Spanish conquerors began to spread Spanish throughout the American continent.

The stage in which Spanish became established as a language in the region is known as "Hispanization". An important factor for hispanization was the Catholic Church since he created educational institutions to teach Spanish to Americans, so the more the young people who attended these schools grew, the greater the use of Spanish in America. It could be said that the greater the influence of the Catholic Church on the continent, the greater the use of Spanish by the American inhabitants.

To understand the Spanish that took hold in America, one must take into account the type of Spaniards who left to live on the continent, that is, the so-called conquerors. Most of the Spaniards who went to America were of Andalusian or Extremaduran origin, with a small percentage of Castilians. These Spaniards were from the urban middle class, who did not have a very prominent Spanish use, with few being able to read or write.

To continue with this lesson about why Spanish is spoken in America, we must talk about the origin of the language, to understand the beginnings of this language.

The origin of spanish is, as we have already said, the Latin, the most widely spoken language in Western Europe for centuries, due to the influence that the Roman Empire had caused thanks to its conquests on many European tribes.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Latin began to lose its importance. This made the Latin vulgar (the Latin spoken) was adopting a series of own characteristics according to the region in which it was found; With this, languages ​​such as the "Castilian Romance" were formed, a language that spread throughout the Iberian Peninsula throughout the Middle Ages. The Castilian romance is usually considered as the first version of Spanish, having a Latin, Celtic and Greek influence.

The creation of a common Spaniard would arrive in the year 1200, during the reign of the Castilian king. Alfonso the Wise. The king adopted Spanish as the administrative language, translated classic texts into Spanish, and had new works written in Spanish. During the following centuries, Spanish evolved, adopting words of Arabic origin, and becoming the Official language of the different kingdoms that would eventually become Spain and that of some American countries.

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Not all American countries speak Spanish as the main language, that is why we must know those countries where Spanish is the official language. These countries are as follows:

• Argentina
• Bolivia
• chili
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Cuba
• Ecuador
• The Savior
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Mexico
• Nicaragua
• Panama
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Uruguay
• Venezuela

Of these countries, 4 have the name “de facto”, In other words, there is no recognition that Spanish is the official language, but it is the most used language. These countries are: Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay.

Image: vaucanson.org

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