A brief history of the Spanish language :
Spanish, like French, Italian, Romanian, and Portuguese, is a Romance language and as such evolved from Vulgar Latin. It originated in the Iberian Peninsula, which today is home to Spain and Portugal. The Castilian continuation of Vulgar Latin (from the Spanish region of Castile), mixed with Arabic after the Muslim conquest, ended up forming the standardized Spanish language of the 11th century.
In which countries is Spanish spoken?
Spanish is the official language of the following 21 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, and Venezuela; besides Puerto Rico. Although it is not an official language, Spanish is also spoken in the United States, Belize, Andorra, and Gibraltar.
How many people speak Spanish?
Around 483 million people whose mother tongue is Spanish, making it the second most widely spoken language in the world after Chinese. English follows Spanish with some 360 million native speakers. Spanish is also the third most studied language in the world, after English and French. In addition to those 400 million Spanish speakers, another 9 million speak Spanish as a second language.
How many people speak Spanish in the United States?
In the United States, more than 41 million people speak Spanish as their mother tongue (approximately 13% of the population) and that number is only growing. In addition, the United States has nearly 12 million bilingual Spanish speakers. That makes it the second country with the most Spanish speakers in the world after Mexico, and there are studies that assure that it will become the country with the most Spanish speakers in 2060.
Americans who don't speak Spanish yet are trying to learn it. In fact, Spanish is the most widely learned language in the US, with 50% of college students choosing to learn Spanish, compared to 12% who prefer French.
Spanish is also the third most studied language in the world, after English and French!
Depending on your level of Spanish we will begin to address grammatical issues and the development of the class will depend on your doubts in this regard. Obviously, my main objective is to get to speak Spanish throughout the class.
