Spanish language

{{Main|Names given to the Spanish language}}

In Spain and some other parts of the Spanish-speaking world, Spanish is called not only {{lang|es|español}} but also {{lang|es|castellano}} (Castilian), the language from the Kingdom of Castile, contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician, Basque, Asturian, Catalan/Valencian, Aragonese, Occitan and other minor languages.

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term {{lang|es|castellano}} to define the official language of the whole of Spain, in contrast to {{lang|es|las demás lenguas españolas}} ({{lit|the other Spanish languages}}). Article III reads as follows:

{{blockquote|{{lang|es|El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. ... Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas...}}

Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. ... The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities...}}

The Royal Spanish Academy ({{Lang|es|Real Academia Española}}), on the other hand, currently uses the term {{lang|es|español}} in its publications. However, from 1713 to 1923, it called the language {{lang|es|castellano}}.{{Cite web |title=Problemas de la lengua española (I): La lengua, los niveles y la norma {{!}} Fundación Juan March |url=https://www.march.es/es/madrid/conferencia/problemas-lengua-espanola-i-lengua-niveles-norma |access-date=2024-11-07 |website=www.march.es |language=es}}

The {{lang|es|Diccionario panhispánico de dudas}} (a language guide published by the Royal Spanish Academy) states that, although the Royal Spanish Academy prefers to use the term {{lang|es|español}} in its publications when referring to the Spanish language, both terms—{{lang|es|español}} and {{lang|es|castellano}}—are regarded as synonymous and equally valid.Diccionario panhispánico de dudas, 2005, p. 271–272.

The term {{lang|es|castellano}} is related to Castile ({{lang|es|Castilla}} or archaically {{lang|osp|Castiella}}), the kingdom where the language was originally spoken. The name Castile, in turn, is usually assumed to be derived from {{lang|es|castillo}} ('castle').

In the Middle Ages, the language spoken in Castile was generically referred to as {{lang|es|Romance}} and later also as {{lang|es|Lengua vulgar}}. Later in the period, it gained geographical specification as {{lang|es|Romance castellano}} ({{Lang|es|romanz castellano}}, {{Lang|es|romanz de Castiella}}), {{Lang|es|lenguaje de Castiella}}, and ultimately simply as {{lang|es|castellano}} (noun).{{Cite journal|title=De nuevo sobre los nombres medievales de la lengua de Castilla|first=Rafael|last=Cano Aguilar|doi=10.4000/e-spania.22518|journal=E-Spania|year=2013|volume=15 |issue=15|doi-access=free| issn = 1951-6169}}

Different etymologies have been suggested for the term {{lang|es|español}} (Spanish). According to the Royal Spanish Academy, {{lang|es|español}} derives from the Occitan word {{Lang|oc|espaignol}} and that, in turn, derives from the Vulgar Latin *{{lang|la|hispaniolus}} ('of Hispania').{{cite web |url=http://dle.rae.es/?id=GUSX1EQ |title=español, la |work=Diccionario de la lengua española |publisher=Real Academia Espańola |access-date=13 July 2021 |url-status=live |archive-date=24 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424193620/http://dle.rae.es/?id=GUSX1EQ}} Hispania was the Roman name for the entire Iberian Peninsula.

There are other hypotheses apart from the one suggested by the Royal Spanish Academy. Spanish philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal suggested that the classic {{lang|la|hispanus}} or {{lang|la|hispanicus}} took the suffix {{Lang|la|-one}} from Vulgar Latin, as happened with other words such as {{lang|es|bretón}} (Breton) or {{lang|es|sajón}} (Saxon).

{{Main|History of the Spanish language}}

File:CartulariosValpuesta.jpg, written in a late form of Latin, were declared in 2010 by the Royal Spanish Academy as the record of the earliest words written in Castilian, predating those of the Glosas Emilianenses.{{cite web|url=http://www.euskonews.com/udalak/valpuesta/cartularioshistoria.htm|title=cartularioshistoria|website=www.euskonews.com|access-date=22 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402124945/http://www.euskonews.com/udalak/valpuesta/cartularioshistoria.htm|archive-date=2 April 2016|url-status=dead}}]]

Like the other Romance languages, the Spanish language evolved from Vulgar Latin, which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans during the Second Punic War, beginning in 210 BC. Several pre-Roman languages (also called Paleohispanic languages)—some distantly related to Latin as Indo-European languages, and some that are not related at all—were previously spoken in the Iberian Peninsula. These languages included Proto-Basque, Iberian, Lusitanian, 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/Valencian, 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 period of Visigoth rule in Iberia. In addition, many more words were borrowed from Latin through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church. The loanwords were taken from both Classical Latin and Renaissance Latin, the form of Latin in use at that time.

According to the theories of Ramón Menéndez Pidal, local sociolects of Vulgar Latin evolved into Spanish, in the north of Iberia, in an area centered in the city of Burgos, and this dialect was later brought to the city of Toledo, where the written standard of Spanish was first developed, in the 13th century.{{Harvcoltxt|Penny|2000|p=16}} In this formative stage, Spanish developed a strongly differing variant from its close cousin, Leonese, and, according to some authors, was distinguished by a heavy Basque influence (see Iberian Romance languages). This distinctive dialect spread to southern Spain with the advance of the {{lang|es|Reconquista}}, and meanwhile gathered a sizable lexical influence from the Arabic of Al-Andalus, much of it indirectly, through the Romance Mozarabic dialects (some 4,000 Arabic-derived words, make up around 8% of the language today).{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-SPANISH.html|title=Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=24 July 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080925062202/http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-SPANISH.html|archive-date=25 September 2008|url-status=live}} The written standard for this new language was developed in the cities of Toledo, in the 13th to 16th centuries, and Madrid, from the 1570s.

The development of the Spanish sound system from that of Vulgar Latin exhibits most of the changes that are typical of Western Romance languages, including lenition of intervocalic consonants (thus Latin {{lang|la|vīta}} > Spanish {{lang|es|vida}}). The diphthongization of Latin stressed short {{Lang|la|e}} and {{Lang|la|o}}—which occurred in open syllables in French and Italian, but not at all in Catalan or Portuguese—is found in both open and closed syllables in Spanish, as shown in the following table:

File:Linguistic map Southwestern Europe.gif

Spanish is marked by palatalization of the Latin double consonants (geminates) {{lang|la|nn}} and {{lang|la|ll}} (thus Latin

{{lang|la|annum}} > Spanish {{lang|es|año}}, and Latin {{lang|la|anellum}} > Spanish

{{lang|es|anillo}}).

The consonant written {{lang|la|u}} or {{lang|la|v}} in Latin and pronounced {{IPA|[w]}} in Classical Latin had probably "fortified" to a bilabial fricative {{IPA|/β/}} in Vulgar Latin. In early Spanish (but not in Catalan or Portuguese) it merged with the consonant written b (a bilabial with plosive and fricative allophones). In modern Spanish, there is no difference between the pronunciation of orthographic {{lang|es|b}} and {{lang|es|v}}.

Typical of Spanish (as also of neighboring Gascon extending as far north as the Gironde estuary, and found in a small area of Calabria), attributed by some scholars to a Basque substratum was the mutation of Latin initial {{lang|la|f}} into {{lang|es|h-}} whenever it was followed by a vowel that did not diphthongize. The {{lang|es|h-}}, still preserved in spelling, is now silent in most varieties of the language, although in some Andalusian and Caribbean dialects, it is still aspirated in some words. Because of borrowings from Latin and neighboring Romance languages, there are many {{lang|es|f}}-/{{lang|es|h}}- doublets in modern Spanish: {{lang|es|Fernando}} and {{lang|es|Hernando}} (both Spanish for "Ferdinand"), {{lang|es|ferrero}} and {{lang|es|herrero}} (both Spanish for "smith"), {{lang|es|fierro}} and {{lang|es|hierro}} (both Spanish for "iron"), and {{lang|es|fondo}} and {{lang|es|hondo}} (both words pertaining to depth in Spanish, though {{lang|es|fondo}} means "bottom", while {{lang|es|hondo}} means "deep"); additionally, {{lang|es|hacer}} ("to make") is cognate to the root word of {{lang|es|satisfacer}} ("to satisfy"), and {{lang|es|hecho}} ("made") is similarly cognate to the root word of {{lang|es|satisfecho}} ("satisfied").

Compare the examples in the following table:

Some consonant clusters of Latin also produced characteristically different results in these languages, as shown in the examples in the following table:

File:Juan de Zúñiga dibujo con orla (cropped).jpg, author of {{lang|es|Gramática de la lengua castellana}}, the first grammar of a modern European language{{cite news |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,1105510,00.html |title=Harold Bloom on Don Quixote, the first modern novel | Books | The Guardian |publisher=Books.guardian.co.uk |date=12 December 2003 |access-date=18 July 2009 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080614054652/http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,1105510,00.html |archive-date=14 June 2008 |url-status=dead}}]]

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish underwent a dramatic change in the pronunciation of its sibilant consonants, known in Spanish as the {{lang|es|reajuste de las sibilantes}}, which resulted in the distinctive velar {{IPA|[x]}} pronunciation of the letter {{angle bracket|j}} and—in a large part of Spain—the characteristic interdental {{IPA|[θ]}} ("th-sound") for the letter {{angle bracket|z}} (and for {{angle bracket|c}} before {{angle bracket|e}} or {{angle bracket|i}}). See History of Spanish (Modern development of the Old Spanish sibilants) for details.

The {{lang|es|Gramática de la lengua castellana}}, written in Salamanca in 1492 by Elio Antonio de Nebrija, was the first grammar written for a modern European language.{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Spanish_language.aspx#1O29-SPANISH |title=Spanish Language Facts |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com |access-date=6 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522190202/http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Spanish_language.aspx#1O29-SPANISH |archive-date=22 May 2011 |url-status=live}} 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.{{cite book |last=Crow |first=John A. |title=Spain: the root and the flower |page=151 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2NKy8QCxw4C&q=Nebrija+first+spanish+grammar+Isabel&pg=PA151 |year=2005 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-24496-2 |access-date=28 October 2020 |archive-date=17 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817150949/https://books.google.com/books?id=g2NKy8QCxw4C&q=Nebrija+first+spanish+grammar+Isabel&pg=PA151 |url-status=live}} In his introduction to the grammar, dated 18 August 1492, Nebrija wrote that "... language was always the companion of empire."{{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Hugh |title=Rivers of Gold: the rise of the Spanish empire, from Columbus to Magellan |page=78 |year=2005 |publisher=Random House Inc. |isbn=978-0-8129-7055-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b38f7b1WmOwC&q=Nebrija+first+spanish+grammar+Isabel&pg=PA78 |access-date=28 October 2020 |archive-date=16 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816174720/https://books.google.com/books?id=b38f7b1WmOwC&q=Nebrija+first+spanish+grammar+Isabel&pg=PA78 |url-status=live}}

From the 16th century onwards, the language was taken to the Spanish-discovered America and the Spanish East Indies via Spanish colonization of America. Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, is such a well-known reference in the world that Spanish is often called {{lang|es|la lengua de Cervantes}} ("the language of Cervantes").{{cite web|title=La lengua de Cervantes |language=es |url=http://www.cepc.es/rap/Publicaciones/Revistas/2/REP_031-032_288.pdf |publisher=Ministerio de la Presidencia de España |access-date=24 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081003083955/http://www.cepc.es/rap/Publicaciones/Revistas/2/REP_031-032_288.pdf |archive-date=3 October 2008}}

In the 20th century, Spanish was introduced to Equatorial Guinea and the Western Sahara, and to areas of the United States that had not been part of the Spanish Empire, such as Spanish Harlem in New York City. For details on borrowed words and other external influences upon Spanish, see Influences on the Spanish language.

{{See also|Hispanophone}}

[[File:El español en el mundo 2023 (Anuario del Instituto Cervantes).svg|thumb|Geographical distribution of the Spanish language

{{legend|#ff0000ff|Official or co-official language}}

{{legend|#ffcd48ff|Important minority (more than 25%) or majority language, but not official}}

{{legend|#ffeeaaff|Notable minority language (less than 25% but more than 500,000 Spanish speakers)}}]]

Spanish is the primary language in 20 countries worldwide. As of 2023, it is estimated that about 486 million people speak Spanish as a native language, making it the second most spoken language by number of native speakers.{{Cite web |title=Anuario instituto Cervantes 2023 |url=https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_23/ |access-date=2023-11-06 |website=Centro Virtual Cervantes |language=es |archive-date=2023-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230222190339/https://www.bergesinstitutespanish.com/spanish-native-speakers |url-status=live}} Estimate. Corrected as Equatorial Guinea is mistakenly included (no native speakers there) An additional 75 million speak Spanish as a second or foreign language, making it the fourth most spoken language in the world overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi with a total number of 538 million speakers.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/statistics/size|title=Summary by language size|website=Ethnologue|date=3 October 2018|access-date=14 November 2020|archive-date=26 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226040016/https://www.ethnologue.com/statistics/size|url-status=live}} Spanish is also the third most used language on the Internet, after English and Chinese.{{cite web |url=http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm |title=Internet World Users by Language |year=2008 |publisher=Miniwatts Marketing Group |access-date=20 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426122721/http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm |archive-date=26 April 2012 |url-status=live}}

{{main|Peninsular Spanish}}

[[File:Knowledge of Spanish in European Union.svg|thumb|Percentage of people who self reportedly know enough Spanish to hold a conversation, in the EU, 2005

{{legend|#554400|Native country}}

{{legend|#AA8800|More than 8.99%}}

{{legend|#E5B700|Between 4% and 8.99%}}

{{legend|#FFDD55|Between 1% and 3.99%}}

{{legend|#FFEEAA|Less than 1%}}]]

Spanish is the official language of Spain. Upon the emergence of the Castilian Crown as the dominant power in the Iberian Peninsula by the end of the Middle Ages, the Romance vernacular associated with this polity became increasingly used in instances of prestige and influence, and the distinction between "Castilian" and "Spanish" started to become blurred.{{Cite book|first=Clara|last=Mar-Molinero|title=The Politics of Language in the Spanish-Speaking World|year=2000|isbn=0-203-44372-1|location=London|publisher=Routledge|pages=19–20}} Hard policies imposing the language's hegemony in an intensely centralising Spanish state were established from the 18th century onward.{{Sfn|Mar-Molinero|2000|p=21}}

Other European territories in which it is also widely spoken include Gibraltar and Andorra.{{cite web |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3164.htm |title=Background Note: Andorra |publisher=U.S. Department of State: Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs |date=January 2007 |access-date=20 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122194318/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3164.htm |archive-date=22 January 2017 |url-status=live}}

Spanish is also spoken by immigrant communities in other European countries, such as the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/european_languages/languages/spanish.shtml |title=BBC Education — Languages Across Europe — Spanish |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |access-date=20 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929052158/http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/european_languages/languages/spanish.shtml |archive-date=29 September 2012 |url-status=live}} Spanish is an official language of the European Union.

{{main|Spanish language in the Americas}}

Today, the majority of the Spanish speakers live in Hispanic America. Nationally, Spanish is the official language—either de facto or de jure—of Argentina, Bolivia (co-official with 36 indigenous 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),[http://www.constitution.org/cons/paraguay.htm Constitución de la República del Paraguay] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140908185557/http://www.constitution.org/cons/paraguay.htm |date=8 September 2014}}, Article 140 Peru (co-official with Quechua, Aymara, and "the other indigenous languages"),[http://www.constitucionpoliticadelperu.com/ Constitución Política del Perú] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517192115/http://constitucionpoliticadelperu.com/ |date=17 May 2014}}, Article 48 Puerto Rico (co-official with English),{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE1D8163AF93AA15752C0A965958260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fE%2fEnglish%20Language |title=Puerto Rico Elevates English |date=29 January 1993 |work=the New York Times |access-date=6 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080122011853/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE1D8163AF93AA15752C0A965958260&n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FSubjects%2FE%2FEnglish%20Language |archive-date=22 January 2008 |url-status=live}} Uruguay, and Venezuela.

{{Main|Spanish language in the United States}}

{{See also|Spanish language in California|New Mexican Spanish|Isleño Spanish}}

File:Spanish spoken at home in the United States 2019.svg

Spanish language has a long history in the territory of the current-day United States dating back to the 16th century.{{Sfn|Lamboy|Salgado-Robles|2020|p=1}} In the wake of the 1848 Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty, hundreds of thousands of Spanish speakers became a minoritized community in the United States.{{Sfn|Lamboy|Salgado-Robles|2020|p=1}} The 20th century saw further massive growth of Spanish speakers in areas where they had been hitherto scarce.{{Cite book|title=Spanish across Domains in the United States. Education, Public Space, and Social Media|editor-first=Francisco|editor-last=Salgado-Robles|editor-first2=Edwin M.|editor-last2=Lamboy|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-43322-9|year=2020|location=Leiden|page=1|first1=Edwin M.|last1=Lamboy|first2=Francisco|last2=Salgado-Robles|chapter=Introduction: Spanish in the United States and across Domains}}

According to the 2020 census, over 60 million people of the U.S. population were of Hispanic or Hispanic American by origin.{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/race-and-ethnicity-in-the-united-state-2010-and-2020-census.html|title=Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the United States: 2010 Census and 2020 Census|date=12 August 2021|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=23 January 2021|archive-date=15 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815165418/https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/race-and-ethnicity-in-the-united-state-2010-and-2020-census.html|url-status=live}} In turn, 41.8 million people in the United States aged five or older speak Spanish at home, or about 13% of the population.{{Cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=Language%20Spoken%20at%20Home&tid=ACSST1Y2019.S1601|title=American Community Survey Explore Census Data|access-date=24 January 2022|archive-date=17 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017182821/https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=Language%20Spoken%20at%20Home&tid=ACSST1Y2019.S1601|url-status=live}} Spanish predominates in the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico, where it is also an official language along with English.

Spanish is by far the most common second language in the country, with over 50 million total speakers if non-native or second-language speakers are included.{{cite web|url=http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/speak/spanish/Espana/elpepucul/20081006elpepicul_1/Tes|title=Más 'speak spanish' que en España|access-date=6 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520111353/http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/speak/spanish/Espana/elpepucul/20081006elpepicul_1/Tes|archive-date=20 May 2011|url-status=live}} (in Spanish) 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.{{cite book |last1=Crawford |first1=John |title=Language loyalties: a source book on the official English controversy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wLoJ31HXl40C&pg=PA62 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |year=1992 |page=62 |isbn=9780226120164 |access-date=14 November 2023 |archive-date=30 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130015012/https://books.google.com/books?id=wLoJ31HXl40C&pg=PA62 |url-status=live}} The language has a strong influence in major metropolitan areas such as those of Los Angeles, Miami, San Antonio, New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Tucson and Phoenix of the Arizona Sun Corridor, 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.

Although Spanish has no official recognition in the former British colony of Belize (known until 1973 as British Honduras) where English is the sole official language, according to the 2022 census, 54% of the total population are able to speak the language.{{Cite report |url=https://sib.org.bz/wp-content/uploads/Languages_Infographic_2022.pdf|title=Languages spoken in Belize, 2022 Census|date=2022 |language=en |access-date=11 September 2024}}

Due to its proximity to Spanish-speaking countries and small existing native Spanish speaking minority, Trinidad and Tobago has implemented Spanish language teaching into its education system. The Trinidadian and Tobagonian government launched the Spanish as a First Foreign Language (SAFFL) initiative in March 2005.{{cite web|url=http://www.tradeind.gov.tt/SIS/FAQ.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101103080637/http://www.tradeind.gov.tt/SIS/FAQ.htm |archive-date=3 November 2010 |title=FAQ |work=The Secretariat for The Implementation of Spanish |publisher=Government of the Republic |location=Trinidad and Tobago |access-date=10 January 2012 |url-status=dead}}

Spanish has historically had a significant presence on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao (ABC Islands) throughout the centuries and in present times. The majority of the populations of each island (especially Aruba) speaking Spanish at varying although often high degrees of fluency.{{Cite web |title=Language and education on Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/300471435}} The local language Papiamentu (Papiamento on Aruba) is heavily influenced by Venezuelan Spanish.

In addition to sharing most of its borders with Spanish-speaking countries, the creation of Mercosur in the early 1990s induced a favorable situation for the promotion of Spanish language teaching in Brazil.{{Sfn|Valle|Villa|2006|p=376}}{{Cite journal |url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.es/&httpsredir=1&article=1082&context=gc_pubs|title=Spanish in Brazil: Language Policy, Business, and Cultural Propaganda|first1=José del|last1=Valle |first2=Laura|last2=Villa |journal=Language Policy |year=2006|volume=5|issue=4 |doi=10.1007/s10993-006-9035-2|pages=376–377 |s2cid=144373408|access-date=5 February 2022 |archive-date=24 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124020917/https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.es%2F&httpsredir=1&article=1082&context=gc_pubs|url-status=live}} 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 language course in both public and private secondary schools in Brazil.{{cite web |url = http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2004-2006/2005/Lei/L11161.htm |title = Brazilian Law 11.161 |publisher = Presidência da República |date = 5 August 2005 |access-date = 31 March 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131031191701/http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2004-2006/2005/Lei/L11161.htm |archive-date = 31 October 2013 |url-status = live}} In September 2016 this law was revoked by Michel Temer after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff.{{cite news |url=http://oglobo.globo.com/sociedade/educacao/novo-ensino-medio-tera-curriculo-flexivel-mais-horas-de-aula-20164798 |title=Novo ensino médio terá currículo flexível e mais horas de aula |newspaper=O Globo |date=23 September 2016 |access-date=23 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923213525/http://oglobo.globo.com/sociedade/educacao/novo-ensino-medio-tera-curriculo-flexivel-mais-horas-de-aula-20164798 |archive-date=23 September 2016 |url-status=live}} In many border towns and villages along Paraguay and Uruguay, a mixed language known as Portuñol is spoken.{{cite journal |last=Lipski |first=John M |year=2006 |title=Too close for comfort? the genesis of "portuñol/portunhol" |editor1-first=Timothy L |editor1-last=Face |editor2-first=Carol A |editor2-last=Klee |pages=1–22 |journal=Selected Proceedings of the 8th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium |location=Somerville, MA |publisher=Cascadilla Proceedings Project |url= http://www.lingref.com/cpp/hls/8/paper1251.pdf |access-date=29 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216225441/http://www.lingref.com/cpp/hls/8/paper1251.pdf |archive-date=16 December 2008 |url-status=live}}

{{See also|Equatoguinean Spanish}}

File:Malabo 08207.JPG, capital city of Equatorial Guinea]]

Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country located entirely in Africa, with the language introduced during the Spanish colonial period.{{Cite journal |last=Lipski |first=John M. |author-link=John M. Lipski |year=2014 |title=¿Existe un dialecto "ecuatoguineano" del español? |url=https://revista-iberoamericana.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/Iberoamericana/article/viewFile/7202/7335 |url-status=live |journal=Revista Iberoamericana |volume=80 |issue=248–249 |pages=865–882 |doi=10.5195/REVIBEROAMER.2014.7202 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124020919/https://revista-iberoamericana.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/Iberoamericana/article/viewFile/7202/7335 |archive-date=24 January 2022 |access-date=19 January 2022 |quote="Se trata de Guinea Ecuatorial, único país del África subsahariana de habla española," |doi-access=free}} Enshrined in the constitution as an official language (alongside French and Portuguese), Spanish features prominently in the Equatoguinean education system and is the primary language used in government and business.{{Cite journal|title=The decline of the indigenous languages of Equatorial Guinea: a manifestation of the loss of cultural identity|first1=Pedro Bayeme|last1=Bituga-Nchama|first2=Cruz Otu |last2=Nvé-Ndumu |year=2021 |journal=Revista Cátedra|volume=4|issue=3|pages=41 |url=https://revistadigital.uce.edu.ec/index.php/CATEDRA/article/view/3147/3969 |access-date=19 January 2022 |archive-date=24 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124020917/https://revistadigital.uce.edu.ec/index.php/CATEDRA/article/view/3147/3969|url-status=live}} Whereas it is not the mother tongue of virtually any of its speakers, the vast majority of the population is proficient in Spanish.Quilis and Casado-Fresnillo, 1995, pp. 27–35; cfr {{Harvcoltxt|Bituga-Nchama|Nvé-Ndumu|2021|p=41}} The Instituto Cervantes estimates that 87.7% of the population is fluent in Spanish.{{cite web| url = http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_06-07/pdf/paises_08.pdf| title = Gloria Nistal Rosique: El caso del español en Guinea ecuatorial, Instituto Cervantes.| access-date = 7 February 2010| archive-date = 26 October 2012| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121026105600/http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_06-07/pdf/paises_08.pdf |url-status=live}} The proportion of proficient Spanish speakers in Equatorial Guinea exceeds the proportion of proficient speakers in other West and Central African nations of their respective colonial languages.{{Cite journal|journal=Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies|volume=8|year=2004 |title=The Spanish language of Equatorial Guinea|first=John M.|last=Lipski|author-link=John M. Lipski|page=117 |doi=10.1353/hcs.2011.0376|s2cid=144501371|url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/2574235.pdf|access-date=19 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121212630/https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/2574235.pdf |archive-date=21 January 2022|url-status=live}}

Spanish is spoken by very small communities in Angola due to Cuban influence from the Cold War and in South Sudan among South Sudanese natives that relocated to Cuba during the Sudanese wars and returned for their country's independence.{{Cite news |publisher=Radio France International |language=es |url=http://www.espanol.rfi.fr/africa/20110706-los-cubanos-la-elite-del-sudan-del-sur |title=Los cubanos, la élite de Sudán del Sur |access-date=20 December 2011 |date=6 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112090846/http://www.espanol.rfi.fr/africa/20110706-los-cubanos-la-elite-del-sudan-del-sur |archive-date=12 January 2012 |url-status=live}}

{{See also|Canarian Spanish|Saharan Spanish}}

Spanish is also spoken in the integral territories of Spain in Africa, namely the cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean some {{convert|100|km|abbr=on}} off the northwest of the African mainland. The Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands traces its origins back to the Castilian conquest in the 15th century, and, in addition to a resemblance to Western Andalusian speech patterns, it also features strong influence from the Spanish varieties spoken in the Americas,{{Cite journal|url=https://revistes.urv.cat/index.php/utf/article/view/2332/2255|pages=175–176|first=Javier|last=Medina López|journal=Universitas Tarraconensis. Revista de Filologia|issue=14|year=1992–1993|publisher=Publicacions Universitat Rovira i Virgili|issn=2604-3432|title=Estandarización lingüística en las hablas canarias|access-date=19 January 2022|archive-date=24 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124020917/https://revistes.urv.cat/index.php/utf/article/view/2332/2255|url-status=live}} which in turn have also been influenced historically by Canarian Spanish.{{cite book |last=Lipski |first=John |author-link=John M. Lipski|date=1994 |title=Latin American Spanish |edition=1st |publisher=Longman|quote=An indisputable influence in the formation of Latin American Spanish, often overshadowed by discussion of the 'Andalusian' contribution, is the Canary Islands.|quote-page=55}} The Spanish spoken in North Africa by native bilingual speakers of Arabic or Berber who also speak Spanish as a second language features characteristics involving the variability of the vowel system.{{Cite journal|journal=Annual Review of Linguistics|first1=Manuel|last1=Díaz-Campos|first2=Juan M.|last2=Escalona Torres|first3=Valentyna|last3=Filimonova|url=https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011619-030547|page=369|doi=10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011619-030547|title=Sociolinguistics of the Spanish-Speaking World|year=2020|volume=6|s2cid=210443649 |issn=2333-9683|access-date=9 December 2023|archive-date=9 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209021219/https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011619-030547|url-status=live}}

While far from its heyday during the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, the Spanish language has some presence in northern Morocco, stemming for example from the availability of certain Spanish-language media.{{Sfn|Vicente|2011|p=67}} According to a 2012 survey by Morocco's Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES), penetration of Spanish in Morocco reaches 4.6% of the population.{{Cite book|publisher=Ministerio de Economía y Empresa|url=https://catalogo.ceu.es/pdocs/710471_10353835.pdf|title=The economic and commercial influence of Spanish-based languages|location=Madrid|year=2018|chapter=The endurance of Spanish in the Maghreb|pages=32–46|first=David|last=Fernández Vítores|access-date=9 December 2023|archive-date=13 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240113155342/https://catalogo.ceu.es/pdocs/710471_10353835.pdf|url-status=live}} Many northern Moroccans have rudimentary knowledge of Spanish,{{Sfn|Vicente|2011|p=67}} with Spanish being particularly significant in areas adjacent to Ceuta and Melilla.{{Sfn|Fernández Vítores|2018|pp=32–46}} Spanish also has a presence in the education system of the country (through either selected education centers implementing Spain's education system, primarily located in the North, or the availability of Spanish as foreign language subject in secondary education).{{Sfn|Vicente|2011|p=67}}

In Western Sahara, formerly Spanish Sahara, a primarily Hassaniya Arabic-speaking territory, Spanish was officially spoken as the language of the colonial administration during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Today, Spanish is present in the partially-recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as its secondary official language,{{cite web |url=https://archive.spsrasd.info/ar/articles/2018/11/29/18612.html |title=الوفد الصحراوي سيحضر لقاء جنيف بإرادة صادقة للتقدم نحو الحل الذي يضمن حق الشعب الصحراوي في تقرير المصير والاستقلال |trans-title=The Sahrawi delegation will attend the Geneva meeting with a sincere will to move towards a solution that guarantees the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence |date=29 November 2018 |website=Sahara Press Service |access-date=18 December 2023 |language=ar |archive-date=25 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231125125903/https://archive.spsrasd.info/ar/articles/2018/11/29/18612.html |url-status=live}} and in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf (Algeria), where the Spanish language is still taught as a second language, largely by Cuban educators.{{Cite web |url=https://www.elindependiente.com/espana/2021/10/20/espana-se-desentiende-de-la-preservacion-del-castellano-en-los-campamentos-saharauis/ |website=El Independiente|date=20 October 2021 |first=Francisco |last=Carrión|title=España se desentiende de la preservación del castellano en los campamentos saharauis |access-date=19 January 2022|archive-date=24 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124020916/https://www.elindependiente.com/espana/2021/10/20/espana-se-desentiende-de-la-preservacion-del-castellano-en-los-campamentos-saharauis/|url-status=live}}{{cite web |last1=Martos |first1=Isabel |title=Linguistic Policy in the Camps of Sahrawi Refugees |via=researchgate.net |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273993698 |publisher=Universidad de Alcalá |access-date=19 August 2018 |archive-date=22 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522172107/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273993698_Linguistic_Policy_in_the_Camps_of_Sahrawi_Refugees_2014 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_06-07/pdf/paises_3.pdf |title=El Español en los Campamentos de Refugiados Saharauis (Tinduf, Algeria) |publisher=Cvc.cervantes.es |access-date=20 May 2015 |archive-date=26 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226150735/http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_06-07/pdf/paises_3.pdf |url-status=live}} The number of Spanish speakers is unknown.{{failed verification|date=January 2022}}{{cite web |last=Beceiro|url=http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/santiago/2008/03/04/0003_6622703.htm |title=Como saharauis queremos conservar el español |date=3 March 2008 |access-date=15 March 2015 |language=es |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309115802/http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/santiago/2008/03/04/0003_6622703.htm |archive-date=9 March 2016 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://www.saharalibre.es/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=50&page=2 |title=Historia de un país |access-date=15 March 2015 |language=es |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402103544/http://www.saharalibre.es/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=50&page=2 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |url-status=live}}

Spanish is also an official language of the African Union.{{Cite web |title=AU languages |url=https://au.int/en/about/languages |access-date=June 6, 2024 |website=African Union |archive-date=7 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407001442/https://au.int/en/about/languages |url-status=live }}

{{See also|Chavacano|Philippine Spanish|Spanish language in the Philippines}}

Image:La-solidaridad2.jpg, a Spanish-language newspaper on the colonial Philippines published in Barcelona by Filipino exiles and international students]]

Spanish was an official language of the Philippines from the beginning of Spanish administration in 1565 to a constitutional change in 1973. During Spanish colonization, it was the language of government, trade, and education, and was spoken as a first language by Spaniards and educated Filipinos (Ilustrados). Despite a public education system set up by the colonial government, by the end of Spanish rule in 1898, only about 10% of the population had knowledge of Spanish, mostly those of Spanish descent or elite standing.{{cite news|language=es |title=Por qué Filipinas no es un país hispanoparlante si fue una colonia de España durante 300 años (y qué huellas quedan de la lengua de Cervantes)|newspaper=BBC News Mundo|date=30 January 2021 |url=https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-54724887 |access-date=31 January 2021|archive-date=30 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130181828/https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-54724887|url-status=live}}

File:Idioma chabacano.png language in various provinces of the Philippines, as well as Sabah in Malaysia (where it is spoken by immigrants)]]

Spanish continued to be official and used in Philippine literature and press during the early years of American administration after the Spanish–American War but was eventually replaced by English as the primary language of administration and education by the 1920s.{{cite news |first=Ambeth |last=Ocampo |author-link=Ambeth Ocampo |title=The loss of Spanish |url=http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20071204-104897/The_loss_of_Spanish |date=4 December 2007 |work=Philippine Daily Inquirer (INQUIRER.net) |location=Makati City, Philippines |at=Opinion |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311211640/http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20071204-104897/The_loss_of_Spanish |archive-date=11 March 2012 |url-status=dead |access-date=26 July 2010}} Nevertheless, despite a significant decrease in influence and speakers, Spanish remained an official language of the Philippines upon independence in 1946, alongside English and Filipino, a standardized version of Tagalog.

Spanish was briefly removed from official status in 1973 but reimplemented under the administration of Ferdinand Marcos two months later.{{cite web |url=http://www.chanrobles.com/presidentialdecrees/presidentialdecreeno155.html |title=Presidential Decree No. 155: Philippine Laws, Statutes and Codes |publisher=Chanrobles.com |access-date=24 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003012548/http://www.chanrobles.com/presidentialdecrees/presidentialdecreeno155.html |archive-date=3 October 2013 |url-status=live}} It remained an official language until the ratification of the present constitution in 1987, in which it was re-designated as a voluntary and optional auxiliary language.Article XIV, Sec 7: "For purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and, until otherwise provided by law, English. The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein. Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis." Additionally, the constitution, in its Article XIV, stipulates that the government shall provide the people of the Philippines with a Spanish-language translation of the country's constitution.Article XIV, Sec 8: "This Constitution shall be promulgated in Filipino and English and shall be translated into major regional languages, Arabic, and Spanish." In recent years changing attitudes among non-Spanish speaking Filipinos have helped spur a revival of the language,{{cite web |last1=Rodríguez-Ponga |first1=Rafael |title=New Prospects for the Spanish Language in the Philippines |url=http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/portal/web/rielcano_en/contenido?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/elcano/elcano_in/zonas_in/spanish+language+culture/ari27-2009#.VPUs_lPF9l8 |access-date=1 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402171759/http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/portal/web/rielcano_en/contenido?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=%2Felcano%2Felcano_in%2Fzonas_in%2Fspanish+language+culture%2Fari27-2009#.VPUs_lPF9l8 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/264032/news/nation/pnoy-and-spains-queen-sofia-welcome-return-of-spanish-language-in-phl-schools |title=PNoy (President Benigno Aquino III) and Spain's Queen Sofia welcome return of Spanish language in Philippine schools |first=Amita O. |last=Legaspi |date=3 July 2012 |publisher=GMA News |access-date=8 August 2013 |url-status=live |archive-date=7 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120707011008/http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/264032/news/nation/pnoy-and-spains-queen-sofia-welcome-return-of-spanish-language-in-phl-schools}} and starting in 2009 Spanish was reintroduced as part of the basic education curriculum in a number of public high schools, becoming the largest foreign language program offered by the public school system,{{Cite news | title=Spanish Language Program in Philippine Public Secondary Schools | url=https://www.seameo-innotech.org/portfolio_page/spanish-language-program-in-philippine-public-secondary-schools/ | publisher=SEAMEO Regional Center for Educational Innovation and Technology | access-date=May 8, 2023 | archive-date=22 January 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240122225404/https://www.seameo-innotech.org/portfolio_page/spanish-language-program-in-philippine-public-secondary-schools/ | url-status=live}} with over 7,000 students studying the language in the 2021–2022 school year alone.{{Cite web |title=Studying – In the Philippines |url=https://www.educacionyfp.gob.es/filipinas/en_PH/estudiar/en-filipinas |publisher=Ministry of Education and Vocational Training of Spain |access-date=May 8, 2023 |archive-date=April 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408125717/https://www.educacionyfp.gob.es/filipinas/en_PH/estudiar/en-filipinas}} The local business process outsourcing industry has also helped boost the language's economic prospects.{{Cite news |last=Weedon |first=Alan |title=The Philippines is fronting up to its Spanish heritage, and for some it's paying off |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-10/inside-the-push-to-bring-back-spanish-into-the-philippines/11356590 |publisher=ABC News and Current Affairs |date=August 10, 2019 |access-date=January 18, 2022 |archive-date=12 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212035502/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-10/inside-the-push-to-bring-back-spanish-into-the-philippines/11356590 |url-status=live}} Today, while the actual number of proficient Spanish speakers is around 400,000, or under 0.5% of the population,{{cite web |url=https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/10/06/opinion/columnists/spanish-is-an-endangered-filipino-language/776874|title=Spanish is an endangered Filipino language|first=Jorge|last=Mojarro |date=6 October 2020 |publisher=The Manila Times |access-date=18 January 2022|archive-date=18 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118101358/https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/10/06/opinion/columnists/spanish-is-an-endangered-filipino-language/776874|url-status=live}} a new generation of Spanish speakers in the Philippines has likewise emerged, though speaker estimates vary widely.{{cite thesis |type=Master |last=Andrés Barrenechea |first=Clarissa |title=La enseñanza del español como lengua extranjera en Filipinas. Estudio de caso de la Universidad Ateneo de Manila |trans-title=The Teaching of Spanish as a Foreign Language in the Philippines: Case Study of the Ateneo de Manila University |language=es |url=https://revista.carayanpress.com/resources/RF-CBarrenechea.pdf |publisher=Autonomous University of Zacatecas |date=June 2013 |access-date=May 8, 2023 |archive-date=10 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410005950/https://revista.carayanpress.com/resources/RF-CBarrenechea.pdf |url-status=live}}

Aside from standard Spanish, a Spanish-based creole language called Chavacano developed in the southern Philippines. However, it is not mutually intelligible with Spanish.Spanish creole:{{cite book |author=Rafael Rodríguez-Ponga |title=Pero ¿cuántos hablan español en Filipinas? |date=January 2003 |pages=54, 55 |url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/01350553135573500088680/209438_0013.pdf |publisher=Cervantes virtual |access-date=1 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090806190230/http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/01350553135573500088680/209438_0013.pdf |archive-date=6 August 2009 |url-status=live}} The number of Chavacano-speakers was estimated at 1.2 million in 1996.{{Harvcoltxt|Rubino|2008|p=279}} The local languages of the Philippines also retain significant Spanish influence, with many words derived from Mexican Spanish, owing to the administration of the islands by Spain through New Spain until 1821, until direct governance from Madrid afterwards to 1898.{{Cite web |url=http://www.thecorpusjuris.com/laws/constitutions/8-philippineconstitutions/68-1973-constitution.html|title=1973 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines|publisher=The corpus juris |access-date=6 April 2008|at=Article XV, Section 3(3)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080417201402/http://www.thecorpusjuris.com/laws/constitutions/8-philippineconstitutions/68-1973-constitution.html|archive-date=17 April 2008|url-status=dead}}{{cite web |title=Spanish Influence on Language, Culture, and Philippine History |url=http://filipinokastila.tripod.com/FilSpa.html |access-date=15 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150305163610/http://filipinokastila.tripod.com/FilSpa.html |archive-date=5 March 2015 |url-status=live}}

File:Parque Nacional Rapa Nui.jpg, welcoming visitors to Rapa Nui National Park]]

Spanish is the official and most spoken language on Easter Island, which is geographically part of Polynesia in Oceania and politically part of Chile. However, Easter Island's traditional language is Rapa Nui, an Eastern Polynesian language.

As a legacy of comprising the former Spanish East Indies, Spanish loan words are present in the local languages of Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Marshall Islands and Micronesia.{{cite web |url=http://www.als.asn.au/proceedings/als2005/engelberg-german.pdf |title=The Influence of German on the Lexicon of Palauan and Kosraean (Dissertation) |last=Engelberg |first=Stefan |access-date=23 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221131940/http://www.als.asn.au/proceedings/als2005/engelberg-german.pdf |archive-date=21 December 2012 |url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=Spanish language in Philippines|url=http://www.spanish-in-the-world.net/Spanish/philippines.php|access-date=1 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318055051/http://www.spanish-in-the-world.net/Spanish/philippines.php|archive-date=18 March 2015}}

In addition, in Australia and New Zealand, there are native Spanish communities, resulting from emigration from Spanish-speaking countries (mainly from the Southern Cone).{{Cite web |url=https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_06-07/pdf/paises_34.pdf |title=cvc.cervantes (Spanish in Australia and New Zealand) |access-date=25 May 2022 |archive-date=16 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220616051405/https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_06-07/pdf/paises_34.pdf |url-status=live}}

20 countries and one United States territory speak Spanish officially, and the language has a significant unofficial presence in the rest of the United States along with Andorra, Belize and the territory of Gibraltar.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+Worldwide Spanish fluency (grey and * signifies official language)

|-

! style="background:#efff;" |Country

! style="background:#efff;"data-sort-type="number" |Population{{cite web| url=http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Excel-Data/population.htm| title=UN 2011 to 2100 estimate| format=MS Excel PDF| work=UN Population data| access-date=7 February 2018| archive-date=10 May 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150510051033/http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Excel-Data/population.htm| url-status=live}}

! style="background:#efff;""width:23%;" data-sort-type="number" |Speakers of Spanish as a native language {{cite report |url=https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_24/el_espanol_en_el_mundo_anuario_instituto_cervantes_2024.pdf |title=El español: una lengua viva – Informe 2024 |last=Fernández Vítores |first=David |date=2024 |publisher=Instituto Cervantes}} 498.5 million people have a native command of Spanish. 77.9 million people have limited Spanish proficiency. 24.2 million people are learning the Spanish language. 600.6 million people are potential users of Spanish worldwide, 7.5% (pages 26 and 69).[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/ cia.gov]Ethnologue, 18th Ed.: :es:Anexo:Hablantes de español según Ethnologue (edición 18).

! style="background:#efff;""width:22%;" data-sort-type="number" | Native speakers and proficient speakers as a second language {{cite web| url = https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/2979 | title = Europeans and their Languages | year = 2023 |publisher= European Union (eurobarometer) | pages= 11, 58}} Reports and documents - Data annex - Europeans and their languages - page 58. The source offers percentages of people over 12 years old in each EU country, who speak Spanish at a very good level (page 58). Of the total EU population over 12 years old, 9% are native Spanish speakers, another 3% have a very good level of Spanish, and a total of 17% can hold a conversation in Spanish (page 54). Therefore, native and very good Spanish speakers account for 12% (9%+3%).

! style="background:#efff;" "width:22%;" data-sort-type="number" |Total number of Spanish speakers (including limited competence speakers){{cite web | url = https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/2979 | title = Eurobarometer: Report: Europeans and their languages |publisher=European Union | year = 2023 | pages = 11, 21| language = en}} Native and non native people who speak Spanish well enough in order to be able to have a conversation.{{Cite web | url = http://eprints.ucm.es/8936/1/DT03-06.pdf | title = Demografía de la lengua española | page = 10 | language = es | access-date = 23 February 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100923081035/http://eprints.ucm.es/8936/1/DT03-06.pdf | archive-date = 23 September 2010 | url-status = live}}, to countries with official Spanish status.

|-

| Mexico*

| {{formatnum:133367428}}{{Cite web | title=2025 population estimate| publisher=CONAPO estimate| url=https://conapo.segob.gob.mx/work/models/CONAPO/pry23/PP/index.html |language=es}}

| {{formatnum:125098647}} (93.8%){{Cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/mexico/#people-and-society |publisher=CIA |title=Mexico |work=The World Factbook |access-date=1 May 2011 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126164719/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/mexico |url-status=live}}: Spanish only 92.7%

|{{formatnum:125632117}} (94.2%)

|{{formatnum:132300489}} (99.2%)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| United States

| {{formatnum:334914895}}{{Cite web | url = https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2023/population-trends-return-to-pre-pandemic-norms.html | publisher = Census Bureau | title = (1 July, 2023) | access-date = | archive-date = 4 March 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210304225837/https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=hispanics&tid=ACSDP1Y2019.DP05 | url-status = live}}

|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:43369734}} (13.7% of 316,581,199) Spanish speakers older than 5 years old ({{Cite web | url = https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=LANGUAGE%20SPOKEN%20AT%20HOME%20%20&tid=ACSST1Y2023.S1601&t=Language%20Spoken%20at%20Home | year = 2023 | title = Language Spoken at Home| publisher = United States Census Bureau. }}){{efn|75% of U.S. Hispanics (65.1 million as of 2023{{cite web |url=https://data.census.gov/table?q=race&tid=ACSDP1Y2023.DP05 |title=Census Bureau (01/July/2023) |publisher=Census.gov |access-date=|archive-date=18 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230918010418/https://data.census.gov/table?q=race&tid=ACSDP1Y2022.DP05 |url-status=live}}) speak Spanish very well or pretty well (according to a 2022 survey).{{cite web |last=Taylor |first=Paul |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2023/09/20/latinos-views-of-and-experiences-with-the-spanish-language/ |title=Latinos’ Views of and Experiences With the Spanish Language |date=2022 |publisher=pewhispanic.org}}. There are also another 2.4 mill. non-Hispanic Spanish speakers at home older than 5 years old (5.6% of 43,369,734).[https://lenguaviva.org/espa%C3%B1ol%3A-una-lengua-viva-1 lenguaviva.org] (page 10)}}

|{{formatnum:58869734}} (17.6%){{efn|43.4 million as a first language + 15.5 million as a second language. To avoid double counting, the number does not include 8 million Spanish students and some of the 7.7 million undocumented Hispanics not accounted by the Census.}}

|-

|Colombia*

|{{formatnum:53110609}}{{cite web |url=https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dane.gov.co%2Ffiles%2Fcenso2018%2Fproyecciones-de-poblacion%2FNacional%2FDCD-area-proypoblacion-Nac-2020-2070.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK |date=2024 |title=Proyecciones de Población |publisher=Dane |location=CO |language=es |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322235136/https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-por-tema/demografia-y-poblacion/proyecciones-de-poblacion|archive-date=22 March 2019|url-status=live}}

|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:52090885}} (98.1%){{Cite web |url=https://www.datosmundial.com/america/colombia/index.php |title=datosmundial.com (Colombia) |access-date=24 October 2023}}

| 52 962 217 (99.7%){{efn|Indigenous population that does not speak Spanish: 148,392 (page 44 of "Anuario del Instituto Cervantes 2024").}}

|-

| Spain*

| {{formatnum:49077984}}{{cite web| url = https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/es/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736177095&menu=ultiDatos&idp=1254735572981| title = Census INE estimate for 1 January 2025 | archive-date = 2022-01-13 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220113005818/https://www.ine.es/jaxiT3/Tabla.htm?t=36643| url-status = live}}

| {{formatnum:42010754}} (85.6%)[https://www.ine.es/prensa/ecepov_2021.pdf INE (2021)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102180735/https://www.ine.es/prensa/ecepov_2021.pdf |date=2 November 2023}}: In Spain, 85.6% speak Spanish always or frequently in family (77.1% always and 8.5% frequently), 96% speak Spanish well, and 99.5% understand and speak, albeit with difficulty .

| {{formatnum:47114865}} (96%)

| {{formatnum:48832594}} (99.5%)

|-

| Argentina*

| {{formatnum:47473760}}{{cite web |url=https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indec.gob.ar%2Fftp%2Fcuadros%2Fpoblacion%2Fc1_proyecciones_nac_2010_2040.xls&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK |title=Argentinian census INDEC estimate for 2025 |date = 2025}}

| {{formatnum:45574810}} (96.0%){{Cite web |url=https://www.datosmundial.com/america/argentina/index.php |title=datosmundial.com (Argentina) |access-date=24 October 2023 |archive-date=17 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230417002409/https://www.datosmundial.com/america/argentina/index.php |url-status=live}}

| {{formatnum:46856601}} (98.7%)

|{{formatnum:47188917}} (99.4%)

|-

| Peru*

| {{formatnum:34412393}}{{cite web | url = https://www.inei.gob.pe/media/principales_indicadores/libro_1.pdf | language = es | title = Estimación y proyección de la población 1950-2050 | trans-title = Population estimation and projection 1950-2050 | year = 2025 | publisher = INEI | page = 140 }}

| {{formatnum:28527874}} (82.9%){{Cite web | quote = Spanish (official) 84.1%, Quechua (official) 13%, Aymara 1.7%, Ashaninka 0.3%, other native languages (includes a large number of minor Amazonian languages) 0.7%, other 0.2% | year = 2007 | work = The World factbook | title=Peru | url = https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/peru/ | publisher = CIA | access-date = 4 October 2011 | archive-date = 19 November 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211119135020/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/peru/ | url-status = live}}{{Cite web | quote = There are 5,782,260 people who speak other language as mother tongue (main languages: Quechua (among 32 Quechua's varieties) 4,773,900, Aymara (2 varieties) 661,000, Chinese 100,000). | url = http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=pe | title = Peru | publisher = Ethnologue | access-date = 21 September 2011 | archive-date = 2 December 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111202105534/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=pe | url-status = live}}

| {{formatnum:29594658}} (86.6%)

| {{formatnum:30600340}} (88.9%){{efn|Indigenous population that does not speak Spanish: 335,576 (page 44 of "Anuario del Instituto Cervantes 2024").}}

|-

| Venezuela*

| 28,460,000 {{cite web|url=https://population.un.org/wpp/|title=World Population Prospects 2024 (2024-2050)|publisher=UN |date=2025}}

|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:27720040}} (97.4%){{Cite web | quote = There are 1,098,244 people who speak other language as their mother tongue (main languages: Chinese 400,000, Portuguese 254,000, Wayuu 199,000, Arabic 110,000) | url = http://www.ethnologue.com/country/VE/languages | publisher = Ethnologue | title = Venezuela | access-date = 30 May 2013 | archive-date = 10 March 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130310032805/http://www.ethnologue.com/country/ve/languages | url-status = dead}}

|{{formatnum:28240466}} (99.2%){{efn|Indigenous population that does not speak Spanish: 219,534 (page 44 of "Anuario del Instituto Cervantes 2024").}}

|-

| Chile*

| {{formatnum:20206953}}{{cite web | url = https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.censo2017.cl%2Fdescargas%2Fproyecciones%2Festimaciones-y-proyecciones-chile-1992-2050-base-2017-poblacion-e-indicacores.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK | title = Census estimate for 1992 to 2050 | trans-title = Reports | publisher = INE | year = 2025 | language = es }}

|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:19317847}} (95.6%){{Cite web | quote = There are 281,600 people who speak another language, mainly Mapudungun (250.000) |url = http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=CL | title = Chile | publisher = Ethnologue | access-date = 12 October 2011 | archive-date = 3 February 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130203004338/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=CL | url-status = live}}

|{{formatnum:19945772}} (99.6%){{efn|Indigenous population that does not speak Spanish: 85,869 (page 44 of "Anuario del Instituto Cervantes 2024").}}

|-

| Ecuador*

| {{formatnum:18013000}}{{Cite web | url = https://proyeccionespoblacionales.ecudatanalytics.com/ | title=Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Census | date = 2025}}

| {{formatnum:16877244}} (93.7%)

|{{formatnum:17474448}} (97.0%){{efn|People with Spanish limited competence in Ecuador: 537,552. Indigenous population that does not speak Spanish: 451,533 (page 44 of "Anuario del Instituto Cervantes 2024").}}

|{{formatnum:17642817}} (98.6%){{cite web |author=CIA Factbook |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/ecuador/ |title=(2019) |publisher=CIA Factbook |date=19 February 1999 |access-date=24 March 2014 |archive-date=10 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110072816/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/ecuador |url-status=live}}

|-

| Guatemala*

| {{formatnum:18079810}}{{cite web |url=https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ine.gob.gt%2Fine%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F08%2FEstimaciones_y_proyecciones_de_poblacion-1950-2050.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK |title=Guatemala: Estimaciones y proyecciones de población 1950–2050. |language=es |website=www.oj.gob.gt |publisher=Instituto Nacional de Estadística | date=2025 }}

| {{formatnum:12637787}} (69.9%){{Cite web | title=Guatemala | quote = Spanish (official) 69.9%, Amerindian languages 40% | work = The World Factbook | url = https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/guatemala/ | publisher = CIA | access-date = 27 January 2021 | archive-date = 15 April 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210415030536/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/guatemala/ | url-status = live}}

|{{formatnum:13722576}} (75.9%)

|{{formatnum:16440943}} (90.8%){{efn|Indigenous population that does not speak Spanish: 1,638,867 (page 44 of "Anuario del Instituto Cervantes 2024").}}

|-

| Bolivia*

| {{formatnum:12332252}}{{cite web|url=https://www.ine.gob.bo/index.php/censos-y-proyecciones-de-poblacion-sociales/ |title=Census INE estimate for 2024 |publisher=INE}}

| {{formatnum:7485677}} (60.7%){{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/bolivia/|title=South America :: Bolivia — The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|access-date=13 March 2020|archive-date=27 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927041747/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/bolivia/|url-status=live}}

|{{formatnum:9927463}} (80.5%)

|{{formatnum:12064523}} (97.8%){{efn|Indigenous population that does not speak Spanish: 267,729 (page 44 of "Anuario del Instituto Cervantes 2024").}}

|-

| Cuba*

| {{formatnum:11089511}}{{cite web |url=http://www.onei.gob.cu/node/13815 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211142555/http://www.onei.gob.cu/node/13815 |archive-date=11 December 2020 |website=ONEI |title=31 December 2022 estimation}}

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:10996367}} (99.2%)

| {{formatnum:10996367}} (99.2%)

|-

| Dominican Republic*

| {{formatnum:10878267}}{{cite web |url=https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.one.gob.do%2Fmedia%2Fc2bh3ckv%2Fcuadro-estimaciones-y-proyecciones-poblaci%25C3%25B3n-total-por-a%25C3%25B1o-seg%25C3%25BAn-sexo-edad-2000-2030.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK |title=Census ONE estimate 2000-2030 |language=es |publisher=Oficina Nacional de Estadística |date=2025}}

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | {{formatnum:10323475}} (94.9%)

|{{formatnum:10747728}} (98.8%)

|-

| Honduras*

| {{formatnum:10039862}}{{cite web|url=http://181.115.7.199/binhnd/RpWebEngine.exe/Portal?BASE=PROYPOB&lang=ESP |title=INE estimate |date=2025}}

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:9549917}} (95.1%)There are 207,750 people who speak another language, mainly Garifuna (98,000).: [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=HN Ethnologue] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111013214744/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=HN |date=13 October 2011}}

| {{formatnum:9949503}} (99.1%)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| France

| {{formatnum:68381000}}{{cite web|url=https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/serie/001641607|title=INSEE estimate to 2024|publisher=Insee.fr|date=2024}}

| {{formatnum:557001}} (1% of 55 700 114) There are more than {{formatnum:433000}} emigrants from predominantly Spanish-speaking countries in France, of which 93.6% speak native Spanish ([https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_24/el_espanol_en_el_mundo_anuario_instituto_cervantes_2024.pdf.pdf Inst. Cerv. Anuario 2024]): {{formatnum:310072}} Spaniards ([https://www.ine.es/jaxi/Datos.htm?path=/t20/p85001/serie/l0/&file=01001.px INE, 2025]) + {{formatnum:31151}} Colombians + {{formatnum:16473}} Chileans + {{formatnum:14807}} Argentines + {{formatnum:13390}} Mexicans + {{formatnum:13361}} Peruvians + {{formatnum:7249}} Venezuelans + {{formatnum:5466}} Cubans + {{formatnum:4730}} Ecuatorians + 3,992 Dominicans + {{formatnum:3598}} Bolivians + 3,423 Guatemalans + {{formatnum:2784}} Uruguayans + {{formatnum:1178}} Paraguayans ([https://datosmacro.expansion.com/demografia/migracion/inmigracion/francia datosmacro 2020]). On the other hand, we should consider Spanish emigrants who have become French citizens and still speak Spanish, or the descendants of Spanish emigrants born in France who speak Spanish at home.

| {{formatnum:1910258}} (4% of 55 700 114){{efn|3% of people in France older than 12, speak Spanish very well, and 1% speak Spanish as a native language.}}

| {{formatnum:7798016}} (14% of 55 700 114)

|-

| Nicaragua*

| {{formatnum:6803886}}{{cite web| url = https://www.inide.gob.ni/docs/Anuarios/Anuario2022/ANUARIO_ESTADISTICO2022.pdf| title = Census estimate for 2023}}

| {{formatnum:6484103}} (95.3%)[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/nicaragua/ www.cia.gov]There are 490,124 people who speak another language, mainly Mískito (154,000).: [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=NI Ethnologue] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115100732/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=NI |date=15 January 2013}}

| {{formatnum:6599769}} (97.1%)

| {{formatnum:6734219}} (98.9%){{efn|Indigenous population that does not speak Spanish: 69,667. (page 44 of "Anuario del Instituto Cervantes 2024").}}

|-

| Paraguay*

| {{formatnum:6417076}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.ine.gov.py/publication-single.php?codec=266|title=Census estimate 1950-2050| date=2025}}

| {{formatnum:3946502}} (61.5%){{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/paraguay/|title=South America :: Paraguay — The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|access-date=18 March 2020|archive-date=31 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181231111825/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/pa.html|url-status=live}}

| {{formatnum:4318692}} (67.3%)

| {{formatnum:6397823}} (99,7%){{efn|Indigenous population that does not speak Spanish: 19,253. Indigenous population that have limited competence: 2,456,048 (page 45, 34 of "Anuario del Instituto Cervantes 2024").}}{{cite web| url = https://es.ripleybelieves.com/what-languages-are-spoken-in-paraguay-1238| title = es.ripleybelieves.com| access-date = 14 January 2022| archive-date = 15 January 2022| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220115062719/https://es.ripleybelieves.com/what-languages-are-spoken-in-paraguay-1238| url-status = live}}

|-

| El Salvador*

| {{formatnum:6029976}}{{cite web| url = https://censo2024.bcr.gob.sv/wp-content/uploads/tablas-geoportal/presentacion-de-resultados-censo-de-poblacion-y-vivienda-el-salvador-2024-segunda-entrega.pdf| title = Census estimate for 2024}}

| {{formatnum:6015876}}There are 14,100 people who speak other language as their mother tongue (main language, Kekchí with 12,300 speakers): [http://www.ethnologue.com/country/SV Ethnologue] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207044049/http://www.ethnologue.com/country/SV |date=7 February 2016}}.

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:6023946}} (99.9%)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Brazil

| {{formatnum:212584000}}{{Cite web | language = pt-br | trans-title = The IBGE publishes the population estimates for 1 July 2024 | url = https://www.ibge.gov.br/apps/populacao/projecao/index.html | title = IBGE population estimations | year = 2024}}

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:522443}}There are {{formatnum:1318554}} emigrants from predominantly Spanish-speaking countries in Brazil, of which 93.6% speak native Spanish ([https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_24/el_espanol_en_el_mundo_anuario_instituto_cervantes_2024.pdf.pdf Inst. Cerv. Anuario 2024]): {{formatnum:626900}} Venezuelans ([https://www.r4v.info/es/refugiadosymigrantes r4v, nov 2024]) + {{formatnum:140319}} Spaniards ([https://www.ine.es/jaxi/Datos.htm?path=/t20/p85001/serie/l0/&file=01001.px INE, 2025]) + {{formatnum:140544}} Bolivians + {{formatnum:81036}} Colombians + {{formatnum:79744}} Argentines + {{formatnum:50512}} Uruguayans + {{formatnum:49412}} Peruvians + {{formatnum:48501}} Paraguayans + {{formatnum:35602}} Cubans + {{formatnum:22656}} Mexicans + {{formatnum:20650}} Chileans + {{formatnum:10669}} Ecuatorians + 3,370 Dominicans + 2,592 Hondurans + 1,929 Costa Ricans + 1,676 Guatemalans ([https://www.nepo.unicamp.br/observatorio/bancointerativo/numeros-imigracao-internacional/sincre-sismigra/ nepo.unicamp.br 2020-22]).

| {{formatnum:6192887}}{{efn|522,443 immigrants native speakers + 170,444 descendants of Spanish immigrants + 5,500,000 can hold a conversation (pages 52 and 54 of "Anuario del Instituto Cervantes 2024"). To avoid double counting, the number does not include 4,048,338 Spanish students in Brazil (page 59).}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Germany

| {{formatnum:83190556}}{{Cite web | url = https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bevoelkerung/Bevoelkerungsstand/Tabellen/zensus-geschlecht-staatsangehoerigkeit-2020.html | title = German census | date = 2020 | publisher = Destatis | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160628112855/https://www.destatis.de/EN/FactsFigures/SocietyState/Population/CurrentPopulation/Tables/Census_SexAndCitizenship.html | archive-date = 28 June 2016 | url-status = live}}

| {{formatnum:716772}} (1% of 71 677 231) Native command group (GDL): 266,955 non-nationalized Spanish-speaking immigrants, 63,752 nationalized Spanish-speaking immigrants, 44,500 Spanish speakers of children of immigrants (second generation). 375,207 total native speakers, but there are another 37,047 non-mother-tongue speakers with native-level skills. [https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/espanol_lengua_viva/pdf/espanol_lengua_viva_2020.pdf Anuario del Instituto Cervantes 2020 (page 325). "Germany and their Spanish speakers"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218134448/https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/espanol_lengua_viva/pdf/espanol_lengua_viva_2019.pdf |date=18 February 2020}}

| {{formatnum:2150317}} (3% of 71 677 231){{efn|2% of people in Germany older than 12, speak Spanish very well, and 1% speak Spanish as a native language.}}

| {{formatnum:5734178}} (8% of 71 677 231)

|-

| Costa Rica*

| {{formatnum:5327387}}{{cite web|url=https://www.inec.cr/poblacion/estimaciones-y-proyecciones-de-poblacion |title=INEC estimate for 2024 |publisher=INEC}}

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:5268786}} (98.9%)

| {{formatnum:5326600}} (99.9%){{efn|Indigenous population that does not speak Spanish: 897. (page 44 of "Anuario del Instituto Cervantes 2024").}}

|-

| Panama*

| {{formatnum:4565559}}[https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.inec.gob.pa%2Farchivos%2FP4911CUADRO9.XLS&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK Census INEC estimate for 2025]

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:3944643}} (86.4)There are 501,043 people who speak another language as mother tongue: {{Cite web | url = http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=PA | title = PA | publisher = Ethnologue | access-date = 17 October 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111021142552/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=PA | archive-date = 21 October 2011 | url-status = live}}

| {{formatnum:4495892}} (98.4%){{efn|Indigenous population that does not speak Spanish: 69,667. (page 44 of "Anuario del Instituto Cervantes 2024").}}

|-

| Uruguay*

| {{formatnum:3499451}}{{cite web |url=https://www.gub.uy/instituto-nacional-estadistica/censos2023pvh |title=INE estimate for 2023}}

| {{formatnum:3348975}} (95.7%)[https://www.datosmundial.com/america/uruguay/index.php datosmundial.com]There are 150,200 people who speak another language as mother tongue, {{Cite web | url = http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=UY | title = UY | publisher = Ethnologue | access-date = 17 October 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111116095609/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=UY | archive-date = 16 November 2011 | url-status = live}}

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:3467956}} (99.1%)

|-

| Puerto Rico*

| {{formatnum:3203295}}{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/PR/PST045224 |title=2024 US. census Bureau }}

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:3049537}} (95.2%)([https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST1Y2023.S1601?q=race&t=Language%20Spoken%20at%20Home&g=040XX00US72&y=2023 Census Bureau 2023] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924081747/http://www.census.gov/popest/data/municipios/totals/2011/tables/PRM-EST2011-01.xls |date=24 September 2015}})

| {{formatnum:3200092}} (99.9%)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| United Kingdom

| {{formatnum:68265209}}{{cite web |url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/bulletins/annualmidyearpopulationestimates/latest |title=Annual Mid year Population Estimates: 2023 |publisher=U.K. Gov. Census |date=1 July 2023}}

| {{formatnum:215062}} (0.4%)Languages of the United Kingdom

| {{formatnum:518480}} (1% of 51,848,010)[https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/1049 Eurobarometr 2012] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130429224902/http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_anx_en.pdf |date=29 April 2013}} (pages T74, TS2): Non native people who speak Spanish very well.

| {{formatnum:3110880}} (6% of 51,848,010)[http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_anx_en.pdf Eurobarometr 2012] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130429224902/http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_anx_en.pdf |date=29 April 2013}} (page T64): Non native people who speak Spanish well enough in order to be able to have a conversation.

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Italy

| {{formatnum:60542215}}{{cite web |url=https://www.istat.it/en/population-and-households |title=Census 2021 estimate|publisher=Istat.it |access-date=24 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150807053109/http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/table.do?tab=table&language=en&pcode=tps00001&tableSelection=1&footnotes=yes&labeling=labels&plugin=1 |archive-date=7 August 2015 |url-status=live}}

| {{formatnum:515597}} (1% of 51,862,391)

| {{formatnum:1546790}} (3% of 51,862,391){{efn|2% of people in Italy older than 12, speak Spanish very well, and 1% speak Spanish as a native language.}}

| {{formatnum:3093580}} (6% of 51,862,391)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Canada

| {{formatnum:41465298}}{{Cite web | url = https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1710000901 | title = Population estimates, quarterly | date = 2024 | publisher = Statistics Canada }}

| {{formatnum:600795}} (1.6%){{cite web |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/dv-vd/language-langue/index-en.html |title=Mother tongue by geography, 2021 Census |date=2021 |publisher=Statistics Canada |access-date=24 October 2023 |archive-date=14 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240114071602/https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/dv-vd/language-langue/index-en.html |url-status=live}}

| {{formatnum:1171450}}{{cite web |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810021601&pickMembers%5B0%5D=1.1&pickMembers%5B1%5D=2.1&pickMembers%5B2%5D=3.1&pickMembers%5B3%5D=4.1 |title=Knowledge of languages by age and gender: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions |date=2022 |publisher=Statistics Canada |access-date=24 October 2023 |archive-date=22 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240122225258/https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810021601&pickMembers%5B0%5D=1.1&pickMembers%5B1%5D=2.1&pickMembers%5B2%5D=3.1&pickMembers%5B3%5D=4.1 |url-status=live}} (3.2%)[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/canada/#people-and-society cia.gov] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210922212931/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/canada/#people-and-society |date=22 September 2021}} (3.2% speak Spanish in Canada)

| {{formatnum:1775000}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.tln.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/spanish-speaking-canada-population_2.pdf |title=tln.ca |access-date=24 October 2023 |archive-date=7 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207190552/https://www.tln.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/spanish-speaking-canada-population_2.pdf |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |url=https://allontario.ca/the-importance-of-spanish-in-canada/ |title=allontario.ca |date=14 May 2020 |access-date=24 October 2023 |archive-date=27 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927175639/https://allontario.ca/the-importance-of-spanish-in-canada/ |url-status=live}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Morocco

| {{formatnum:36828330}}{{cite web|url=https://www.hcp.ma/Population-legale-du-Royaume-du-Maroc-repartie-par-regions-provinces-et-prefectures-et-communes-selon-les-resultats-du_a3974.html|title=Census estimate for 2024|publisher=HCP}}

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:12774}}

| {{formatnum:1754485}}[http://www.slideshare.net/magdarol/el-espaol-en-el-contexto-sociolingstico-marroqui-evolucin-y-perspectivas-i El español en el contexto Sociolingüístico marroquí: Evolución y perspectivas (page 39)]: Between 4 and 7 million people have Spanish knowledge (M. Ammadi, 2002) {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106191132/http://www.slideshare.net/magdarol/el-espaol-en-el-contexto-sociolingstico-marroqui-evolucin-y-perspectivas-i |date=6 November 2013}} (10%){{cite web|url=http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Embajadas/RABAT/es/Noticias/Documents/LENGESPMARR.pdf |title=Euromonitor, 2012|page=32|work=exteriores.gob.es|access-date=19 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150425134251/http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Embajadas/RABAT/es/Noticias/Documents/LENGESPMARR.pdf|archive-date=25 April 2015|url-status=live}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Netherlands

| {{formatnum:18070000}}{{cite web |date=24 March 2025 |title=Bevolkingsteller: Hoeveel mensen wonen nu in Nederland? |trans-title=Population counter: How many people live in the Netherlands now? |url=https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/visualisaties/dashboard-bevolking/bevolkingsteller |access-date=24 March 2025 |publisher=Cbs.nl}}

|

|

| {{formatnum:1328731}} (9% of 14 763 684)

|-

| Equatorial Guinea*

| {{formatnum:1505588}}{{cite web |url=https://inege.gq/ |title=Equatorial Guinea census estimate |year=2021 |publisher=Population statistics |access-date=21 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100806160229/http://www.guineaecuatorialpress.com/estadistica.php |archive-date=6 August 2010 |url-status=live}}

|

| {{formatnum:1114135}} (74%)

| {{formatnum:1320401}} (87.7%)[https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_06-07/pdf/paises_08.pdf cvc.cervantes.es]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227153232/https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_06-07/pdf/paises_08.pdf |date=27 December 2021}}. 13.7% of the country's Spanish speakers are proficient; the remaining 74% are limited-competence speakers.

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Portugal

| {{formatnum:10639726}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_destaques&DESTAQUESdest_boui=645507713&DESTAQUESmodo=2 |title=INE estimate |date=31 Dec 2023}}

| {{formatnum:48791}}

| {{formatnum:178312}} (2% of 8,915,624)

| {{formatnum:1089995}}{{Cite web |url=https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/espanol_europa/espanol_portugal/demolinguistica_espanol_portugal.pdf |title= Demo lingüística del español en Portugal |publisher= Instituto Cervantes | page = 31 |access-date=2 December 2023 |archive-date=22 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222110248/https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/espanol_europa/espanol_portugal/demolinguistica_espanol_portugal.pdf |url-status=live}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Belgium

| {{formatnum:11812354}}{{cite web |url=https://www.ibz.rrn.fgov.be/fileadmin/user_upload/fr/pop/statistiques/population-bevolking-20250101.pdf |title=Census estimate to 2025 |publisher=ibz.rrn.fgov.be}}

| {{formatnum:96193}} (1% of 9,619,330)

| {{formatnum:192387}} (2% of 9,619,330){{efn|1% of people in Belgium older than 12, speak Spanish very well, and 1% speak Spanish as a native language.}}

| {{formatnum:961933}} (10% of 9,619,330)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Sweden

| {{formatnum:10588230}}[http://www.scb.se/Pages/Product____25799.aspx 2012 census]{{webarchive |url=https://www.scb.se/en/BE0101-en |date=November 2024}}

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:85415}} (1% of 8,541,497)

| {{formatnum:854149}} (10% of 8,541,497) )

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Ivory Coast

| {{formatnum:29389150}}{{cite web|url=http://www.ins.ci/n | title=Census, 2021}}

|

|

| {{formatnum:798095}} (students)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Philippines

| {{formatnum:114123600}}{{Cite web | url = https://psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/dhsd/Statistical%20Tables%20CBPP_0.pdf | publisher = National Statistics Office | title = Medium projection | date = 1 Jul 2025 }}

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | {{formatnum:4584}}

| {{formatnum:566921}}{{Cite web |url=https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_18/madrid/p01.htm |title=cvc.cervantes.es |access-date=25 October 2023 |archive-date=16 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230816002359/https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_18/madrid/p01.htm |url-status=live}} There are 4,803 native Spanish speakers + 461,689 Spanish speakers with limited competence + 33,600 Spanish students.

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Australia

| 27,309,396 {{cite web |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3101.0 |title=2024 Census |publisher= Australian census data |date=30 Sep 2024 }}

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:175491}}

| {{formatnum:559491}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Switzerland

| {{formatnum:9060598}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/population/effectif-change.assetdetail.32175841.html |title=bfs.admin.ch |date=2025 }}

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:212970}}(2.3%){{cite web |url=http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/01/05/blank/key/sprachen.html |title=Bevölkerung |first=Bundesamt für|last=Statistik|website=www.bfs.admin.ch|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160114180444/http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/01/05/blank/key/sprachen.html|archive-date=14 January 2016}}[http://www.exteriores.gob.es/documents/fichaspais/suiza_ficha%20pais.pdf exteriores.gob.es] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124220134/http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Documents/FichasPais/SUIZA_FICHA%20PAIS.pdf |date=24 January 2022}}. 2.3% Spanish speakers as a native language according to 2018 census.

| {{formatnum:556131}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Romania

| {{formatnum:19051562}}{{cite web |url=https://insse.ro/cms/sites/default/files/com_presa/com_pdf/poprez_ian2023r.pdf |title=Eurostat (1/1/2023 estimate) |publisher=insse.ro }}

|

| |

| {{formatnum:485241}} (3 of 16,174,719)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Denmark

| {{formatnum:5982117}}[https://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik/emner/borgere/befolkning/befolkningstal 2025 Census estimate]

|

|

|{{formatnum:440213}} (9% of 4,891,261)

|-

| Western Sahara

| {{formatnum:590506}}{{cite web | url = https://population.un.org/wpp/ | title = 2024 UN estimate | year = 2024 }}

| N/AThe 1970 Spanish census claims there were 16,648 Spanish speakers in Western Sahara at the time ([http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_99/otero/p03.htm#7]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090917062525/http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_99/otero/p03.htm#7|date=17 September 2009}}), but most of them were probably people born in Spain who left after the Moroccan annexation.

|

| {{formatnum:423739}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Benin

| {{formatnum:12910087}}{{cite web|url=https://instad.bj/images/docs/Actualit%C3%A9s/Projection%20r%C3%A9vis%C3%A9e.pdf |title=National annual projection |date=1 Jul 2024}}

|

|

| {{formatnum:412515}} (students)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Cameroon

| {{formatnum:28758503}}[https://ins-cameroun.cm/document/projections-demographiques-et-estimations-des-cibles-prioritaires-des-differents-programmes-et-interventions-de-sante/ 01-July-2024 Census estimate]

|

|

| {{formatnum:403000}} (students)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Senegal

| {{formatnum:12853259}}

|

|

| {{formatnum:356000}} (students)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Poland

| {{formatnum:38036118}}[https://stat.gov.pl/en/topics/other-studies/informations-on-socio-economic-situation/statistical-bulletin-no-112022,4,145.html 2022 Census]

|

|

| {{formatnum:319829}} (1% of 31,982,941)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Austria

| {{formatnum:9198214}}[https://www.statistik.at/en/statistics/population-and-society/population/population-stock/population-at-beginning-of-year/quarter statistik.at] "Population at beginning of 2025/quarter"

|

| {{formatnum:76471}} (1% of 7,647,176)

| {{formatnum:305887}} (4% of 7,647,176)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Ireland

| {{formatnum:5380300}}[https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-pme/populationandmigrationestimatesapril2024/ cso.ie] "Population and Migration Estimates, April 2024".

| {{formatnum:40059}} (1% of 4,005,909)

| {{formatnum:120177}} (3% of 4,005,909)

| {{formatnum:280414}} (7% of 4,005,909)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Belize

| {{formatnum:430191}}{{Cite report |url=http://www.sib.org.bz/ |title=Spanish in belize |date= |language=es |access-date=3 February 2022 |archive-date=4 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151204235026/http://www.sib.org.bz/ |url-status=live}}

| {{formatnum:224130}} (52.1%){{Cite report |url=https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_06-07/pdf/paises_42.pdf |title=Spanish in Belize. 52.1% speak Spanish with very well level. 10.7% speak Spanish with intermediate level. |date=2000 |language=es |access-date=3 February 2022 |archive-date=3 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203033222/https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_06-07/pdf/paises_42.pdf |url-status=live}}

| {{formatnum:224130}} (52.1%)

| 270,160 (62.8%)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Czech Republic

| {{formatnum:10897237}}{{cite web|url=https://csu.gov.cz/home |title=czso.cz |language=cs |publisher=czso.cz |date= September 2024 }}

|

| {{formatnum:89820}} (1% of 8,982,036)

| {{formatnum:269461}} (3% of 8,982,036)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Algeria

| {{formatnum:47400000}}[https://www.ons.dz/IMG/pdf/Demographie_Algerienne2020_2023.pdf ons.dz], Census estimate for 1 Jan 2025.

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:1149}}

| {{formatnum:263428}}{{efn|There are 1,149 native Spanish speakers + 173,600 Spanish speakers with limited competence + 88,679 Spanish students.}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius & Saba

| 244,700

|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 46,621

| 203,339

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Finland

| {{formatnum:5638675}}[https://pxdata.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb/en/StatFin/StatFin__vamuu/statfin_vamuu_pxt_11lj.px pxdata.stat.fi] 1-July-2024 Census estimate

|

|

| {{formatnum:186917}} (4% of 4,672,932)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Greece

| {{formatnum:10400720}}[https://www.statistics.gr/documents/20181/b248e72c-2917-bdae-1d15-98d22787adb7 statistics.gr] 1-January-2024.

|

| {{formatnum:91679}} (1% of 9,167,896)

| {{formatnum:183358}} (2% of 9,167,896)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Bulgaria

| {{formatnum:6445481}}[https://www.nsi.bg/bg/content/19806/%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%81%D1%8A%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%89%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5/%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5-%D0%BA%D1%8A%D0%BC-7-%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BF%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B8-2021-%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0 nsi.bg] 31 Dec 2023 census estimate

|

| {{formatnum:59175}} (1% of 5,917,534)

| {{formatnum:177526}} (3% of 5,917,534)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Gabon

| {{formatnum:2408586}}[https://www.statgabon.ga/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Rapport-Projection_Final.pdf www.state.gov]. Census estimate for 1 July 2025.

|

|

| {{formatnum:167410}} (students)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Hungary

| {{formatnum:9540000}}{{cite web |url=https://www.ksh.hu/stadat_files/nep/en/nep0001.html |title=Census estimate |publisher=ksh.hu |date= 1 January 2025 }}

|

| {{formatnum:83135}} (1% of 8,313,539)

| {{formatnum:166271}} (2% of 8,313,539)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Russia

| {{formatnum:146028325}}{{cite web |url= https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/PrPopul2025_Site.xlsx |title=Census estimate for 2025 |publisher=Russian census estimate |date=1 January 2025 }}

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | {{formatnum: 28924}}

| {{formatnum:163354}} (134,430 students)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Japan

| {{formatnum:123440000}}[https://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/jinsui/tsuki/index.htm stat.go.jp] 1 Mar 2025 census estimate.

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:131000}}

| {{formatnum:160000}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Slovakia

| {{formatnum:5421272}} [https://slovak.statistics.sk/wps/portal/ext/products/informationmessages/inf_sprava_detail/3ea24db8-57c6-4e4b-b535-050d5353d478/!ut/p/z1/tVLNUsIwGHwWDz2m-SApCd4Co_wIjoAI5OK0JdAKbWobW_HpTR0vzIjgwVy-ZGZ3s5sNlniJZeqX8dY3sU79vT2vZOt5wga802kIgM6IwGB4N7vvd2-bvbmHF8cAfj-9gcGjeOhNh7QB1MPyd_4TlliGqclMhFc6KPwIFTsUpxvk74wDdqPzxLopU4WKLPfLgwNloczOTqL8Jl0HHHksbCGqaIACj3gIPFjbSdaU8Vo-C-M1Xl2EXpzLW8eBE0uA5csvSLcn-pSNAPio58FA9OfT9oQQEOQb8IvGynpgJz00GF6UsarwPK1fZo9nf4zYBzw814qtPX55fZXCdqNTo94NXv5HOfaeZj7ujrc2gW-iWlrj5UVUmyEOErcKExdcxhkQxjht0nbLI6QWFmlAuBXO1UblKnffcvudI2Oy4toBB6qqcrdab_fKDXXiwE-USBc2-DESZ8k84eSAdpvxDaEyOJCPkVqIq08a31Kc/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/ slovak.statistics.sk] 2024 Census estimate.

|

| {{formatnum:45915}} (1% of 4,591,487)

| {{formatnum:91830}} (2% of 4,591,487)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Israel

| {{formatnum:10045100}}[https://www.cbs.gov.il/en/Statistics/Pages/Generators/Time-Series-DataBank.aspx?r=ea3bd53b-b8ef-4c4a-8f6f-8eb5e8cdb84f&uptodate=1 cbs.gov.il] Census estimate for 28 Feb 2025.

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:104000}}

| {{formatnum:149000}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Norway

| {{formatnum:5594340}}[https://www.ssb.no/en/befolkning/folketall/statistikk/befolkning ssb.no]. Census estimate for 2025-01-01.

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | {{formatnum:13000}}

| {{formatnum:132888}}{{efn|There are 13,000 native Spanish speakers + 24,000 Spanish speakers with limited competence + 95,888 Spanish students.}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Aruba

| {{formatnum:107566}}{{cite web |date=1 January 2024 |title=General characteristics of Aruba 2023 |url=https://cbs.aw/wp/index.php/2022/09/20/test-2/ |publisher=CBS}}

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | {{formatnum:14737}}

| {{formatnum:89387}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Luxembourg

| {{formatnum:672050}}[https://statistiques.public.lu/dam-assets/actualite/2024/stn16-pop-2024/stn16-2024-population-2024-v20.pdf January 2024 Census estimate.]

| {{formatnum:16000}} (3% of 533,335)

| {{formatnum:37000}} (7% of 533,335){{efn|4% of people in Italy older than 12, speak Spanish very well, and 3% speak Spanish as a native language.}}

| {{formatnum:80000}} (15% of 533,335)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Andorra

| {{formatnum:85101}}[https://www.estadistica.ad/portal/apps/sites/#/estadistica-ca/pages/estadistiques-i-dades-detall?Idioma=ca&N2=605&N3=606&DV=797 2024 Census estimate]

| {{formatnum:34132}} (43.2%)

| {{formatnum:49018}} (57.6%)[https://static1.ara.cat/ara/public/content/file/original/2019/1216/13/principals-dades-de-l-estudi-sobre-coneixements-i-usos-lingueistics-d0807a0.pdf static1.ara.cat]: 43.2% speak Spanish as a mother tongue, and 14.4% as a second language.

| {{formatnum:71677}} (80.0%)[https://www.andorrainfo.com/andorra/idioma.html andorrainfo.com]

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Trinidad and Tobago

| {{formatnum:1368333}}[https://cso.gov.tt/subjects/population-and-vital-statistics/population/ CSO – Statistics (1 July 2024)].}}.

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | {{formatnum:4000}}

| {{formatnum:70401}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| China

| {{formatnum:1408280000}}{{cite web |url=https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/2020/data/island-areas/guam/population-and-housing-unit-counts/guam-phc-table01.pdf |title=2020 census result }}

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:15130}}

| {{formatnum:69028}} (53,898 students)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| New Zealand

|

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:22000}}

| {{formatnum:58373}} (36,373 students)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Slovenia

|

|

| {{formatnum:35194}} (2% of 1,759,701[http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_anx_en.pdf Eurobarometr 2012] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130429224902/http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_anx_en.pdf |date=29 April 2013}} (page TS2): Population older than 15. (age scale used for the Eurobarometer survey))

| {{formatnum:52791}} (3% of 1,759,701)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| India

| {{formatnum:1428627663}}{{cite web |url= https://population.un.org/wpp/ |title= 2024 UN estimate |date= 2024 }}

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:4855}}

| {{formatnum:51104}} (46,249 students)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Guam

| {{formatnum:153836}}{{cite web |url=https://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/202501/t20250117_1958330.html |title=Census estimate for 1 January 2025 |publisher=Stats.gov.cn}}

| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |{{formatnum:1309}}

| {{formatnum:32233}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Gibraltar

| {{formatnum:29441}}{{cite web|url=http://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/statistics/faqs |title=Statistics – FAQ's |publisher=Gibraltar.gov.gi |date=12 November 2012 |access-date=24 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140105204953/https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/statistics/faqs |archive-date=5 January 2014}}

| {{formatnum:22758}} (77.3%[http://www.um.es/tonosdigital/znum19/secciones/estudios-23-Gibraltar.htm www.um.es] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140626004221/http://www.um.es/tonosdigital/znum19/secciones/estudios-23-Gibraltar.htm |date=26 June 2014}} (5.2. Datos descriptivos de los usos de español e inglés, Gráfico 2). 77.3% of the Gibraltar population speak Spanish with their mother more, or equal than English.)

|

|

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Lithuania

| {{formatnum:2972949}}{{cite web |url=http://db1.stat.gov.lt/statbank/selectvarval/saveselections.asp?MainTable=M3010101&PLanguage=1&TableStyle=&Buttons=&PXSId=7743&IQY=&TC=&ST=ST&rvar0=&rvar1=&rvar2=&rvar3=&rvar4=&rvar5=&rvar6=&rvar7=&rvar8=&rvar9=&rvar10=&rvar11=&rvar12=&rvar13=&rvar14= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100819130935/http://db1.stat.gov.lt/statbank/selectvarval/saveselections.asp?MainTable=M3010101&PLanguage=1&TableStyle=&Buttons=&PXSId=7743&IQY=&TC=&ST=ST&rvar0=&rvar1=&rvar2=&rvar3=&rvar4=&rvar5=&rvar6=&rvar7=&rvar8=&rvar9=&rvar10=&rvar11=&rvar12=&rvar13=&rvar14= |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 August 2010 |title=(2013) |publisher=db1.stat.gov.lt |access-date=24 March 2014}}

|

|

| {{formatnum:28297}} (1% of 2,829,740)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Turkey

| {{formatnum:83614362}}

| {{formatnum:1000}}

| {{formatnum:1000}}

| {{formatnum:20346}} (4,346 students){{Cite web |url=https://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_06-07/pdf/cifras.pdf |access-date=3 February 2022 |title=El Español en Cifras |pages=25–32 |website=cvc.cervantes.es |language=es |archive-date=6 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160706025728/http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_06-07/pdf/cifras.pdf |url-status=live}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| US Virgin Islands

|

| {{formatnum:16788}}

| {{formatnum:16788}}

| {{formatnum:16788}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Latvia

| {{formatnum:2209000}}{{cite web |url=http://www.csb.gov.lv/en/statistikas-temas/population-key-indicators-30624.html |title=Population – Key Indicators | Latvijas statistika |publisher=Csb.gov.lv |access-date=14 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130628214416/http://www.csb.gov.lv/en/statistikas-temas/population-key-indicators-30624.html |archive-date=28 June 2013 |url-status=dead}}

|

|

| {{formatnum:13943}} (1% of 1,447,866)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Cyprus

|

|

|

| 2% of 660,400

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Estonia

|

|

|

| {{formatnum:9457}} (1% of 945,733)

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Jamaica

| {{formatnum:2711476}}{{cite web |url=http://statinja.gov.jm/Demo_SocialStats/population.aspx |title=Jamaican Population |publisher=Statinja.gov.jm |access-date=24 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006125038/http://statinja.gov.jm/Demo_SocialStats/population.aspx |archive-date=6 October 2014 |url-status=live}}

| {{formatnum:8000}}

| {{formatnum:8000}}

| {{formatnum:8000}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Namibia

|

| {{formatnum:666}}

| {{formatnum:3866}}[http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_06-07/pdf/paises_12.pdf El español en Namibia, 2005.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130302153728/http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_06-07/pdf/paises_12.pdf |date=2 March 2013}} Instituto Cervantes.

| {{formatnum:3866}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Egypt

|

|

|

| {{formatnum:3500}} (students){{cite web |url=http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_06-07/pdf/cifras.pdf |title=cvc.cervantes.es |access-date=24 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106014858/http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_06-07/pdf/cifras.pdf |archive-date=6 January 2012 |url-status=live}}

|- style="background:#fff;"

| Malta

|

|

|

| {{formatnum:3354}} (1% of 335,476)

|- style="background:#efff;" |class=sortbottom

| Total

| {{formatnum:8107000000}} (total world population){{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/popclock/ |title=U.S. and World Population Clock |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |date=18 March 2025 }}

| {{formatnum:{{#expr: 125098647 + 43369734 + 52090885 + 42010754 + 45574810 + 28527874 + 27720040 + 19317847 + 16877244 + 12637787 + 7485677 + 10995250 + 10323475 + 9549917 + 557001 + 6484103 + 3946502 + 5788776 + 716772 + 1240391 + 5268786 + 3944643 + 3348975 + 3049537 + 259322 + 515597 + 13204 + 223837 + 88461 + 600795 + 48265 + 96193 + 85415 + 5833 + 175491 + 4284 + 20320 + 224130 + 5150 + 1149 + 210115 + 1377 + 6068 + 16062 + 104000 + 131000 + 40059 + 27921 + 10699 + 8241 + 15130 + 13542 + 4000 + 1201 + 22000 + 33305 + 47300 + 5872 + 22758 + 16000 + 5235 + 16788 + 4855 + 8000 + 227 round 0}}}} ({{formatnum:{{#expr: 48873695200 / 8107000000 round 1 }}}}%)According to the CIA Factbook, Spanish is the second most spoken language at 6%, and the fourth most spoken language overall at 6.9%.

|{{formatnum:{{#expr: 125632117 + 43369734 + 52090885 + 47114865 + 46856601 + 29594658 + 27720040 + 19317847 + 17474448 + 13722576 + 9927463 + 10996367 + 10323475 + 9549917 + 2228004 + 6599769 + 4318692 + 6029976 + 2150317 + 1240391 + 5268786 + 3944643 + 3467956 + 3049537 + 518480 + 1546790 + 13204 + 1209048 + 88461 + 1171450 + 178312 + 192387 + 85415 + 5833 + 175491 + 212970 + 16062 + 4284 + 76471 + 120177 + 224130 + 83135 + 173600 + 1377 + 91679 + 59175 + 83135 + 131000 + 104000 + 125534 + 27921 + 8241 + 130750 + 5872 + 45914 + 16000 + 75402 + 4100 + 15130 + 1201 + 22000 + 49018 + 47300 + 5872 + 22758 + 37000 + 5235 + 16788 + 4855 + 8000 + 3870 + 227 round 0}}}} ({{formatnum:{{#expr: 50882108400 / 8107000000 round 1 }}}}%)

|{{formatnum:{{#expr: 132300489 + 58723734 + 52962217 + 48832594 + 47188917 + 30600340 + 28240466 + 20121084 + 17642817 + 16440943 + 12064523 + 10996350 + 10747728 + 9949503 + 7798016 + 6734219 + 6397823 + 6023946 + 5734178 + 5459173 + 5326600 + 4495892 + 3467956 + 3200092 + 3110880 + 3093580 + 1754485 + 1432886 + 1328731 + 1171450 + 1089995 + 961933 + 854149 + 798095 + 568170 + 559491 + 556131 + 485241 + 440213 + 423739 + 412515 + 319829 + 305887 + 280414 + 270160 + 269461 + 263428 + 209250 + 205000 + 194095 + 186917 + 183358 + 177526 + 167410 + 166271 + 160000 + 149000 + 147809 + 140880 + 140302 + 71650 + 83064 + 80000 + 73656 + 71677 + 71650 + 70401 + 69028 + 60582 + 57883 + 51104 + 48000 + 29441 + 28297 + 20235 + 16788 + 13943 + 13480 + 9457 + 8000 + 7344 + 6104 + 3969 + 3354 + 227 + 91 round 0}}}} ({{formatnum:{{#expr: 57435383800 / 8107000000 round 1 }}}}%)[https://www.ethnologue.com/insights/ethnologue200/ www.ethnologue.com] Spanish is the fourth most spoken language with 558.5 million speakers.

|}

{{Main|Spanish grammar}}

File:Cervantes Jáuregui.jpg, considered by many the greatest author of Spanish literature, and author of Don Quixote, widely considered the first modern European novel]]

Most of the grammatical and typological features of Spanish are shared with the other Romance languages. Spanish is a fusional language. The noun and adjective systems exhibit two genders and two numbers. In addition, articles and some pronouns and determiners have a neuter gender in their singular form. There are about fifty conjugated forms per verb, with 3 tenses: past, present, future; 2 aspects for past: perfective, imperfective; 4 moods: indicative, subjunctive, conditional, imperative; 3 persons: first, second, third; 2 numbers: singular, plural; 3 verboid forms: infinitive, gerund, and past participle. The indicative mood is the unmarked one, while the subjunctive mood expresses uncertainty or indetermination, and is commonly paired with the conditional, which is a mood used to express "would" (as in, "I would eat if I had food"); the imperative is a mood to express a command, commonly a one word phrase – "¡Di!" ("Talk!").

Verbs express T–V distinction by using different persons for formal and informal addresses. (For a detailed overview of verbs, see Spanish verbs and Spanish irregular verbs.)

Spanish syntax is considered right-branching, meaning that subordinate or modifying constituents tend to be placed after head words. The language uses prepositions (rather than postpositions or inflection of nouns for case), and usually—though not always—places adjectives after nouns, as do most other Romance languages.

Spanish is classified as a subject–verb–object language; however, as in most Romance languages, constituent order is highly variable and governed mainly by topicalization and focus. It is a "pro-drop", or "null-subject" language—that is, it allows the deletion of subject pronouns when they are pragmatically unnecessary. Spanish is described as a "verb-framed" language, meaning that the direction of motion is expressed in the verb while the mode of locomotion is expressed adverbially (e.g. subir corriendo or salir volando; the respective English equivalents of these examples—'to run up' and 'to fly out'—show that English is, by contrast, "satellite-framed", with mode of locomotion expressed in the verb and direction in an adverbial modifier).

File:Miguel Hache - voice.ogg

{{Main|Spanish phonology}}

The Spanish phonological system evolved from that of Vulgar Latin. Its development exhibits some traits in common with other Western Romance languages, others with the neighboring Hispanic varieties—especially Leonese and Aragonese—as well as other features unique to Spanish. Spanish is alone among its immediate neighbors in having undergone frequent aspiration and eventual loss of the Latin initial {{IPA|/f/}} sound (e.g. Cast. {{lang|es|harina}} vs. Leon. and Arag. {{lang|ast|farina}}).{{Harvcoltxt|Zamora Vicente|1967|pp=117 and 222}} The Latin initial consonant sequences {{lang|la|pl-}}, {{lang|la|cl-}}, and {{lang|la|fl-}} in Spanish typically merge as {{lang|es|ll-}} (originally pronounced {{IPA|[ʎ]}}), while in Aragonese they are preserved in most dialects, and in Leonese they present a variety of outcomes, including {{IPA|[tʃ]}}, {{IPA|[ʃ]}}, and {{IPA|[ʎ]}}. Where Latin had {{lang|la|-li-}} before a vowel (e.g. {{lang|la|filius}}) or the ending {{lang|la|-iculus}}, {{lang|la|-icula}} (e.g. {{lang|la|auricula}}), Old Spanish produced {{IPA|[ʒ]}}, that in Modern Spanish became the velar fricative {{IPA|[x]}} ({{lang|es|hijo}}, {{lang|es|oreja}}), whereas neighboring languages have the palatal lateral {{IPA|[ʎ]}} (e.g. Portuguese {{lang|pt|filho}}, {{lang|pt|orelha}}; Catalan {{lang|ca|fill}}, {{lang|ca|orella}}).

File:Spanish vowel chart.svg

The Spanish phonemic inventory consists of five vowel phonemes ({{IPA|/a/}}, {{IPA|/e/}}, {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/o/}}, {{IPA|/u/}}) and 17 to 19 consonant phonemes (the exact number depending on the dialect{{Harvcoltxt|Hualde|2014|p=39}}). The main allophonic variation among vowels is the reduction of the high vowels {{IPA|/i/}} and {{IPA|/u/}} to glides—{{IPA|[j]}} and {{IPA|[w]}} respectively—when unstressed and adjacent to another vowel. Some instances of the mid vowels {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/o/}}, determined lexically, alternate with the diphthongs {{IPA|/je/}} and {{IPA|/we/}} respectively when stressed, in a process that is better described as morphophonemic rather than phonological, as it is not predictable from phonology alone.

The Spanish consonant system is characterized by (1) three nasal phonemes, and one or two (depending on the dialect) lateral phoneme(s), which in syllable-final position lose their contrast and are subject to assimilation to a following consonant; (2) three voiceless stops and the affricate {{IPA|/tʃ/}}; (3) three or four (depending on the dialect) voiceless fricatives; (4) a set of voiced obstruents—{{IPA|/b/}}, {{IPA|/d/}}, {{IPA|/ɡ/}}, and sometimes {{IPA|/ʝ/}}—which alternate between approximant and plosive allophones depending on the environment; and (5) a phonemic distinction between the "tapped" and "trilled" r-sounds (single {{angle bracket|r}} and double {{angle bracket|rr}} in orthography).

In the following table of consonant phonemes, {{IPA|/ʎ/}} is marked with an asterisk (*) to indicate that it is preserved only in some dialects. In most dialects it has been merged with {{IPA|/ʝ/}} in the merger called {{lang|es|yeísmo}}. Similarly, {{IPA|/θ/}} is also marked with an asterisk to indicate that most dialects do not distinguish it from {{IPA|/s/}} (see {{lang|es|seseo}}), although this is not a true merger but an outcome of different evolution of sibilants in southern Spain.

The phoneme {{IPA|/ʃ/}} is in parentheses () to indicate that it appears only in loanwords. Each of the voiced obstruent phonemes {{IPA|/b/}}, {{IPA|/d/}}, {{IPA|/ʝ/}}, and {{IPA|/ɡ/}} appears to the right of a pair of voiceless phonemes, to indicate that, while the voiceless phonemes maintain a phonemic contrast between plosive (or affricate) and fricative, the voiced ones alternate allophonically (i.e. without phonemic contrast) between plosive and approximant pronunciations.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto; text-align: center;"

|+ Consonant phonemes{{Harvcoltxt|Martínez-Celdrán|Fernández-Planas|Carrera-Sabaté|2003|p=255}}

|-

!

! colspan=2 | Labial

! colspan=2 | Dental

! colspan=2 | Alveolar

! colspan=2 | Palatal

! colspan=2 | Velar

|-

! Nasal

| style="border-right:0; width:25px;"| || style="border-left:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|m}}

| colspan=2 |

| style="border-right:0; width:25px;"| || style="border-left:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|n}}

| style="border-right:0; width:25px;"| || style="border-left:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|ɲ}}

| colspan=2 |

|-

! Stop

| style="border-right:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|p}}||rowspan=2 style="border-left: 0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|b}}

| style="border-right:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|t̪|t}}|| rowspan="2" style="border-left:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|d̪|d}}

| style="border-right:0; width:25px;"| || rowspan="2" style="border-left:0; width:25px;"|

| style="border-right:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|tʃ}}|| rowspan="2" style="border-left:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|ʝ}}

| style="border-right:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|k}}|| rowspan="2" style="border-left:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|ɡ}}

|-

! Continuant

|style="border-right: 0;"|{{IPA link|f}}

|style="border-right: 0;"|{{IPA link|θ}}*

|style="border-right: 0;"|{{IPA link|s}}

|style="border-right: 0;"|({{IPA link|ʃ}})

|style="border-right: 0;"|{{IPA link|x}}

|-

! Lateral

| colspan=2 |

| colspan=2 |

|style="border-right: 0;"| ||style="border-left: 0;"|{{IPA link|l}}

|style="border-right: 0;"| ||style="border-left: 0;"|{{IPA link|ʎ}}*

| colspan=2 |

|-

! Flap

| colspan=2 |

| colspan=2 |

|style="border-right: 0;"| ||style="border-left: 0;"|{{IPA link|ɾ}}

| colspan=2 |

| colspan=2 |

|-

! Trill

| colspan=2 |

| colspan=2 |

|style="border-right: 0;"| ||style="border-left: 0;"|{{IPA link|r}}

| colspan=2 |

| colspan=2 |

|}

Spanish is classified by its rhythm as a syllable-timed language: each syllable has approximately the same duration regardless of stress.{{Harvcoltxt|Cressey|1978|p=152}}{{Harvcoltxt|Abercrombie|1967|p=98}}

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.{{cite book |author=John B. Dabor |title=Spanish Pronunciation: Theory and Practice |edition=3rd |publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston |year=1997 |chapter=Ch. 7}}{{cite web |url=http://www.auburn.edu/academic/liberal_arts/foreign/Spanish/FLSP0501/dalvofile.html |title=John B. Dalbor's Voice Files to Accompany Spanish Pronunciation |publisher=Auburn.edu |access-date=20 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308071525/http://www.auburn.edu/academic/liberal_arts/foreign/Spanish/FLSP0501/dalvofile.html |archive-date=8 March 2012}} 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 syllables of a word, with some rare exceptions at the fourth-to-last or earlier syllables. Stress tends to occur as follows:{{Harvcoltxt|Eddington|2000|p=96}}{{Better source needed|date=January 2021}}

• in words that end with a monophthong, on the penultimate syllable
• when the word ends in a diphthong, on the final syllable.
• in words that end with a consonant, on the last syllable, with the exception of two grammatical endings: {{lang|es|-n}}, for third-person-plural of verbs, and {{lang|es|-s}}, for plural of nouns and adjectives or for second-person-singular of verbs. However, even though a significant number of nouns and adjectives ending with {{lang|es|-n}} are also stressed on the penult ({{lang|es|joven}}, {{lang|es|virgen}}, {{lang|es|mitin}}), the great majority of nouns and adjectives ending with {{lang|es|-n}} are stressed on their last syllable ({{lang|es|capitán}}, {{lang|es|almacén}}, {{lang|es|jardín}}, {{lang|es|corazón}}).
• Preantepenultimate stress (stress on the fourth-to-last syllable) occurs rarely, only on verbs with clitic pronouns attached (e.g. {{lang|es|guardándoselos}} 'saving them for him/her/them/you').

In addition to the many exceptions to these tendencies, there are numerous minimal pairs that contrast solely on stress such as {{lang|es|sábana}} ('sheet') and {{lang|es|sabana}} ('savannah'); {{lang|es|límite}} ('boundary'), {{lang|es|limite}} ('he/she limits') and {{lang|es|limité}} ('I limited'); {{lang|es|líquido}} ('liquid'), {{lang|es|liquido}} ('I sell off') and {{lang|es|liquidó}} ('he/she sold off').

The orthographic system unambiguously reflects where the stress occurs: in the absence of an accent mark, the stress falls on the last syllable unless the last letter is {{angle bracket|n}}, {{angle bracket|s}}, or a vowel, in which cases the stress falls 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 official, or national language in 18 countries and one territory in the Americas, Spain, and Equatorial Guinea. With a population of over 410 million, Hispanophone America accounts for the vast majority of Spanish speakers, of which Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country. In the European Union, Spanish is the mother tongue of 8% of the population, with an additional 7% speaking it as a second language.{{cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf |title=Europeans and their Languages |access-date=2 January 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106183351/http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf |archive-date=6 January 2016}} Additionally, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States and is by far the most popular foreign language among students.{{cite web |url=http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0905275.html |title=Most Studied Foreign Languages in the U.S |publisher=Infoplease.com |access-date=20 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120814042126/http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0905275.html |archive-date=14 August 2012 |url-status=live}} In 2015, it was estimated that over 50 million Americans spoke Spanish, about 41 million of whom were native speakers.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/29/us-second-biggest-spanish-speaking-country|title=US now has more Spanish speakers than Spain – only Mexico has more|work=The Guardian|date=29 June 2015|access-date=24 January 2021|archive-date=23 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123045244/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/29/us-second-biggest-spanish-speaking-country|url-status=live}} With continued immigration and increased use of the language domestically in public spheres and media, the number of Spanish speakers in the United States is expected to continue growing over the forthcoming decades.{{Cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/library/working-papers/2011/demo/2011-Shin-Ortman.html|title=Language Projections: 2010 to 2020|publisher=United States Census Bureau|website=The United States Census Bureau|access-date=19 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190819054204/https://www.census.gov/library/working-papers/2011/demo/2011-Shin-Ortman.html|archive-date=19 August 2019|url-status=live}}

File:Variedades principales del español.png

{{Main|Spanish dialects and varieties}}

While being mutually intelligible, there are important variations (phonological, grammatical, and lexical) in the spoken Spanish of the various regions of Spain and throughout the Spanish-speaking areas of the Americas.

The national variety with the most speakers is Mexican Spanish. It is spoken by more than twenty percent of the world's Spanish speakers (more than 112 million of the total of more than 500 million, according to the table above). One of its main features is the reduction or loss of unstressed vowels, mainly when they are in contact with the sound /s/.Eleanor Greet Cotton, John M. Sharp (1988) [https://books.google.com/books?id=89KX2RC6Gx0C&dq=Mexican+vowels&pg=PA154 Spanish in the Americas, Volume 2], pp. 154–155, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915115219/https://books.google.com/books?id=89KX2RC6Gx0C&pg=PA154&dq=Mexican+vowels&client=firefox-a#v=onepage&q=Mexican%20vowels&f=false |date=15 September 2015}}{{cite book |author=Lope Blanch, Juan M. |year=1972 |chapter=En torno a las vocales caedizas del español mexicano |pages=53–73 |title=Estudios sobre el español de México |publisher=Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México |language=es |url=http://www.filos.unam.mx/LICENCIATURA/Pagina_FyF_2004/introduccion/Lope_Vocales_caedizas.pdf |archive-date=5 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110205011128/http://www.filos.unam.mx/LICENCIATURA/Pagina_FyF_2004/introduccion/Lope_Vocales_caedizas.pdf}}

In Spain, northern dialects are popularly thought of as closer to the standard, although positive attitudes toward southern dialects have increased significantly in the last 50 years. The speech from the educated classes of Madrid is the standard variety for use on radio and television in Spain and it is indicated by many as the one that has most influenced the written standard for Spanish.{{Harvcoltxt|Penny |2000|p=199}}: "whatever might be claimed by other centres, such as Valladolid, it was educated varieties of Madrid Spanish that were mostly regularly reflected in the written standard." Central (European) Spanish speech patterns have been noted to be in the process of merging with more innovative southern varieties (including Eastern Andalusian and Murcian), as an emerging interdialectal levelled koine buffered between the Madrid's traditional national standard and the Seville speech trends.{{Cite journal |first1=Juan Manuel|last1=Hernández Campoy|first2=Juan Andrés |last2=Villena Ponsoda |title=Standardness and nonstandardness in Spain: dialect attrition and revitalization of regional dialects of Spanish |journal=International Journal of the Sociology of Language|year=2009 |doi=10.1515/IJSL.2009.021 |issue=196–197 |pages=185–186 |s2cid=145000590 |url=https://www.academia.edu/30322624 |access-date=24 January 2022|url-status=live|archive-date=24 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124040200/https://www.academia.edu/30322624/Standardness_and_nonstandardness_in_Spain_dialect_attrition_and_revitalization_of_regional_dialects_of_Spanish}}

{{See also|Phonetic change "f → h" in Spanish}}

The four main phonological divisions are based respectively on (1) the phoneme {{IPAslink|θ}}, (2) the debuccalization of syllable-final {{IPA|/s/}}, (3) the sound of the spelled {{angle bracket|s}}, (4) and the phoneme {{IPAslink|ʎ}}.

• The phoneme {{IPA|/θ/}} (spelled {{lang|es|c}} before {{lang|es|e}} or {{lang|es|i}} and spelled {{angle bracket|z}} elsewhere), a voiceless dental fricative as in English thing, is maintained by a majority of Spain's population, especially in the northern and central parts of the country. In other areas (some parts of southern Spain, the Canary Islands, and the Americas), {{IPA|/θ/}} does not exist and {{IPA|/s/}} occurs instead. The maintenance of phonemic contrast is called {{lang|es|distinción}} in Spanish, while the merger is generally called {{lang|es|seseo}} (in reference to the usual realization of the merged phoneme as {{IPA|[s]}}) or, occasionally, {{lang|es|ceceo}} (referring to its interdental realization, {{IPA|[θ]}}, in some parts of southern Spain). In most of Hispanic America, the spelled {{angle bracket|c}} before {{angle bracket|e}} or {{angle bracket|i}}, and spelled {{angle bracket|z}} is always pronounced as a voiceless dental sibilant.
• The debuccalization (pronunciation as {{IPA|[h]}}, or loss) of syllable-final {{IPA|/s/}} is associated with the southern half of Spain and lowland Americas: Central America (except central Costa Rica and Guatemala), the Caribbean, coastal areas of southern Mexico, and South America except Andean highlands. Debuccalization is frequently called "aspiration" in English, and {{lang|es|aspiración}} in Spanish. When there is no debuccalization, the syllable-final {{IPA|/s/}} is pronounced as voiceless "apico-alveolar" sibilant or as a voiceless dental sibilant in the same fashion as in the next paragraph.
• The sound that corresponds to the letter {{angle bracket|s}} is pronounced in northern and central Spain as a voiceless "apico-alveolar" sibilant {{IPA|[s̺]}} (also described acoustically as "grave" and articulatorily as "retracted"), with a weak "hushing" sound reminiscent of {{lcons|retroflex}} fricatives. In Andalusia, Canary Islands and most of Hispanic America (except in the Paisa region of Colombia) it is pronounced as a voiceless dental sibilant {{IPA|[s]}}, much like the most frequent pronunciation of the /s/ of English.
• The phoneme {{IPA|/ʎ/}}, spelled {{angle bracket|ll}}, a palatal lateral consonant that can be approximated by the sound of the {{angle bracket|lli}} of English million, tends to be maintained in less-urbanized areas of northern Spain and in the highland areas of South America, as well as in Paraguay and lowland Bolivia. Meanwhile, in the speech of most other Spanish speakers, it is merged with {{IPA|/ʝ/}} ("curly-tail j"), a non-lateral, usually voiced, usually fricative, palatal consonant, sometimes compared to English {{IPA|/j/}} (yod) as in yacht and spelled {{angle bracket|y}} in Spanish. As with other forms of allophony across world languages, the small difference of the spelled {{angle bracket|ll}} and the spelled {{angle bracket|y}} is usually not perceived (the difference is not heard) by people who do not produce them as different phonemes. Such a phonemic merger is called {{lang|es|yeísmo}} in Spanish. In Rioplatense Spanish, the merged phoneme is generally pronounced as a postalveolar fricative, either voiced {{IPA|[ʒ]}} (as in English measure or the French {{angle bracket|j}}) in the central and western parts of the dialectal region ({{lang|es|zheísmo}}), or voiceless {{IPA|[ʃ]}} (as in the French {{angle bracket|ch}} or Portuguese {{angle bracket|x}}) in and around Buenos Aires and Montevideo ({{lang|es|sheísmo}}).Charles B. Chang, [http://www.lingref.com/cpp/wss/4/paper1755.pdf "Variation in palatal production in Buenos Aires Spanish"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004213655/http://www.lingref.com/cpp/wss/4/paper1755.pdf |date=4 October 2013}}. Selected Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics, ed. Maurice Westmoreland and Juan Antonio Thomas, 54–63. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project, 2008.

The main morphological variations between dialects of Spanish involve differing uses of pronouns, especially those of the second person and, to a lesser extent, the object pronouns of the third person.

{{Main|Voseo}}

File:Voseo-extension-real.PNG. The darker the area, the stronger its dominance.]]

Virtually all dialects of Spanish make the distinction between a formal and a familiar register in the second-person singular and thus have two different pronouns meaning "you": {{lang|es|usted}} in the formal and either {{lang|es|tú}} or {{lang|es|vos}} in the familiar (and each of these three pronouns has its associated verb forms), with the choice of {{lang|es|tú}} or {{lang|es|vos}} varying from one dialect to another. The use of {{lang|es|vos}} and its verb forms is called {{lang|es|voseo}}. In a few dialects, all three pronouns are used, with {{lang|es|usted}}, {{lang|es|tú}}, and {{lang|es|vos}} denoting respectively formality, familiarity, and intimacy.{{cite web |date=2023-06-11 |orig-date=October 2005 |url=http://buscon.rae.es/dpdI/ |title=Diccionario panhispánico de dudas|trans-title=Pan-Hispanic Dictionary of Doubts |publisher=Real Academia Española y Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española [Royal Spanish Academy and Association of Academies of the Spanish Language] |language=es |access-date=2023-11-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110305022017/http://buscon.rae.es/dpdI/ |archive-date=5 March 2011 |url-status=live}}

In {{lang|es|voseo}}, {{lang|es|vos}} is the subject form ({{lang|es|vos decís}}, "you say") and the form for the object of a preposition ({{lang|es|voy con vos}}, "I am going with you"), while the direct and indirect object forms, and the possessives, are the same as those associated with {{lang|es|tú}}: {{lang|es|Vos sabés que tus amigos te respetan}} ("You know your friends respect you").

The verb forms of the general {{lang|es|voseo}} are the same as those used with {{lang|es|tú}} except in the present tense (indicative and imperative) verbs. The forms for {{lang|es|vos}} generally can be derived from those of {{lang|es|vosotros}} (the traditional second-person familiar plural) by deleting the glide {{IPA|[i̯]}}, or {{IPA|/d/}}, where it appears in the ending: {{lang|es|vosotros pensáis}} > {{lang|es|vos pensás}}; {{lang|es|vosotros volvéis}} > {{lang|es|vos volvés}}, {{lang|es|pensad!}} ({{lang|es|vosotros}}) > {{lang|es|pensá!}} ({{lang|es|vos}}), {{lang|es|volved!}} ({{lang|es|vosotros}}) > {{lang|es|volvé!}} ({{lang|es|vos}}).{{cite web |url=https://www.rae.es/dpd/voseo |title=Voseo según DPD |language=es |access-date=27 January 2022 |archive-date=4 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104222442/http://www.rae.es/dpd/?key=voseo |url-status=live}}

{| class="wikitable"

|+ General voseo (River Plate Spanish)

! colspan="5" style="text-align:center;"|Indicative

! colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|Subjunctive

! rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|Imperative

|-

! Present

! Simple past

! Imperfect past

! Future

! Conditional

! Present

! Past

|-

| {{lang|es|pensás}}

| {{lang|es|pensaste}}

| {{lang|es|pensabas}}

| {{lang|es|pensarás}}

| {{lang|es|pensarías}}

| {{lang|es|pienses}}

| {{lang|es|pensaras}}
{{lang|es|pensases}}

| {{lang|es|pensá}}

|-

| {{lang|es|volvés}}

| {{lang|es|volviste}}

| {{lang|es|volvías}}

| {{lang|es|volverás}}

| {{lang|es|volverías}}

| {{lang|es|vuelvas}}

| {{lang|es|volvieras}}
{{lang|es|volvieses}}

| {{lang|es|volvé}}

|-

| {{lang|es|dormís}}

| {{lang|es|dormiste}}

| {{lang|es|dormías}}

| {{lang|es|dormirás}}

| {{lang|es|dormirías}}

| {{lang|es|duermas}}

| {{lang|es|durmieras}}
{{lang|es|durmieses}}

| {{lang|es|dormí}}

|-

| colspan=8|The forms in bold coincide with standard tú-conjugation.

|}

In Central American {{lang|es|voseo}}, the {{lang|es|tú}} and {{lang|es|vos}} forms differ in the present subjunctive as well:

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Central American voseo

! colspan="5" style="text-align:center;"|Indicative

! colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|Subjunctive

! rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|Imperative

|-

! Present

! Simple past

! Imperfect past

! Future

! Conditional

! Present

! Past

|-

| {{lang|es|pensás}}

| {{lang|es|pensaste}}

| {{lang|es|pensabas}}

| {{lang|es|pensarás}}

| {{lang|es|pensarías}}

| {{lang|es|pensés}}

| {{lang|es|pensaras}}
{{lang|es|pensases}}

| {{lang|es|pensá}}

|-

| {{lang|es|volvés}}

| {{lang|es|volviste}}

| {{lang|es|volvías}}

| {{lang|es|volverás}}

| {{lang|es|volverías}}

| {{lang|es|volvás}}

| {{lang|es|volvieras}}
{{lang|es|volvieses}}

| {{lang|es|volvé}}

|-

| {{lang|es|dormís}}

| {{lang|es|dormiste}}

| {{lang|es|dormías}}

| {{lang|es|dormirás}}

| {{lang|es|dormirías}}

| {{lang|es|durmás}}

| {{lang|es|durmieras}}
{{lang|es|durmieses}}

| {{lang|es|dormí}}

|-

| colspan=8|The forms in bold coincide with standard tú-conjugation.

|}

In Chilean {{lang|es|voseo}}, almost all {{lang|es|vos}} forms are distinct from the corresponding standard {{lang|es|tú}}-forms.

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Chilean voseo

! colspan="5" style="text-align:center;" |Indicative

! colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |Subjunctive

! rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |Imperative

|-

! Present

! Simple past

! Imperfect past

! Future{{cite journal |last1=Baquero Velásquez |first1=Julia M. |last2=Westphal Montt |first2=Germán F. |year=2014 |title=Un análisis sincrónico del voseo verbal chileno y rioplatense |journal=Forma y Función |language=es |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=11–40 |doi=10.15446/fyf.v27n2.47558 |doi-access=free}}

! Conditional

! Present

! Past

|-

| {{lang|es|pensái(s)}}

| {{lang|es|pensaste}}

| {{lang|es|pensabais}}

| {{lang|es|pensarí(s)}}
{{lang|es|pensaráis}}

| {{lang|es|pensaríai(s)}}

| {{lang|es|pensí(s)}}

| {{lang|es|pensarai(s)}}
{{lang|es|pensases}}

| {{lang|es|piensa}}

|-

| {{lang|es|volví(s)}}

| {{lang|es|volviste}}

| {{lang|es|volvíai(s)}}

| {{lang|es|volverí(s)}}
{{lang|es|volveráis}}

| {{lang|es|volveríai(s)}}

| {{lang|es|volvái(s)}}

| {{lang|es|volvierai(s)}}
{{lang|es|volvieses}}

| {{lang|es|vuelve}}

|-

| {{lang|es|dormís}}

| {{lang|es|dormiste}}

| {{lang|es|dormíais}}

| {{lang|es|dormirís}}
{{lang|es|dormiráis}}

| {{lang|es|dormiríais}}

| {{lang|es|durmáis}}

| {{lang|es|durmierais}}
{{lang|es|durmieses}}

| {{lang|es|duerme}}

|-

| colspan="8" |The forms in bold coincide with standard tú-conjugation.

|}

The use of the pronoun {{lang|es|vos}} with the verb forms of {{lang|es|tú}} ({{lang|es|vos piensas}}) is called "pronominal {{lang|es|voseo}}". Conversely, the use of the verb forms of {{lang|es|vos}} with the pronoun {{lang|es|tú}} ({{lang|es|tú pensás}} or {{lang|es|tú pensái}}) is called "verbal {{lang|es|voseo}}". In Chile, for example, verbal voseo is much more common than the actual use of the pronoun vos, which is usually reserved for highly informal situations.

Although {{lang|es|vos}} is not used in Spain, it occurs in many Spanish-speaking regions of the Americas as the primary spoken form of the second-person singular familiar pronoun, with wide differences in social consideration.{{Cite web|last=Andrew|date=10 April 2018|title=A Brief Guide to Regional Variation of the Forms of Address (Tú, Vos, Usted) in Spanish|url=https://howlearnspanish.com/forms-of-address-guide/|access-date=2 November 2020|website=Learn Spanish with Andrew|language=en-US|archive-date=9 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109032144/https://howlearnspanish.com/forms-of-address-guide/|url-status=live}}{{better source needed|date=November 2020}} Generally, it can be said that there are zones of exclusive use of {{lang|es|tuteo}} (the use of {{lang|es|tú}}) in the following areas: almost all of Mexico, the West Indies, Panama, most of Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and coastal Ecuador.

{{lang|es|Tuteo}} as a cultured form alternates with {{lang|es|voseo}} as a popular or rural form in Bolivia, in the north and south of Peru, in Andean Ecuador, in small zones of the Venezuelan Andes (and most notably in the Venezuelan state of Zulia), and in a large part of Colombia. Some researchers maintain that {{lang|es|voseo}} can be heard in some parts of eastern Cuba, and others assert that it is absent from the island.Katia Salamanca de Abreu, [http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/thesaurus/pdf/28/TH_28_001_138_0.pdf review of Humberto López Morales, Estudios sobre el español de Cuba] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221132209/http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/thesaurus/pdf/28/TH_28_001_138_0.pdf |date=21 December 2012}} (New York: Editorial Las Américas, 1970), in Thesaurus, 28 (1973), 138–146.

{{lang|es|Tuteo}} exists as the second-person usage with an intermediate degree of formality alongside the more familiar {{lang|es|voseo}} in Chile, in the Venezuelan state of Zulia, on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, in the Azuero Peninsula in Panama, in the Mexican state of Chiapas, and in parts of Guatemala.

Areas of generalized {{lang|es|voseo}} include Argentina, Nicaragua, eastern Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Uruguay and the Colombian departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda, Quindio and Valle del Cauca.

{{lang|es|Ustedes}} functions as formal and informal second-person plural in all of Hispanic America, the Canary Islands, and parts of Andalusia. It agrees with verbs in the 3rd person plural. Most of Spain maintains the formal/familiar distinction with {{lang|es|ustedes}} and {{lang|es|vosotros}} respectively. The use of {{lang|es|ustedes}} with the second person plural is sometimes heard in Andalusia, but it is non-standard.

{{lang|es|Usted}} is the usual second-person singular pronoun in a formal context, but it is used jointly with the third-person singular voice of the verb. It is used to convey respect toward someone who is a generation older or is of higher authority ("you, sir"/"you, ma'am"). It is also used in a familiar context by many speakers in Colombia and Costa Rica and in parts of Ecuador and Panama, to the exclusion of {{lang|es|tú}} or {{lang|es|vos}}. This usage is sometimes called {{lang|es|ustedeo}} in Spanish.

In Central America, especially in Honduras, {{lang|es|usted}} is often used as a formal pronoun to convey respect between the members of a romantic couple. {{lang|es|Usted}} is also used that way between parents and children in the Andean regions of Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.

Most speakers use (and the {{lang|es|Real Academia Española}} prefers) the pronouns {{lang|es|lo}} and {{lang|es|la}} for direct objects (masculine and feminine respectively, regardless of animacy, meaning "him", "her", or "it"), and {{lang|es|le}} for indirect objects (regardless of gender or animacy, meaning "to him", "to her", or "to it"). The usage is sometimes called "etymological", as these direct and indirect object pronouns are a continuation, respectively, of the accusative and dative pronouns of Latin, the ancestor language of Spanish.

A number of dialects (more common in Spain than in the Americas) use additional rules for the pronouns, such as animacy, or count noun vs. mass noun, rather than just direct vs. indirect object. The ways of using the pronouns in such varieties are called "{{lang|es|leísmo}}", "{{lang|es|loísmo}}", or "{{lang|es|laísmo}}", according to which respective pronoun, {{lang|es|le}}, {{lang|es|lo}}, or {{lang|es|la}}, covers more than just the etymological usage ({{lang|es|le}} as a direct object, or {{lang|es|lo}} or {{lang|es|la}} 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. For example, Spanish {{lang|es|mantequilla}}, {{lang|es|aguacate}} and {{lang|es|albaricoque}} (respectively, 'butter', 'avocado', 'apricot') correspond to {{lang|es|manteca}} (word used for lard in Peninsular Spanish), {{lang|es|palta}}, and {{lang|es|damasco}}, respectively, in Argentina, Chile (except {{lang|es|manteca}}), Paraguay, Peru (except {{lang|es|manteca}} and {{lang|es|damasco}}), and Uruguay. In the healthcare context, an assessment of the Spanish translation of the QWB-SA identified some regional vocabulary choices and US-specific concepts, which cannot be successfully implemented in Spain without adaptation.{{Cite book |last=Congost-Maestre |first=Nereida |url=https://www.rti.org/rti-press-publication/language-survey-research |title=Sociocultural issues in adapting Spanish health survey translation: The case of the QWB-SA (Chapter 10) in The Essential Role of Language in Survey Research |date=2020-04-30 |publisher=RTI Press |isbn=978-1-934831-24-3 |editor-last=Sha |editor-first=Mandy |pages=203–220 |doi=10.3768/rtipress.bk.0023.2004 |doi-access=free |access-date=13 December 2023 |archive-date=11 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211122733/https://www.rti.org/rti-press-publication/language-survey-research |url-status=live}}

Around 85% of everyday Spanish vocabulary is of Latin origin. Most of the core vocabulary and the most common words in Spanish comes from Latin. The Spanish words first learned by children as they learn to speak are mainly words of Latin origin. These words of Latin origin can be classified as heritage words, cultisms (learned borrowings) and semi-cultisms.

Most of the Spanish lexicon is made up of heritage lexicon. Heritage or directly inherited words are those whose presence in the spoken language has been continued since before the differentiation of the Romance languages. Heritage words are characterized by having undergone all the phonetic changes experienced by the language. This differentiates it from the cultisms and semi-cultisms that were no longer used in the spoken language and were later reintroduced for restricted uses. Because of this, cultisms generally have not experienced some of the phonetic changes and present a different form than they would have if they had been transmitted with heritage words.

In the philological tradition of Spanish, cultism is called a word whose morphology very strictly follows its Greek or Latin etymological origin, without undergoing the changes that the evolution of the Spanish language followed from its origin in Vulgar Latin. The same concept also exists in other Romance languages. Reintroduced into the language for cultural, literary or scientific considerations, cultism only adapts its form to the orthographic and phonological conventions derived from linguistic evolution, but ignores the transformations that the roots and morphemes underwent in the development of the Romance language.

In some cases, cultisms are used to introduce technical or specialized terminology that, present in the classical language, did not appear in the Romance language due to lack of use; This is the case of many of the literary, legal and philosophical terms of classical culture, such as ataraxia (from the Greek ἀταραξία, "dispassion") or legislar (built from the Latin legislator). In other cases, they construct neologisms, such as the name of most scientific disciplines.

A semi-cultism is a word that did not evolve in the expected way, in the vernacular language (Romance language), unlike heritage words; its evolution is incomplete. Many times interrupted by cultural influences (ecclesiastical, legal, administrative, etc.). For the same reason, they maintain some features of the language of origin. Dios is a clear example of semi-cultism, where it came from the Latin Deus. It is a semi-cultism, because it maintains (without fully adapting to Castilianization, in this case) some characteristics of the Latin language—the ending in -s—, but, at the same time, it undergoes slight phonetic modifications (change of eu for io). Deus > Dios (instead of remaining cultist: Deus > *Deus, or becoming a heritage word: Deus > *Dío). The Catholic Church influenced by stopping the natural evolution of this word, and, in this way, converted this word into a semi-cultism and unconsciously prevented it from becoming a heritage word.

Spanish vocabulary has been influenced by several languages. As in other European languages, Classical Greek words (Hellenisms) are abundant in the terminologies of several fields, including art, science, politics, nature, etc.Bergua Cavero, J., Los helenismos del español : historia y sistema, Madrid (Gredos) 2004, {{ISBN|9788424927103}} Its vocabulary has also been influenced by Arabic, having developed during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula, with around 8% of its vocabulary having Arabic lexical roots.{{cite book|last=Versteegh |first=Kees |title=The Arabic language|year=2003 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |location=Edinburgh|isbn=0-7486-1436-2|page=228 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OHfse3YY6NAC&pg=PA228|edition=Repr.|access-date=23 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140626183745/http://books.google.com/books?id=OHfse3YY6NAC&pg=PA228|archive-date=26 June 2014|url-status=live}}{{cite book |last=Lapesa |first=Raphael|title=Historia de la lengua española|year=1960|publisher=|location=|page=97}}
—OR—
{{cite book |last=Castro |first=Américo |title=The Spaniards: An Introduction to Their History |year=1985 |translator1=Willard F. King |translator2=Selma Margaretten |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-05469-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uJdbJK_sl2oC&pg=PA255 |access-date=23 October 2016 |archive-date=24 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124185157/https://books.google.com/books?id=uJdbJK_sl2oC&pg=PA255 |url-status=live}}{{verify source|date=November 2023|reason=Which one? The original cite was mixed}}{{cite journal |last1=Quintana|first1=Lucía |last2=Mora |first2=Juan Pablo |title=Enseñanza del acervo léxico árabe de la lengua española |journal=ASELE. Actas XIII|year=2002 |page=705 |url=http://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/asele/pdf/13/13_0697.pdf |access-date=23 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528020256/http://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/asele/pdf/13/13_0697.pdf|archive-date=28 May 2016|url-status=live}}: "El léxico español de procedencia árabe es muy abundante: se ha señalado que constituye, aproximadamente, un 8% del vocabulario total"{{cite book |last=Dworkin|first=Steven N.|title=A History of the Spanish Lexicon: A Linguistic Perspective|year=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-954114-0|page=83 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V4f8ZpJAhgIC&pg=PA83|access-date=17 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915153824/https://books.google.com/books?id=V4f8ZpJAhgIC&pg=PA83 |archive-date=15 September 2015|url-status=live}},{{cite book|last=Macpherson|first=I. R.|title=Spanish phonology |year=1980|publisher=Manchester University Press|location=Manchester|isbn=0-7190-0788-7|page=93 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9VrpAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA93|access-date=23 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223094503/https://books.google.com/books?id=9VrpAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA93 |archive-date=23 December 2016|url-status=live}},{{cite book |last=Martínez Egido|first=José Joaquín |title=Constitución del léxico español|year=2007 |page=15|publisher=Liceus, Servicios de Gestió |isbn=978-84-9822-653-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbVIY4qAA9cC&pg=PA15|access-date=23 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140626183748/http://books.google.com/books?id=cbVIY4qAA9cC&pg=PA15|archive-date=26 June 2014|url-status=live}} It has also been influenced by Basque, Iberian, Celtiberian, Visigothic, and other neighboring Ibero-Romance languages.{{cite web|title=La época visigoda / Susana Rodríguez Rosique |publisher=Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes |website=www.cervantesvirtual.com |url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/la-poca-visigoda-0/html/00f49212-82b2-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html|language=es|access-date=7 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208133217/http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/la-poca-visigoda-0/html/00f49212-82b2-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html|archive-date=8 February 2017|url-status=live}} Additionally, it has absorbed vocabulary from other languages, particularly other Romance languages such as French, Mozarabic, Portuguese, Galician, Catalan, Occitan, and Sardinian, as well as from Quechua, Nahuatl, and other indigenous languages of the Americas.{{Harvcoltxt|Penny|1991|pp=224–236}} In the 18th century, words taken from French referring above all to fashion, cooking and bureaucracy were added to the Spanish lexicon. In the 19th century, new loanwords were incorporated, especially from English and German, but also from Italian in areas related to music, particularly opera and cooking. In the 20th century, the pressure of English in the fields of technology, computing, science and sports was greatly accentuated.

In general, Latin America is more susceptible to loanwords from English or Anglicisms. For example: mouse (computer mouse) is used in Latin America, in Spain ratón is used. This happens largely due to closer contact with the United States. For its part, Spain is known by the use of Gallicisms or words taken from neighboring France (such as the Gallicism ordenador in European Spanish, in contrast to the Anglicism computador or computadora in American Spanish).

{{further|Comparison of Portuguese and Spanish}}

Spanish is closely related to the other West Iberian Romance languages, including Asturian, Aragonese, Galician, Ladino, Leonese, Mirandese and Portuguese. It is somewhat less similar, to varying degrees, from other members of the Romance language family.

It is generally acknowledged that Portuguese and Spanish speakers can communicate in written form, with varying degrees of mutual intelligibility.{{Harvcoltxt|Jensen|1989}}{{Harvcoltxt|Penny|2000|p=14}}{{Harvcoltxt|Dalby|1998|p=501}}{{Harvcoltxt|Ginsburgh|Weber|2011|p=90}} Mutual intelligibility of the written Spanish and Portuguese languages is high, lexically and grammatically. Ethnologue gives estimates of the lexical similarity between related languages in terms of precise percentages. For Spanish and Portuguese, that figure is 89%, although phonologically the two languages are quite dissimilar. Italian on the other hand, is phonologically similar to Spanish, while sharing lower lexical and grammatical similarity of 82%. Mutual intelligibility between Spanish and French or between Spanish and Romanian is lower still, given lexical similarity ratings of 75% and 71% respectively.{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=spa|title=Spanish|work=Ethnologue|access-date=19 April 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115100707/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=spa|archive-date=15 January 2013|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.ezglot.com/most-similar-languages.php?l=spa|title=Similar languages to Spanish|work=EZGlot|access-date=24 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170621191245/http://www.ezglot.com/most-similar-languages.php?l=spa|archive-date=21 June 2017|url-status=live}} Comprehension of Spanish by French speakers who have not studied the language is much lower, at an estimated 45%. In general, thanks to the common features of the writing systems of the Romance languages, interlingual comprehension of the written word is greater than that of oral communication.

The following table compares the forms of some common words in several Romance languages:

{{Further|Judaeo-Spanish}}

File:Rashiscript.PNG, originally used to print Judaeo-Spanish]]

File:Delacroix letter.png

Judaeo-Spanish, also known as Ladino,{{cite web |last=Alfassa |first=Shelomo |title=Ladinokomunita |url=http://www.sephardicstudies.org/quickladino.html |date=December 1999 |publisher=Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture |access-date=4 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100402055529/http://www.sephardicstudies.org/quickladino.html |archive-date=2 April 2010 |url-status=live}} is a variety of Spanish which preserves many features of medieval Spanish and some old Portuguese and is spoken by descendants of the Sephardi Jews who were expelled from Spain in the 15th century. While in Portugal the conversion of Jews occurred earlier and the assimilation of New Christians was overwhelming, in Spain the Jews kept their language and identity. The relationship of Ladino and Spanish is therefore comparable with that of the Yiddish language to German. Ladino speakers today are almost exclusively Sephardi Jews, with family roots in Turkey, Greece, or the Balkans, and living mostly in Israel, Turkey, and the United States, with a few communities in Hispanic America. Judaeo-Spanish lacks the Native American vocabulary which was acquired by standard Spanish during the Spanish colonial period, and it retains many archaic features which have since been lost in standard Spanish. It contains, however, other vocabulary which is not found in standard Spanish, including vocabulary from Hebrew, French, Greek and Turkish, and other languages spoken where the Sephardim settled.

Judaeo-Spanish is in serious danger of extinction because many native speakers today are elderly as well as elderly olim (immigrants to Israel) who have not transmitted the language to their children or grandchildren. However, it is experiencing a minor revival among Sephardi communities, especially in music. In Latin American communities, the danger of extinction is also due to assimilation by modern Spanish.

A related dialect is Haketia, the Judaeo-Spanish of northern Morocco. This too, tended to assimilate with modern Spanish, during the Spanish occupation of the region.

{{Main|Spanish orthography}}

{{Spanish language}}

Spanish is written in the Latin script, with the addition of the character {{angle bracket|ñ}} ({{lang|es|eñe}}, representing the phoneme {{IPA|/ɲ/}}, a letter distinct from {{angle bracket|n}}, although typographically composed of an {{angle bracket|n}} with a tilde). Formerly the digraphs {{angle bracket|ch}} ({{lang|es|che}}, representing the phoneme {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}}) and {{angle bracket|ll}} ({{lang|es|elle}}, representing the phoneme {{IPA|/ʎ/}} or {{IPA|/ʝ/}}), were also considered single letters. However, the digraph {{angle bracket|rr}} ({{lang|es|erre fuerte}}, 'strong r', {{lang|es|erre doble}}, 'double r', or simply {{lang|es|erre}}), which also represents a distinct phoneme {{IPA|/r/}}, was not similarly regarded as a single letter. Since 1994 {{angle bracket|ch}} and {{angle bracket|ll}} have been treated as letter pairs for collation purposes, though they remained a part of the alphabet until 2010. Words with {{angle bracket|ch}} are now alphabetically sorted between those with {{angle bracket|cg}} and {{angle bracket|ci}}, instead of following {{angle bracket|cz}} as they used to. The situation is similar for {{angle bracket|ll}}.[http://buscon.rae.es/dpdI/SrvltConsulta?lema=ch Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080416180544/http://buscon.rae.es/dpdI/SrvltConsulta?lema=ch |date=16 April 2008}}, 1st ed.[http://www.rae.es/ Real Academia Española] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011012019/http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltGUIBusUsual?TIPO_HTML=2&LEMA=cedilla |date=11 October 2017}}, [http://www.spanishpronto.com/spanishpronto/spanishalphabet.html Explanation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070906105503/https://www.spanishpronto.com/spanishpronto/spanishalphabet.html |date=6 September 2007}} at [http://www.spanishpronto.com/ Spanish Pronto] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070914002335/https://www.spanishpronto.com/ |date=14 September 2007}} {{in lang|es|en}}

Thus, the Spanish alphabet has the following 27 letters:

:{{lang|es|A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, Ñ, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.}}

Since 2010, none of the digraphs ({{lang|es|ch, ll, rr, gu, qu}}) are considered letters by the Royal Spanish Academy.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rae.es/consultas/exclusion-de-ch-y-ll-del-abecedario|title=Exclusión de ch y ll del abecedario | Real Academia Española|website=www.rae.es|access-date=1 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200428205219/https://www.rae.es/consultas/exclusion-de-ch-y-ll-del-abecedario|archive-date=28 April 2020|url-status=live}}

The letters {{lang|es|k}} and {{lang|es|w}} are used only in words and names coming from foreign languages ({{lang|es|kilo, folklore, whisky, kiwi}}, etc.).

With the exclusion of a very small number of regional terms such as {{lang|es|México}} (see Toponymy of Mexico), pronunciation can be entirely determined from spelling. Under the orthographic conventions, a typical Spanish word is stressed on the syllable before the last if it ends with a vowel (not including {{angle bracket|y}}) or with a vowel followed by {{angle bracket|n}} or an {{angle bracket|s}}; it is stressed on the last syllable otherwise. Exceptions to this rule are indicated by placing an acute accent on the stressed vowel.

The acute accent is used, in addition, to distinguish between certain homophones, especially when one of them is a stressed word and the other one is a clitic: compare {{lang|es|el}} ('the', masculine singular definite article) with {{lang|es|él}} ('he' or 'it'), or {{lang|es|te}} ('you', object pronoun) with {{lang|es|té}} ('tea'), {{lang|es|de}} (preposition 'of') versus {{lang|es|dé}} ('give' [formal imperative/third-person present subjunctive]), and {{lang|es|se}} (reflexive pronoun) versus {{lang|es|sé}} ('I know' or imperative 'be').

The interrogative pronouns ({{lang|es|qué}}, {{lang|es|cuál}}, {{lang|es|dónde}}, {{lang|es|quién}}, etc.) also receive accents in direct or indirect questions, and some demonstratives ({{lang|es|ése}}, {{lang|es|éste}}, {{lang|es|aquél}}, etc.) can be accented when used as pronouns. Accent marks used to be omitted on capital letters (a widespread practice in the days of typewriters and the early days of computers when only lowercase vowels were available with accents), although the {{lang|es|Real Academia Española}} advises against this and the orthographic conventions taught at schools enforce the use of the accent.

When {{lang|es|u}} is written between {{lang|es|g}} and a front vowel {{lang|es|e}} or {{lang|es|i}}, it indicates a "hard g" pronunciation. A diaeresis {{lang|es|ü}} indicates that it is not silent as it normally would be (e.g., {{lang|es|cigüeña}}, 'stork', is pronounced {{IPA|[θiˈɣweɲa]}}; if it were written *{{lang|es|cigueña}}, it would be pronounced *{{IPA|[θiˈɣeɲa]}}).

Interrogative and exclamatory clauses are introduced with inverted question and exclamation marks ({{lang|es|¿}} and {{lang|es|¡}}, respectively) and closed by the usual question and exclamation marks.

{{main|Royal Spanish Academy}}

The Royal Spanish Academy ({{lang|es|Real Academia Española}}), founded in 1713,{{cite web |url=http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/society/history/1713rae.html |title=Scholarly Societies Project |publisher=Lib.uwaterloo.ca |access-date=6 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923234545/http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/society/history/1713rae.html |archive-date=23 September 2010}} together with the 21 other national ones (see Association of Spanish Language Academies), exercises a standardizing influence through its publication of dictionaries and widely respected grammar and style guides.{{cite book |last=Batchelor|first=Ronald Ernest |title=Using Spanish: a guide to contemporary usage|year=1992 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-26987-3|page=318 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eEWZL1j9ig8C&q=real+academia+espa%C3%B1ola+recognized&pg=PA4|access-date=28 October 2020|archive-date=15 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815154930/https://books.google.com/books?id=eEWZL1j9ig8C&q=real+academia+espa%C3%B1ola+recognized&pg=PA4|url-status=live}}

Because of influence and for other sociohistorical reasons, a standardized form of the language (Standard Spanish) is widely acknowledged for use in literature, academic contexts and the media.

{{main|Association of Spanish Language Academies}}

File:Países con Academia de la Lengua Española.svg

The Association of Spanish Language Academies ({{lang|es|Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española}}, or {{lang|es|ASALE}}) is the entity which regulates the Spanish language. It was created in Mexico in 1951 and represents the union of all the separate academies in the Spanish-speaking world. It comprises the academies of 23 countries, ordered by date of academy foundation: Spain (1713),{{cite web |title=Real Academia Española |publisher=RAE |location=Spain |url=http://www.rae.es/rae/gestores/gespub000001.nsf/voTodosporId/CEDF300E8D943D3FC12571360037CC94?OpenDocument&i=0 |access-date=6 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100929155935/http://www.rae.es/rae/gestores/gespub000001.nsf/voTodosporId/CEDF300E8D943D3FC12571360037CC94?OpenDocument&i=0 |archive-date=29 September 2010}} Colombia (1871),{{cite web|url=http://www.asale.org/ASALE/ConAALEBD?IDDOC=30202&menu=2 |title=Presentación de la Academia Colombiana de la Lengua |publisher=Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española |language=es |location=Colombia |access-date=5 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219034313/http://asale.org/ASALE/ConAALEBD?IDDOC=30202&menu=2 |archive-date=19 February 2008}} Ecuador (1874),{{cite web|url=http://www.asale.org/ASALE/ConAALEBD?IDDOC=30302&menu=2 |title=Academia Ecuatoriana de la Lengua |language=es |location=Ecuador |access-date=5 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527091026/http://asale.org/ASALE/ConAALEBD?IDDOC=30302&menu=2 |archive-date=27 May 2011}} Mexico (1875),{{cite web|url=http://www.academia.org.mx/historia.php |title=Esbozo Histórico de la Academia Mexicana de la Lengua |publisher=Academia Mexicana de la Lengua |location=Mexico |date=22 September 2010 |access-date=6 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100915092057/http://academia.org.mx/historia.php |archive-date=15 September 2010 |url-status=dead |language=es}} El Salvador (1876),{{cite web|url=http://www.asl.org.sv/Informacion%20institucional.htm |title=Informacion institucional |publisher=Academia Salvadoreña de la Lengua |location=El Salvador |access-date=5 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904125413/http://www.asl.org.sv/Informacion%20institucional.htm |archive-date=4 September 2011 |language=es}} Venezuela (1883),{{cite web|url=http://www.asale.org/ASALE/ConAALEBD?IDDOC=30602&menu=2 |title=Academia Venezolana de la Lengua |language=es |location=Venezuela |access-date=5 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527090728/http://asale.org/ASALE/ConAALEBD?IDDOC=30602&menu=2 |archive-date=27 May 2011}} Chile (1885),{{cite web |url=http://www.institutodechile.cl/lengua/resena.htm |title=Academia Chilena de la Lengua |location=Chile |access-date=6 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100905085434/http://www.institutodechile.cl/lengua/resena.htm |archive-date=5 September 2010}} Peru (1887),{{cite web |url= http://www.academiaperuanadelalengua.org/academia/historia |title= Academia Peruana de la Lengua |location= Peru |access-date= 6 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101012010318/http://academiaperuanadelalengua.org/academia/historia |archive-date= 12 October 2010 |df= dmy-all}} Guatemala (1887),{{cite web|url=http://www.asale.org/ASALE/ConAALEBD?IDDOC=30902&menu=2 |title=Academia Guatemalteca de la Lengua |language=es |location=Guatemala |access-date=5 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080804011930/http://asale.org/ASALE/ConAALEBD?IDDOC=30902&menu=2 |archive-date=4 August 2008}} Costa Rica (1923),{{cite web |url=http://www.acl.ac.cr/i_q.php |title=Academia Costarricense de la Lengua |location=Costa Rica |access-date=6 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323194028/http://www.acl.ac.cr/i_q.php |archive-date=23 March 2010 |url-status=live}} Philippines (1924),{{cite web |url=http://www.asale.org/ASALE/ConAALEBD?IDDOC=31102&menu=2 |title=Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española |language=es |publisher=Philippines |access-date=5 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527090616/http://asale.org/ASALE/ConAALEBD?IDDOC=31102&menu=2 |archive-date=27 May 2011}} Panama (1926),{{cite web |url=http://apalengua.apalengua.org/historia |title=Academia Panameña de la Lengua |location=Panama |access-date=6 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129171943/http://apalengua.apalengua.org/historia |archive-date=29 November 2010 |url-status=dead}} Cuba (1926),{{cite web |url=http://www.acul.ohc.cu/ |title=Academia Cubana de la Lengua |location=Cuba |access-date=6 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101219083212/http://www.acul.ohc.cu/ |archive-date=19 December 2010 |url-status=live}}

Paraguay (1927),{{cite web |url=http://www.aparle.org/origenes.asp |title=Academia Paraguaya de la Lengua Española |location=Paraguay |access-date=5 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728150336/http://www.aparle.org/origenes.asp |archive-date=28 July 2011}} Dominican Republic (1927),{{cite web |url=http://www.academia.org.do/content/blogsection/12/46/ |title=Academia Dominicana de la Lengua |location=República Dominicana |access-date=5 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101222161225/http://www.academia.org.do/content/blogsection/12/46/ |archive-date=22 December 2010}} Bolivia (1927),{{cite web|url=http://www.abolen.org/Historia.html |title=Academia Boliviana de la Lengua |location=Bolivia |access-date=5 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129201058/http://www.abolen.org/Historia.html |archive-date=29 November 2010}} Nicaragua (1928),{{cite web |url=http://www.asale.org/ASALE/ConAALEBD?IDDOC=31702&menu=2 |title=Academia Nicaragüense de la Lengua |language=es |publisher=Nicaragua |access-date=5 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527090719/http://asale.org/ASALE/ConAALEBD?IDDOC=31702&menu=2 |archive-date=27 May 2011}} Argentina (1931),{{cite web |url=http://www.letras.edu.ar/ |title=Academia Argentina de Letras |location=Argentina |date=25 March 2010 |access-date=5 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728121808/http://www.letras.edu.ar/ |archive-date=28 July 2011 |url-status=live}} Uruguay (1943),{{cite web |url=http://www.mec.gub.uy/academiadeletras/MarcoPrincipal.htm |title=Academia Nacional de Letras del Uruguay |location=Uruguay |access-date=5 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110319235222/http://www.mec.gub.uy/academiadeletras/MarcoPrincipal.htm |archive-date=19 March 2011}} Honduras (1949),{{cite web|url=http://www.asale.org/ASALE/ConAALEBD?IDDOC=32002&menu=2 |title=Academia Hondureña de la Lengua |language=es |location=Honduras |access-date=5 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527085850/http://asale.org/ASALE/ConAALEBD?IDDOC=32002&menu=2 |archive-date=27 May 2011}} Puerto Rico (1955),{{cite web |url=http://www.academiapr.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=35&Itemid=61 |title=Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española |location=Puerto Rico |access-date=5 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100824060727/http://www.academiapr.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=35&Itemid=61 |archive-date=24 August 2010 |url-status=live}} United States (1973){{cite web |url=http://www.anle.us/ |title=Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española |location=United States |access-date=5 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110212025419/http://anle.us/ |archive-date=12 February 2011 |url-status=live}} and Equatorial Guinea (2016).{{cite web |url=http://www.asale.org/academias/academia-ecuatoguineana-de-la-lengua-espanola |title=Academia Ecuatoguineana de la Lengua Española |location=Equatorial Guinea |access-date=5 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331073309/http://www.asale.org/academias/academia-ecuatoguineana-de-la-lengua-espanola |archive-date=31 March 2016 |url-status=live}}

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{{main|Instituto Cervantes}}

The {{lang|es|Instituto Cervantes|italic=no}} ('Cervantes Institute') is a worldwide nonprofit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991. This organization has branches in 45 countries, with 88 centers devoted to the Spanish and Hispanic American cultures and Spanish language.{{Cite web |title=Información sobre el Instituto Cervantes. Quiénes somos: qué es el Instituto Cervantes |url=https://www.cervantes.es/sobre_instituto_cervantes/informacion.htm |access-date=2022-03-22 |website=www.cervantes.es |archive-date=10 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410222035/https://www.cervantes.es/sobre_instituto_cervantes/informacion.htm |url-status=live}} The 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) estimated that there were 559 million Spanish speakers worldwide. Its latest annual report "El español en el mundo 2018" (Spanish in the world 2018) counts 577 million Spanish speakers worldwide. Among the sources cited in the report is the U.S. Census Bureau, which estimates that the U.S. will have 138 million Spanish speakers by 2050, making it the biggest Spanish-speaking nation on earth, with Spanish the mother tongue of almost a third of its citizens.Stephen Burgen, [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/29/us-second-biggest-spanish-speaking-country US now has more Spanish speakers than Spain – only Mexico has more] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123045244/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/29/us-second-biggest-spanish-speaking-country |date=23 November 2018}}, US News, 29 June 2015.

{{Main list|List of countries where Spanish is an official language#International organizations}}

Spanish is one of the official languages of the United Nations, the European Union, the World Trade Organization, the Organization of American States, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the African Union, the Union of South American Nations, the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat, the Latin Union, the Caricom, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Inter-American Development Bank, and numerous other international organizations.

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Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Spanish:

:{{Lang|es|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.}}{{cite web|title=Universal Declaration of Human Rights|website=ohchr.org|url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/udhr/pages/Language.aspx?LangID=spn|access-date=8 January 2022|archive-date=8 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220108155322/https://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/Language.aspx?LangID=spn|url-status=live}}

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English:

:All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.{{cite news|url=https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights|title=Universal Declaration of Human Rights|newspaper=United Nations |access-date=8 January 2022|archive-date=16 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316050452/https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights|url-status=live}}

{{Portal|Language}}

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• Café para todos
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{{col-end}}

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{{refend}}

{{notelist|refs=

}}

• [https://www.rae.es/ Real Academia Española (RAE)], Royal Spanish Academy. Spain's official institution, with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language
• [https://www.cervantes.es/default.htm Instituto Cervantes], Cervantes Institute. A Spanish government agency, responsible for promoting the study and the teaching of the Spanish language and culture.
• [https://www.fundeu.es/ FundéuRAE], Foundation of Emerging Spanish. A non-profit organization with collaboration of the RAE which mission is to clarify doubts and ambiguities of Spanish.

{{Sister bar |auto=1|wikt=Category:Spanish language|d=y|iw=es}}

{{Spanish variants by continent}}

{{Romance languages|state=collapsed}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Spanish Language}}

Category:Fusional languages

Category:Languages of Argentina

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Category:Languages of Chile

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Category:Languages of Equatorial Guinea

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