Is Spanish not the only language spoken in Spain? Hola. Bon dia. Ola. Kaixo. Adiu. Bienvenidos. Benvingut. Benvido. Ongi etorria. Planvienut. It may be easier to stick to one language, so let’s go with a Spanish language. Hola. Bon dia. Ola. Kaixo. Adiu. Bienvenidos. Benvingut. Benvido. Ongi etorria. Planvienut. This is where it gets confusing as they are all considered Spanish languages in Spain. The ‘Spanish’ you are used to hearing is called Castilian in Spain which refers to the standard kind of Spanish language, a bit like saying an English speaker speaks Oxford English. For foreign students, like myself, the Castilian Spanish accent is the easiest to understand as every letter is pronounced, which is why we learn this at school. The word Castilian refers to the Castile province in central Spain where the language is said to have originated. However, in many countries outside of Spain, Spanish is called Spanish as that is where the language comes from. Hopefully, you’re still with me so we can learn more about why Castilian isn’t the only language spoken in Spain… The country of Spain is divided into 17 autonomous regions which come together to form the Spanish nation. Every community has its own regional government, and some communities have a co-official language alongside Castilian. One of these regions is Catalonia and its co-official language is Catalan. Many people think that Catalan is a dialect of Spanish, but it is in fact its own language as it evolved directly from common Latin. It is also spoken in Valencia, the Balearic Islands and is the official language of Andorra. Since Catalan is the co-official language of Catalonia, people from that region speak Catalan as their first language, and Castilian as their second or vice versa. Historically, Catalan has been through some hardship as it has been banned for political reasons on two occasions, but it is now actively promoted to maintain its cultural value. But don’t worry, if you’re thinking of jetting off to Barcelona anytime soon, Castilian Spanish will serve you well as 98% off Barcelona’s population speak Castilian.
Another region of Spain is the Basque Country which, to make matters even more confusing, is not a country. The language spoken in this area is called Basque (spoken by about 27% of the Basque population) and is the oldest living language in Europe. Some linguists even believe that is descends from the language used by cave dwellers in Spain. Although many efforts have been made to find out where the language originated from, it remains an unsolved mystery. Due to this, linguists say that Basque is a language isolate which means it does not have any relation with other languages, or they are yet to be found. The view held by most is that Basque started to develop before the Romance languages but has borrowed many of its words from these languages. As with Catalan, during Francoist Spain, the Basque language was affected by the government’s policies which included making it illegal to register new-born babies under Basque names, and tombstone engravings in Basque had to be removed. However, in later years, there was a continuation of education and publishing in Basque and it started to increase in popularity. Of course, we have only looked at two out of the four main languages spoken in Spain (yes, there are more), but I hope this helps when you find yourself not being able to understand the language spoken in every region when you travel around Spain!
Anaya Popat
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