More than 500 million people around the world use Spanish as their local language. Aside from Spain, countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela also use the Spanish language as their official spoken language. In addition to these countries, it is also widely spoken in countries like Canada, Morocco, the Philippines, and the United States.
Among the Romance languages, Spanish is the most widely spoken when we take into consideration the number of its speakers, and the number of the countries it is being used. In Spain itself, there are two major dialects. The Andalusian and Castilian, many say these dialects speak the purest forms of Spanish. While in other continents such as North and South America, many more dialects exist.
Spanish may vary in terms of pronunciation and use of words between country to country where it is the dominant language. But these differences are not so great that its speakers, no matter where they are from, could not still understand one other when they converse. For example, Spanish in Spain and Spanish in Latin America is spoken with very little difference. This difference was brought about by the colonization of the Americas, where the most recognizable influence is the use of native terms in Latin America and a different pronunciation as well.
In terms of vocabulary, the Spanish language is basically of Latin origin, although there are big difference with its counterparts like French and Italian. Some words in other Romance languages begin that with f, begins with h in Spanish. Another characteristic of this language is that the letter b and v are indistinguishable, whereas the letter h is silent. In addition to that, Spanish has a few words that are of Greek origin, there are also have silent letters to contend with.
A lot of people choose to learn Spanish as a new language since it used so wide and it is the most common first language in the Americas. Because the birth rate in the Spanish-speaking world is higher than among many other people whose first language is English, Spanish can be expected to remain as one of the easiest languages and the most common to learn in the coming years. If the economies of Latin American countries continues to develop, there will be a big chance that Spanish will gain even more in importance in the world of business and in business communication as well.
If you speak Spanish, you are not alone. Spanish is the first language of close to 352 million people and a second language to over 65 million people.