BASIC SPANISH LESSONS

INTRODUCTION TO SPANISH LANGUAGE

Spanish is a member of the Indo-European linguistic family. It is a language that is widely dispersed because of the extent of the Spanish conquest during the age of exploration and discovery. It is widely spoken in North America especially Mexico and the Caribbean islands, Central America and most of the continent of South America. It is also spoken in Africa in Equatorial Guinea, and in the Philippines before the Americans introduced English as the language of government and academe.

I used to think that Spanish is the only native language of Spain. However, I later on learned that this language was based on Castillan, the language of Castille and that there are many different kind of languages in Spain. The other native languages spoken there are: Basque that is mainly spoken in north-eastern Spain, Catalan that is spoken in south-eastern Spain, Galician spoken in northwestern part of the country, Aragonese spoken in the highlands of Aragon and Asturian spoken in Asturias. 

After Mandarin Chinese, Spanish is next in line in terms of the number of native speakers. However, with regards to the area of dispersion, it is the worlds most widely dispersed as it can be found spoken in many different areas in the world, especially in Latin America. Even in the Philippines, which used to be a Spanish outpost in Asia before they were taken over by Americans, there are still some people who can speak the language fluently.

Now I am inviting you to join me in learning this language. We will begin it on my next blog.

A spanish inspired villa in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines