How many countries speak Spanish? You may be surprised to learn that the number of native Spanish speakers is the second largest worldwide! And what is even more special is that Spain is not the country with the highest number of speakers.
Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States, after English, and is the predominant language in many of our neighbors in the Western Hemisphere. It is also a very wonderful and useful language because it is phonetic. If you are intending to learn them, please join us to learn and refer!
A Little Information About Spanish
Unlike Italian, French or Romanian, Spanish is derived from ordinary Latin. It originated in what is now known as Spain and Portugal to us, which was the Iberian peninsula long ago. Standardized Spanish was born of a mixture of common Latin and Arabic dialects spoken by people who conquered several parts of the region. Around this same time, the Andalusian dialect of Spanish also appeared, and is in fact still spoken in some parts of Spain.
As mentioned, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world. It is second only to Chinese, with 400 million native speakers. It even replaced English after Spanish in the list with about 360 million native speakers.
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Spanish-Speaking Countries in the World
There are around 20 countries where you can go and flaunt your perfect Spanish or achieve the fluency you've been looking for. However, keep in mind that not all of them speak Latin American Spanish, so you need to learn a certain dialect before you begin your learning journey.
Spanish
About 48.146.134 people currently live in Spain, however not all of them speak the same dialect. About 74% speak Castilian dialect, the majority, while 17% speak Catalan, Galician is spoken by only 7% and Basque is only 2% of the population.
Mexico
What most people don't know is that although it's mostly desert, Mexico also has rainforests and mountains. They also may not know that a huge population of 121.736.809 people live in Mexico where the proportion of Spanish speakers is 94%.
Colombia
Located just around the northern coast of South America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, Colombia has a population of 46.736.728 and its official language is Spanish.
Argentina
With a population of about 43.431.886 people, Argentina is a multilingual country. However, Spanish remains its official language.
Peru
Peru is the center of many indigenous languages. However, Spanish is still the official language of this country. With a population of 30.444.999 people but up to 84% of them speak this language.
Venezuela
Known for the world's tallest waterfall, Venezuela is located in the north of South America. While many indigenous languages are also spoken in this country of 29.275.460 people, Spanish remains an official language.
Chile
Chile is a long narrow country located right between the Pacific Ocean and Argentina. From a population of 17.508.260 people living there, about 99,5% speak Spanish.
Ecuador
As one would guess the name, Ecuador is located on the equator, facing the Pacific Ocean. Quechua is the widely spoken native language of Ecuador. The country's population reaches 15.868.369, but nearly 93% of the population speaks Spanish.
Guatemala
There is a pretty clear division of people in Guatemala. With a population of 14,918,999 people living in the country, up to 60% of the people speak Spanish while the remaining 40% prefer to speak the native language.
Cuba
Spanish is the official language of Cuba with a population of 11.031.433. The point to note, however, is that the Spanish spoken in Cuba has its own slang and pronunciation.
Bolivia
Best known for the famous Amazon rainforest, Bolivia is a landlocked country in South America. There is a population of about 10.800.882 people living there, of which 60,7% speak Spanish. Like any other country, Spanish in Bolivia is a bit unique with its phrases and expressions. Furthermore, some native language is also spoken by almost 36% of the people.
Dominican Republic
The official language of the Dominican Republic is Spanish, but we understand that not all Spanish is the same. With 10,478,756 population, Dominican Spaniards have their own pronunciation and slang.
Honduras
As a mountainous country, Honduras has a lot of Caribbean coastline and is only dotted over parts of the Pacific Ocean. With a population of 8.746.673, the country has Spanish as its official language. However, native languages are also used there.
Paraguay
A largely lowland and landlocked country in South America, Paraguay has a population of about 6.783.272. Where the Spanish and Guarani languages share the same status as official languages.
El Salvador
You'll find El Salvador right between Honduras and Guatemala. The country consists of a population of 6.141.350 people. Although Nawat is also spoken there, the official language of the country is still Spanish.
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is located in Central America, between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean. With a population of 5.907.881 people living in the country, Nicaragua has nearly 95,3% of the population who speak Spanish.
Costa Rica
As with other neighboring countries, Spanish is the official language of the country with a population of 4.814.144 people.
Panama
The Panama Canal has really raised the country's name all over the world. This country of 3.657.024 people also uses Spanish as an official language. Although unlike many other countries, some indigenous languages are also spoken there.
Uruguay
Uruguay is known for its beaches and neighborhoods like Colonia Del Sacramento. About 3.341.893 people live in this country and have Spanish as an official language.
Equatorial Guinea
With a population of 740.743 people living in Equatorial Guinea, 67,6% of the people speak Spanish while the others speak Bubi, French and Fang.
>>> See more: 10 Big Differences Between English And Spanish
Spanish has many of the same basic features as English and is closely connected with French. So Spanish is more and more popular all over the world.
Nguyen Trung Khang - Talented interpreter and translator, passionate about translation
Nguyen Trung Khang is a talented interpreter and translator, with many years of experience in the field of translation and linguistics. He graduated from Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, majoring in Linguistics in 2015.
After graduating, Mr. Khang participated in a professional interpretation and interpretation training course at the University of Foreign Languages - Hanoi National University. He achieved a high-level certificate in interpreting and interpreting, and was also awarded a master's degree in linguistics.