A language that has bestowed upon humanity geniuses of literature the likes of Borges and Gabriel Garcia Marques, can only be called magnanimous. From its most celebrated writer, Cervantes, to the "barrios" in Argentina, Spanish has gained - by force and love - a place in history as the most influential languages of all times. It has touched cultures and linguistic patterns in close and far related languages. Find below a list of countries where the language of Cervantes is spoken, and find out how this apparently "easy" language has influenced the lives of millions around the world:
| Country | Languages (%) |
|---|---|
| Argentina | Spanish (official), Italian, English, German, French |
| Aruba | Papiamento (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English dialect) 66.3%, Spanish 12.6%, English (widely spoken) 7.7%, Dutch (official) 5.8%, other 2.2%, unspecified or unknown 5.3% (2000 census) |
| Belize | Spanish 46%, Creole 32.9%, Mayan dialects 8.9%, English 3.9% (official), Garifuna 3.4% (Carib), German 3.3%, other 1.4%, unknown 0.2% (2000 census) |
| Bolivia | Spanish 60.7% (official), Quechua 21.2% (official), Aymara 14.6% (official), foreign languages 2.4%, other 1.2% (2001 census) |
| Brazil | Portuguese (official and most widely spoken language); note - less common languages include Spanish (border areas and schools), German, Italian, Japanese, English, and a large number of minor Amerindian languages |
| Cayman Islands | English 95%, Spanish 3.2%, other 1.8% (1999 census) |
| Chile | Spanish (official), Mapudungun, German, English |
| Colombia | Spanish |
| Costa Rica | Spanish (official), English |
| Cuba | Spanish |
| Dominican Republic | Spanish |
| Ecuador | Spanish (official), Amerindian languages (especially Quechua) |
| El Salvador | Spanish, Nahua (among some Amerindians) |
| Equatorial Guinea | Spanish 67.6% (official), other 32.4% (includes French (official), Fang, Bubi) (1994 census) |
| European Union | Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish
note: only official languages are listed; German, the major language of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, is the most widely spoken mother tongue - over 19% of the EU population; English is the most widely spoken language - about 49% of the EU population is conversant with it (2007) |
| Gibraltar | English (used in schools and for official purposes), Spanish, Italian, Portuguese |
| Guatemala | Spanish 60%, Amerindian languages 40% (23 officially recognized Amerindian languages, including Quiche, Cakchiquel, Kekchi, Mam, Garifuna, and Xinca) |
| Honduras | Spanish, Amerindian dialects |
| Mexico | Spanish only 92.7%, Spanish and indigenous languages 5.7%, indigenous only 0.8%, unspecified 0.8%; note - indigenous languages include various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional languages (2005) |
| Netherlands Antilles | Papiamento 65.4% (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English dialect), English 15.9% (widely spoken), Dutch 7.3% (official), Spanish 6.1%, Creole 1.6%, other 1.9%, unspecified 1.8% (2001 census) |
| Nicaragua | Spanish 97.5% (official), Miskito 1.7%, other 0.8% (1995 census)
note: English and indigenous languages on Atlantic coast |
| Panama | Spanish (official), English 14%; note - many Panamanians bilingual |
| Paraguay | Spanish (official), Guarani (official) |
| Peru | Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara, and a large number of minor Amazonian languages |
| Puerto Rico | Spanish, English |
| Saint Martin | French (official language), English, Dutch, French Patois, Spanish, Papiamento (dialect of Netherlands Antilles) |
| Spain | Castilian Spanish (official) 74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2%, are official regionally |
| Switzerland | German (official) 63.7%, French (official) 20.4%, Italian (official) 6.5%, Serbo-Croatian 1.5%, Albanian 1.3%, Portuguese 1.2%, Spanish 1.1%, English 1%, Romansch (official) 0.5%, other 2.8% (2000 census)
note: German, French, Italian, and Romansch are all national and official languages |
| Trinidad and Tobago | English (official), Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), French, Spanish, Chinese |
| United States | English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census)
note: Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii |
| Uruguay | Spanish, Portunol, or Brazilero (Portuguese-Spanish mix on the Brazilian frontier) |
| Venezuela | Spanish (official), numerous indigenous dialects |
| Virgin Islands | English 74.7%, Spanish or Spanish Creole 16.8%, French or French Creole 6.6%, other 1.9% (2000 census) |
| World | Mandarin Chinese 13.22%, Spanish 4.88%, English 4.68%, Arabic 3.12%, Hindi 2.74%, Portuguese 2.69%, Bengali 2.59%, Russian 2.2%, Japanese 1.85%, Standard German 1.44%, French 1.2% (2005 est.)
note: percents are for "first language" speakers only |
Source: CIA – The World Factbook