Spanish is Spoken All Over the World:
Spanish is the second most widely spoken language in the world, there are 400 million native speakers and the language is spoken in 31 countries spanning in across Africa, Europe, South, Central and North America. Spanish is the third most studied language and there are 37 million people in America alone who speak Spanish. Growth projections say the Spanish speakers in the United States will have reach somewhere between 39 million and 43 million by 2020. Language is a living thing, constantly growing, forming and evolving. People shape the languages they use based on cultural, environmental and regional influences they’re exposed to. With so many Spanish speakers spreading across multiple continents, differences in dialects of the language were bound to develop.The use of the language is vast and is continuing to grow and be utilized around the world.
Dialects differ sometimes greatly from urban settings to rural settings, so why wouldn’t one language have many dialects if it’s spoken in 31 countries around the world. For example, a noticeable difference between the Spanish dialects of Spain and Latin America is, Spaniards make a “th” sound when they pronounce the letters ‘c’ and ‘z,’ or use sort of a lisp when talking. However, there is a story behind how this “lisp” came to be; after America was discovered and the Spanish had settled in the New World, a new king who spoke with a lisp came to the throne in Spain. The courtiers and subjects began speaking with a lisp to please the King, thus influencing the entire kingdom of Spain to incorporate a lisp while pronouncing words. While this was going on in Spain, the Spanish spoken in America was being used without the lisp.
Dialects of Spanish:
The following is a breakdown of the 10 major Spanish dialects according to the regions in which they’re spoken:
Africa:
Equatoguinean is a variety of Spanish spoken in Equatorial Guinea, this is the only form of Spanish holding national official status in Sub-Saharan Africa. To 90% of the population, Equatoguinean Spanish is their native language. Some of the vocabulary and pronunciation patterns are derived from native Guineans and immigrant Germans of Cameroon.
America:
Latin American Spanish is the main dialect used in Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, Columbia as well as the majority of North, Central and South America. This dialect can be easily understood among many Spanish speakers, and can be compared to how American English speakers can fully understand English speakers from England.
Rioplatense is a dialect of Spanish spoken in the River Basin region between Argentina and Uruguay, and throughout both countries. The main difference in this dialect is the intonation of its speakers, which closely resembles Italian, due to the influx of Italian immigrants during the 19th century into the Río de la Plata Basin area as well as Buenos Aires.
Caribbean Spanish is the Spanish dialect that is spoken in the Caribbean region of the world. It’s spoken in Panamá, Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean coast of Columbia. Some of it’s known distinctions are the omitting of middle and final consonants, as well as an aspirated or nasal sounding ‘r’.
Gibraltar:
Llanito is a combination of Andalusian Spanish and British English with Genoese influences as well. This form of Spanish is spoken in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. This dialect uses a tremendous amount of borrowed words from other Mediterranean languages.
The Canary Islands:
The Canarian dialect of Spanish is spoken in the Canary Islands by the Canarian people. This variant closely resembles Caribbean Spanish and is characterized by its omission of consonants and aspirated or nasal sounding ’s’. The dialect was heavily influenced by the Portuguese language due to Portugal’s efforts to colonize the islands.
Spain (AKA Peninsular Spanish or European Spanish):
Castilian Spanish is the official form of Spanish spoken in northern and central Spain. Castilian often refers to the Spanish language as a whole or the predecessor to modern Spanish.
Andalusia is a dialect spoken in the southern region of Spain in Andalusia, Ceuta, Melilla, and Gibraltar. This dialect differs in many aspects from the dialect spoken in northern parts of Spain. It’s considered a more fluid sounding form of Spanish and speakers are known to omit consonants ‘d’ and ‘r’,and use the aspirated or nasal sounding consonant ’s’ as well as drop ending consonants.
Murcian is spoken in the community of Murcia as well as in Vega Baja del Segura, Alto Vinalopó in the province of Alicante and the corridor of Almansa in Albacete (Castile-La Mancha). Some native speakers consider Murcian to be a separate languages outside of Spanish due to its mixture of several linguistic varieties. This particular form of Spanish is considered to be an endangered language. The consonant system of Murcian is pretty much the same as Castilian.
Catalan is the national and only language of Andorra and is spoken in parts of northeastern Spain, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencia (where the language is known as Valencian). The dialect is also spoken in the Italian commune of Alghero. Areas in which this dialect is spoken are called Catalan Countries.
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