Spain: The top 10 languages spoken as Portuguese only at number eight | World | News
A large variety of languages are spoken in Spain, a country with a population of almost 48 million people.
Incredibly, some 16 different languages are spoken throughout the country, of which English is just the third most popular.
It will come as no surprise that Spanish is spoken by an overwhelming majority of the population – almost 94 percent to be exact.
The Catalan language is the next most popular language, spoken by almost 16 percent, with English coming in third place with almost 12 percent.
The next five commonly spoken languages are French (5.85 percent), Galician (5.64 percent), Romanian (2.78 percent), Italian (1.93 percent) and Portuguese (1.55 percent).
Basque (1.26 percent) and German (1.22 percent) take up the last two places in the top ten.
Spain has four main dialects which reflect the unique cultural characteristics of it various regions, as well as its illustrious history.
The primary official language is known as Castilian Spanish, which originally started as a dialect in the northern part of the country.
In the 13th century, King Alfonso X ruled the regions of Castile, Leon, and Galicia in Spain.
He held most of his political power in the region of Castile and decided to make Castilian the official language of the court and state.
After the Moors from Northern Africa were driven out of Spain, Castilian Spanish gained momentum through literature.
The Catalan language is spoken by roughly nine million people across regions of Spain, France and even Italy. Eight million Catalan speakers are located in Aragon, the Balearic Islands, Catalonia, Murcia, and Valencia.
Catalan is a Romance language and comes from the Pyrenees Mountains, which are situated between France and Spain.
It was first written down in the 12th century and was the official language of the Catalonia region until Spain’s Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand, and Isabella, united Aragón and Castile, making Castilian the official language.
Euskera is a Basque language and is considered to be the oldest living one in Europe, spoken by about one million people.
The Basques live on both sides of the Pyrenees, with most Euskera speakers living on the Spanish side.
Despite estimates that claim that 60 percent of Basque citizens will speak Euskera in 2036, in 2010, UNESCO gave the language official “vulnerable” status.
Finally, Galician is a dialect spoken in the northwestern region of Spain, which is dotted with charming fishing towns.
Some four million speak Galician, which has many similarities with Portuguese, sharing overlaps in sounds and word structures.
