Learn Spanish

Spanish, sometimes referred to as "Castilian" (in Spanish: "Español" and "Castellano") is the official language throughout the country of Spain. It should however be noted that the country is also home to a number of other languages, some of which have been declared co-official in the particular territories in which they are principally spoken. These languages include Aranese (Aranés) in Catalonia, Basque (Euskera) in the Basque Country and Navarre, Catalan (Català) in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and in the Valencian Community (where the language is known as "Valencian"), and Galician (Galego) in Galicia.

Spanish is also widely spoken beyond Spain: it is the second most spoken language by native speakers, with perhaps as many as 400 million falling into this category. Apart Spain itself, Spanish is in fact the official or co-official language in most Latin American countries, as well as in the African country of Equitorial Guinea. The language is also one of six official languages used by the United Nations, and perhaps the third most common (after English and Chinese) language in use on the Internet.

Learning Spanish can be an intellectually stimulating experience, and of course will allow you to converse with speakers of the language - very useful you plan on visiting a country for a vacation, and of course a major advantage in business. The good news is that learning Spanish need not be impossibly difficult - there are many tools that can help including language learning software (such as the popular Rosetta Stone program), Internet web sites for learning Spanish, and of course books. You might be surprised at how quickly you can progress - and of course, if you visit Spain or another Spanish-speaking country, and immerse yourself in the language, you'll improve even faster.

By S. Tanna. Learn Spanish was first published at http://www.travelguide2spain.com/l1_language.php - Visit for Spanish language learning software, web sites, books and more!