Foreign Language in Spanish

• The history of the Spanish language spans at least 22 centuries
• Spanish incorporated over 4,000 Arabic words during the rule of the Muslim Moors
• The Reconquista came to an end

  1491
• Spanish is a romance language, a member of the Indo-European family of languages, and named based on its connection to Rome
• The Visigoths who came after the Romans also spoke Vulgar Latin
• Castilian became the official language of Spain

  1492
• Christopher Columbus traveled to the Americas on behalf of Spain, starting in 1492
• Spanish conquerors and missionaries brought the Spanish language to North, Central, and South America, and the Caribbean
• Latin was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans
• The Reconquista was the effort to reconquer Spain from Muslim rule
• The Royal Spanish Academy was founded in 1713 to standardize the language
• Spanish quickly became the lingua franca in the Americas due to the Spanish Empire's vast territories
• King Alfonso el Sabio of Castile commissioned works in Castilian in the 13th century
• The Spanish Empire financed exploratory sea voyages across the world, spreading the Spanish language
• Spanish originated as a dialect of spoken Latin, known as "Vulgar Latin"
• King Philip II decreed that Spanish authorities in the Philippines should teach the natives Spanish
• The Spanish language has been an integral part of Filipino society for over 400 years
• Due to 333 years of Spanish Colonization, the Spanish language became the lingua franca of the Philippines up to the first half of the 20th century
• Spanish is the mother tongue of an estimated 400 million people
• Spanish quickly became the lingua franca of administration, trade, and cultural exchange in the Americas as explorers established the Spanish Empire
• Spanish surpasses English in its number of speakers, with English coming in third place
• Ferdinand Magellan landed in the Philippines


  1521
• Letter Z

  Pronounced as [s]
• Spanish Alphabet

  • 27 letters: 22 consonants and 5 vowels
• Letter G


  Pronounced as [h] before the vowels E and I, and as [g] before the rest of vowels (A, O, U)
• Mexico is home to over 120 million Spanish speakers, the world’s largest population of such speakers
• Ferdinand Magellan was swiftly killed by Filipinos in the crossfire of a battle between two tribes
• Letter Q


  Sounds [k] and is often followed by the letter U
• Letter J

  Pronounced as [h]
• The end of the Spanish Philippines began in 1872 with a revolt from Filipino nationalists near Manila, but its influence is still felt until modern times
• Letters B and V


  Pronounced the same in any position
• Countries with Spanish as an official language

  • Argentina
  • Bolivia
  • Colombia
  • Costa Rica
  • Chile
  • Cuba
  • Dominican Republic
  • Ecuador
  • Equatorial Guinea
  • El Salvador
  • Guatemala
  • Honduras
  • Mexico
  • Nicaragua
  • Panama
  • Paraguay
  • Peru
  • Puerto Rico
  • Spain
  • Uruguay
  • Venezuela
• Letters CH

  Pronounced as [ch]
• Letter Y

  Consonant or vowel, follows a vowel sound [ee] if alone or at the end of a word, and is a consonant sound [y] when with other vowels
• Miguel López de Legazpi landed on the island of Cebu, bringing the Spanish language with him


  1565
• The blending of Spanish with indigenous languages gave rise to American Spanish, contributing to its prevalence in Latin America today
• Letter H


  Silent and never aspirated
• Letter R


  Pronounced softly in the middle of vowels and consonants (except S, L, N) or at the end of a word, and pronounced strongly at the beginning of words and after the consonants S, L, N. Same goes for the letter RR
• Spanish is a phonetic language, making it beginner-friendly for spelling and talking
• Over 400 million people speak Spanish, making it the world’s second most spoken language