Overview
Various languages are spoken in the Americas. Some are of European origin, others are spoken by indigenous peoples or are the mixture of various idioms like the different creoles. The dominant language of Latin America is Spanish, though the largest nation in Latin America, Brazil, speaks Portuguese.
The dominant language of Anglo-America, as the name suggests, is English. French is also official in Canada, where it is the predominant language in Québec and an official language in New Brunswick along with English. It is also an important language in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Spanish has become widely spoken in parts of the United States due to heavy immigration from Latin America. High levels of immigration in general have brought great linguistic diversity to Anglo-America, with over 300 languages known to be spoken in the United States alone, but most languages are spoken only in small enclaves and by relatively small immigrant groups.
See a list of languages spoken in the Americas.
Languages of the Americas in the Language Sets
Spanish
Spanish is a Romance language that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade. It was taken most notably to the Americas, and also to Africa and Asia Pacific with the expansion of the Spanish Empire between the 15th and 19th centuries.
Today, about 400 million people speak Spanish as a native language, making it the world's second or third most spoken language, depending on the sources. Mexico contains the largest population of Spanish speakers.
Spanish is growing increasingly popular as a second or third language in a number of countries due to logistical, economic, and touristic interest towards the many nations which chiefly use Spanish as the primary language. This phenomenon is most notable in Brazil, the United States, Italy, France, Portugal, and much of the Anglosphere in general.
Speakers |
322 to 358 million first language speakers
Between 59 and 95 million people speak Spanish as second language. |
Region |
Spoken in over 40 countries including Andorra, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Spain |
Classification |
Indo-European |
(Courtesy of Wikipedia)
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Resources
Order OCLC Language Sets
Other Language Sets pages
Languages of Asia
Languages of Europe
Languages of India
Languages of the Phillipines
Other links
Languages by country
Ten most widely spoken world languages
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