LANGUAGE IN SPAIN
The Spanish language is divided into four dialects: which are "Castilian", "Catalan"; "Galician" and "Basque".
Castilian has been the official language since 1714 and is spoken by 74 % of Spain's population. Over 300 million people from all over the world speak this romantic language as their mother tongue. Areas of the Philippines, Central and South America and the Sahara; Equatorial Guinea and of course Spain itself are some countries in which Castilian is spoken.
Catalan is spoken in Catalunya, the Balearic Islands, Valencia, Aragon, Murcia and other countries outside Spain, like Italy (Alguer), Andorra and France (Roussillon). A total of approximately 6 million people (17 % of Spain's population) declare Catalan as their mother tongue.
Galician is similar to Portuguese and was once the same language. In the fourteenth century it split for historical and political reasons and today is Galicia's co-official language (7 % of Spain's population) and also spoken in parts of Castilla-Leon, Asturias and Latin American countries.
Only a small number of Spaniards (2 %) speak the Basque dialect. Most of them can be found in northern Spain (Guipuscoa, Viccaya and Navarra). One theory is that the Basque language is related to the language of Asia Minor immigrants which came to this part of Europe around the year 2000 BC.
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