The SPANISH Language:
Spanish is the official language of Spain and 19 Latin American nations. Spanish is spoken as a first language by about 330 million persons and as a second language by perhaps another 50 million. Spanish is the mother tongue of about 40 million people in Spain, where the language originated and whence it was later brought by Spanish explorers, colonists, and empire-builders to the Western Hemisphere and other parts of the world during the last five centuries. Spanish is the native tongue of over 17 million people in the United States, and is one of the official languages of the United Nations. The Spanish vocabulary is basically of Latin origin, although it has been enriched by many loan words from other languages, especially Arabic, French, Italian, and various indigenous languages of North, Central, and South America. The Spanish language employs the Roman alphabet. There are a number of Spanish dialects and there are several striking differences in pronunciation between Castilian and major dialects of Latin American Spanish. On the whole, however, the difference between the Spanish dialects of Europe and of Latin American with reference to pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar are relatively minor.