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Languages of Spain

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Languages of Spain
Bilingual Spanish-Catalan signage at the General Archive of the Crown of Aragon
OfficialSpanish (nationwide)
Aranese, Basque, Catalan, Galician and Valencian[a] (co-official in selected regions)
RegionalAragonese, Aranese, Asturian, Basque, Berber (Tarifit), Catalan, Ceuta Arabic, Fala, Galician, Leonese, Portuguese (Oliventine) and Valencian[1]
MinorityCaló[1]
ImmigrantSpanish, Portuguese, Moroccan Arabic, Berber, Romanian, Quechua, English, German, French, Bangla, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Russian, Wolof, Punjabi,[2] Hindu–Urdu, Wu dialects (Qingtian & Wenzhounese)[3]
(see immigration to Spain)
SignedSpanish Sign Language
Catalan Sign Language
Valencian Sign Language
Keyboard layout

The majority of the languages of Spain belong to the Romance language family. The official national language is Spanish (also known as Castilian).[4][5] In selected autonomous communities, Catalan, Valencian,[a] Galician, Basque and the Aranese standard of Occitan are accorded co-official status alongside Spanish, and Aragonese, Asturian and Leonese (the latter two being variants of Asturleonese) are legally protected but not co-official. Basque is the only language with official status in Spain that is neither Romance nor Indo-European.

The Constitution of Spain regards these languages as "Spanish languages" (Spanish: lenguas españolas).

Spanish is the most widely spoken language, used by approximately 99% of the population as a first or second language. Catalan/Valencian is the first language of 10.5% of the population, followed by Galician at 3.8% and Basque at 1.4%. Immigration has also introduced communities of speakers of Arabic, Romanian, and English, among others.

Present-day languages

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Map of native regional languages:
  Basque

Spanish is official nationwide and is spoken by the majority of the population.[citation needed]

Catalan or Valencian, being Catalan co-official in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian in the Valencian Community. It is officially named Catalan in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, and Valencian in the Valencian Community.[6][7] Catalan/Valencian is also spoken, although not official, in the eastern strip of Aragon (La Franja)[8] and in the Carche area of the Region of Murcia.[9]

Galician is the majority language of Galicia and is also spoken in adjacent areas of Asturias and Castile and León.[citation needed]

Basque is co-official in the Basque Country and municipalities of northern Navarre as designated by the Foral Law on Basque [es]. It is a language isolate, having no demonstrable relationship with any other languages.[citation needed]

Aranese, a dialect and register of Occitan, is a co-official language of Catalonia. It is spoken in the Val d'Aran in northwest Catalonia.[10]

Aragonese is spoken in the Pyrenean region of northern Aragon. It enjoys legal protection but does not have official status.[11]

Asturleonese, a dialect continuum, has various standards with Asturian and Leonese being granted legal protection. In Asturias, about 25% of the population is reportedly able to understand, speak, read, and write in Asturian.[12] Leonese is spoken in parts of Castile and León (provinces of León and Zamora).[citation needed]

Extremaduran, another Asturleonese language variety, is spoken in Extremadura.[13] Fala, a variety mostly ascribed to the Galician–Portuguese group, is locally spoken in an area of the province of Cáceres (Extremadura) sometimes called the Valley of Jálama/Xálima, which includes the towns of San Martín de Trevejo, Eljas and Valverde del Fresno.[citation needed] Portuguese has been traditionally spoken by the inhabitants of Cedillo and Herrera de Alcántara (province of Cáceres),[14] La Alamedilla (province of Salamanca, primarily spoken up until the mid-20th century),[15] and Olivenza (municipality in the province of Badajoz, claimed by Portugal).[16] Extremaduran, Fala and Oliventine Portuguese each have the status of a Bien de Interés Cultural in Extremadura.[13][17][16]

Moroccan communities in Ceuta and Melilla speak Ceuta Arabic and Tarifit respectively. Both lack government protection.[18][19]

Caló, a mixed language, is spoken by the Spanish Romani communities across the country, with a large concentration in Andalusia and Catalonia, though it seems to be in the process of becoming just a dialect of Spanish.[citation needed] It should not be confused with Romani, the Indo-Aryan language originally spoken by the Roma, which is most probably no longer spoken in Spain.[citation needed]

Other Romance varieties

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Spanish itself boasts a substantial internal variation in the country. For example, the Andalusian or Canarian dialects, each with their own subvarieties, some of them being partially closer to Spanish dialects in the Americas, which they heavily influenced to varying degrees, depending on the region or period and according to different and non-homogeneous migrating or colonisation processes. Despite being a dialect, some Andalusian speakers have attempted to promote Andalusian as a different language independent of Spanish.[citation needed]

Five very localised dialects are of difficult filiation: Fala; Cantabrian and Extremaduran, two Astur-Leonese dialects also regarded as Spanish dialects; Eonavian, a dialect between Asturian and Galician, closer to the latter according to several linguists; and Benasquese, a Ribagorçan dialect that was formerly classified as Catalan, later as Aragonese, and which is now often regarded as a transitional language of its own. Asturian and Leonese are closely related to the local Mirandese which is spoken in an adjacent territory on the opposite side of the border, in Portugal. Mirandese is recognised and has some local official status.[citation needed]

Silbo Gomero, a whistled code of Canarian Spanish, is used on the island of La Gomera.[20]

Statistics

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Top language spoken at home (Pew Research survey, 2019)[21]
  1. Spanish (81.0%)
  2. Catalan (8.00%)
  3. Valencian (4.00%)
  4. Galician (3.00%)
  5. Basque (1.00%)

In terms of the number of speakers and dominance, the most prominent of the languages of Spain is Spanish, spoken by about 99% of Spaniards as a first or second language.[22] According to a 2019 Pew Research survey, the most commonly spoken languages at home other than Spanish were Catalan in 8% of households, Valencian in 4%, Galician in 3% and Basque in 1%.[21] A study in 2016 by the University of Navarra focused on which languages were used most frequently to consume news within a week (using multiple-choice surveys). The response included foreign languages, Spanish and only co-official and protected languages. 95.2% of news was consumed in Spanish and 30.4% in a co-official or protected language.[23] The study reflects that the consumption of protected languages is proportional to their knowledge and that the consumption of foreign-language news is greater than that of regional-language news.

2021 census data

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First language of those aged two or over, 2021 census[24]
Language Initial language
Absolute Percentage
Spanish 37,650,425 81.53
of which only Spanish 34,477,775 74.66
Catalan (including Valencian and Balearic) 4,846,933 10.50
Galician 1,742,974 3.77
Arabic 1,001,792 2.17
English 730,251 1.58
Romanian 664,407 1.44
Basque 658,030 1.42
French 432,209 0.94
Portuguese 251,497 0.54
Chinese 221,331 0.48
German 205,289 0.44
Italian 188,651 0.41
Bulgarian 152,037 0.33
Russian 147,864 0.32
Ukrainian 76,297 0.17
Polish 61,926 0.13
Berber 59,797 0.13
Dutch 51,672 0.11
Urdu 50,983 0.11
Guarani 36,807 0.08
Wolof 34,581 0.07
Asturian 26,584 0.06
Other languages 347,363 0.75
Total 46,181,637 >100.0

Language policies

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Spanish is official throughout the country; Catalan/Valencian, Galician, Basque, and Aranese Occitan have legal and co-official status in their respective communities and (except Aranese Occitan) are widespread enough to have daily newspapers and significant book publishing and media presence. Catalan and Galician are the main languages used by the respective regional governments and local administrations. Starting in 2023, members of the lower house of the Spanish Parliament were allowed to use Basque, Catalan and Galician in their interventions.[25] Members of the upper house already could use those languages in some specific discussions and initiatives.[26]

In addition to these, there are some protected languages. A protected language does not have co-official status but can be taught in schools as an optional subject, with the possibility of having TV shows in the protected language as well as institutions for that language.

Limited Asturian-language content is available on RTPA, and the language is learned as an optional subject by 53% of primary education students.[27] There is a prominent movement demanding for the declaration of Asturian as an official language in Asturias, which is a matter of an ongoing political debate.[28][29] Aragonese is offered as a subject in about 30 schools in Aragon, with around 1,300 students as of 2023.[30] Limited Aragonese-language television content has been broadcast by Aragón TV, with shows such as A Escampar la Boira[31] or Charrín Charrán.[32] Limited content in Tarifit has also been broadcast by Televisión Melilla [es].[19]

Regarding education, the models vary considerably. Some schools in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands guarantee the possibility of an education entirely in the regional language, but most of the schools apply bilingual education with more weight of Catalan.[citation needed] In Galicia, the Galician language is prohibited in certain subjects by law, restricted to a maximum of one-third of education and absent in 92% of the first education of Galician students.[citation needed] In the Valencian Community the existence of Catalan-speaking areas and Spanish-speaking areas generates debates about the presence of the language in education, proposing an equal presence of Valencian (Catalan) and Spanish, which does not conform to any of the linguistic parts.[citation needed]

As for non-official languages, Asturian can be studied as an optional subject in both primary school and high school, a policy that has been in place since 1984.[33] Aragonese is de facto not taught due to the lack of teachers, even though there is demand for it in many schools.[citation needed] As for Leonese, Extremaduran, Galician outside Galicia, and Xalimego, they are totally excluded from regional education.[citation needed]

Historical languages

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Alongside the languages spoken in Spain to the present day, other languages used to be widely spoken within its present-day borders:

Distribution (assumed) of languages in the Iberian peninsula between 1000~2000 C.E.
Languages of Spain and France in the 19th century

Variants

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There are also variants of these languages proper to Spain, either dialects, cants or pidgins:

See also

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Notes

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  1. 1 2 Valencian is the official and local name of the Romance language of the Valencian Community, also known as Catalan in other regions of Spain. Sometimes, it is used to refer to either the language as a whole or as a separate language.

References

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  1. 1 2 Brohy, Claudine; Climent-Ferrando, Vincent; Oszmiahska-Pagett, Aleksandra; Ramallo, Fernando (2019). "Carta europea de lenguas minoritarias". Consejo de Europa.
  2. ↑ Solé Aubia, Montserrat; Rodríguez Roca, Josep (2005). "Pakistaníes en España: un estudio basado en el colectivo de la ciudad de Barcelona". Barcelona Centre for International Affairs. p. 108.
  3. ↑ Martínez Robles, David (2007). La lengua china: historia, signo y contexto: Una aproximación sociocultural. Córdoba: Editorial UOC. p. 62. ISBN 978-84-9788-682-6.
  4. ↑ Promotora Española de Lingüística - Lengua Española o Castellana Archived 27 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine. (Spanish)
  5. ↑ M. Teresa Turell (2001). Multilingualism in Spain: Sociolinguistic and Psycholinguistic Aspects of Linguistic Minority Groups. Multilingual Matters. p. 121. ISBN 978-1-85359-491-5.
  6. ↑ DICTAMEN SOBRE ELS PRINCIPIS I CRITERIS PER A LA DEFENSA DE LA DENOMINACIÓ I ENTITAT DEL VALENCIÀ.
    It is a fact that there are in Spain two equally legal names for designating this language: Valencian, as established by the Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community, and Catalan, recognized in the Statutes of Autonomy of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, and ratified by the Spanish legal system (annex 8) and case law (annex 9).
  7. ↑ "Ley Orgánica 1/2006, de 10 de abril, de Reforma de la Ley Orgánica 5/1982, de 1 de julio, de Estatuto de Autonomía de la Comunidad Valenciana" (PDF). Generalitat Valenciana. 10 April 2006. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  8. ↑ "LEY 3/2013, de 9 de mayo, de uso, protección y promoción de las lenguas y modalidades lingüísticas propias de Aragón. BOLETÍN OFICIAL DE ARAGÓN (BOA)". Gobierno de Aragón. 24 May 2013.
  9. ↑ Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (23 July 2013). "El valencià continua viu en la comarca murciana del Carxe". avl.gva.es (in Valencian). Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  10. ↑ (in Catalan and Occitan) Llei 35/2010, d'1 d'octubre, de l'occità, aranès a l'Aran
  11. ↑ "LEY 3/2013, de 9 de mayo, de uso, protección y promoción de las lenguas y modalidades lingüísticas propias de Aragón. BOLETÍN OFICIAL DE ARAGÓN (BOA)". Gobierno de Aragón. 24 May 2013.
  12. ↑ Hernández, Alicia (24 January 2022). "Dónde se habla el bable y por qué dicen que es un idioma "en peligro"". BBC News Mundo.
  13. 1 2 "Aprobado declarar al estremeñu como Bien de Interés Cultural, con el único voto en contra de Vox". El Salto (in Spanish). 15 November 2024. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  14. ↑ Carrasco González, Juan M. (2017). "Documentación antigua sobre las localidades de habla portuguesa Herrera de Alcántara y Cedillo" (PDF). Revista de Estudios Extremeños. LXXIII (3): 2567–2592.
  15. ↑ González Salgado, José Antonio (2019). "El proyecto de investigación FRONTESPO y la fala de Xálima" (PDF). Limite (13): 82. ISSN 1888-4067.
  16. 1 2 "Ni castellano ni portugués: estas son las tres lenguas que se hablan tradicionalmente en Extremadura". La Razón (in Spanish). 4 October 2025. Retrieved 17 August 2026.
  17. ↑ "Esta lengua solo se habla en tres localidades extremeñas y está en peligro de extinción". 20 Minutos (in Spanish). 22 February 2023. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  18. ↑ "Protección del dariya: el Gobierno responde que el Estatuto de Autonomía no menciona esta lengua". El Faro de Ceuta (in Spanish). 1 June 2020.
  19. 1 2 "Compromís exige que el tamazight se iguale a otras lenguas del Estado". La Razón (in Spanish). 16 September 2022.
  20. ↑ "UNESCO - El Silbo Gomero, lenguaje silbado de la isla de La Gomera (Islas Canarias)". ich.unesco.org (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  21. 1 2 Devlin, Kat (6 January 2020). "Speaking the national language at home is less common in some European countries". pewresearch.org. Pew Research. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  22. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  23. ↑ "Un 30% se informa en lenguas españolas distintas del castellano, y el 24% de los usuarios, en inglés | Digital News Report España 2022 (DNR): informe de noticias digitales en español" (in Spanish). June 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  24. ↑ "INEbase / Demografía y población /Cifras de población y Censos demográficos /Encuesta de Características Esenciales de la Población y las Viviendas / Microdatos". INE (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 March 2025.
  25. ↑ Jones, Sam (19 September 2023). "Spain grants Basque, Catalan and Galician languages parliamentary status". Spain. The Guardian. ISSN 1756-3224. OCLC 60623878. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
  26. ↑ Romero, Alexis (6 July 2020). "¿Se puede hablar catalán, euskera o gallego en las Cortes? Las ataduras al normal uso de las lenguas cooficiales". Público.
  27. ↑ "El 53% de los alumnos de primarias estudian lengua asturiana". 20 Minutos (in Spanish). 30 April 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  28. ↑ Bécares, Bárbara (8 May 2023). "La oficialidad del asturiano, una asignatura pendiente de la legislatura que termina". elDiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  29. ↑ "Cientos de personas marchan en Uviéu por la oficialidad del asturiano". www.elsaltodiario.com. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  30. ↑ "Día de la Lengua Materna: unos 5.700 alumnos estudian aragonés y catalán de Aragón". CARTV (in European Spanish). 21 February 2023. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  31. ↑ "ARAGÓN TELEVISIÓN ESTRENA 'A ESCAMPAR LA BOIRA', EL PRIMER LATE NIGHT EN LAS LENGUAS PROPIAS DE ARAGÓN – Lenguas de Aragón". lenguasdearagon.org. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  32. ↑ "Aragón TV - Charrín Charrán". www.aragontelevision.es. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  33. ↑ Debate, El (29 December 2024). "El fracaso del bable en las aulas: tras 40 años como optativa, solo el 23 % de los alumnos lo escogen". El Debate (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 September 2025.
  34. ↑ Jones, Sam (1 August 2017). "Spain honours Ladino language of Jewish exiles". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  35. ↑ Feliu, Francesc; Ferrer, Joan (2011). "Judaeo-Catalan: in search of a mediaeval dialect that never was". Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies. 3 (1): 41–46. doi:10.1080/17546559.2011.556702. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
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