Where on Earth can we hear Spanish?

We all know that Spanish is a widely spread language in the world. Do we really know how powerful it is? Let's find out on which continents and in which countries Spanish is spoken!

Firstly, South America is a continent dominated by the Spanish language. It is an official language in almost all of the countries there except Brazil, Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname. The Spanish speaking countries of South America are: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.

The second continent with a significant number of Spanish speakers is North America. Mexico is the country of the biggest number of Spanish speakers in the world. However, in the United States there is also a huge community that speaks Spanish as their first language and as their second language. Some of them live in the territory that was part of Mexico in the past, others are new immigrants. It’s estimated that by 2050 Spanish may become the majority language in the United States!

What is more, relatively small countries from Central America where also Spanish is spoken are: Guatemala ,Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Cuba and Dominican Republic.

Finally, in Europe Spain is the birthplace of Spanish, or rather Castilian, as this language is usually called in Spain. It’s one of several official languages in this country and many of Spanish people are bilingual.

Are there more countries in the world where you can hear the Spanish language? Yes! Did you know that in one African country it is spoken as well? That country is Equatorial Guinea and Spanish is one of the official languages there.

It’s worth underlining that Spanish is getting more and more popular among students who choose it as foreign language to learn. It’s gaining popularity and the number of Spanish speakers is increasing every year. Maybe this is a good reason to start learning it.😊

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Source of the maps:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/N%26SAmerica-pol.jpg

Pasar la noche en blanco - what does it mean?

‘Yes, I understand, but… What do you mean?’

Have you ever had a problem understanding a Spanish native speaker even though you understood every single word they said? This may be because the Spanish language is extremely rich in idioms. Ok then, what are idioms? Let’s find the definition in a dictionary. The Cambridge Dictionary defines an idiom as:

a group of words used together with a meaning that you cannot guess from the meanings of the separate words.

Idioms are typical for the colloquial language, that’s why they are used in verbal communication so often. Their origin, in some cases, is not clear, but many of them are related to the historical events and culture. Those are often impossible to translate literally into another language. Each of the Spanish-speaking countries has countless sayings. Many of them are used throughout the Spanish-speaking world, while others are understood only in one country.

One of the most frequently used idioms with Spanish origin is the expression:

pasar la noche en blanco,

which in literal translation means ‘spend the night in white,’ but the actual meaning is ‘to have a sleepless night.’ The phrase has its roots in the territory of Spain, where the candidates for knights had to spend the whole night on guard before being sworn in as knights. They wore white tunics symbolizing purity. They could only go to sleep at dawn. Interesting, isn't it? Nowadays people in Spain use this expression when they have a sleepless night. There are two more similar expressions, such as: pasar la noche en vela, with the same origin; and no pegar ojo, which means'not sleep a wink.’ These two sayings are in use not only in Spain, but also in the countries of Latin America.

Ayer pasé la noche en blanco por el ruido de la calle.

More about Spanish expressions soon! Stay tuned!