More and more people have been learning Spanish in the last few years, but did you know that, apart from being one of the most spoke languages in the world, it's also an incredibly beautiful language, with a lot of cultural influence around the world. Today, we will show you some of the things that make Spanish so unique.
1. Spanish is somewhat influenced by Arabic.
When Arab armies invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 711, they brought in a lot of their culture and language to the region. Eventually, Arabic got mixed with old Spanish, becoming what it is spoken today. Spanish retained about 8,000 Arabic words, thus making the latter the second most influential language (apart from Latin) to Spanish.
2. 500 million people speak Spanish.
And it's growing, based on the actual growing trend, 600 million people might speak Spanish by 2050.
3. Spanish is the second most studied language in the world.
In 2010, more than 20 million people were studying Spanish, at that rate in three generations at least 10% of the world will be able to communicate in Spanish.
4. There are more than 40,000 words and conjugations in Spanish with all five vowels
They're called panvocálicas or pentavocálicas.
5. Many verbs can be created just by adding -ear the end.
Many English words have been converted into Spanish verbs by just adding -ear, i.e. escanear (to scan), and tuitear (to tweet).
6. Mexico has the largest Spanish-speaking population.
114 million people in Mexico speak Spanish, by comparison, only 50 million people speak Spanish in the United States.
7. Schools in Brazil are now obligated to teach Spanish.
In 2005, Brazil's National Congress approved a bill so that Spanish would be taught in both public and private secondary schools in the country.
8. The longest word in Spanish is 23 characters.
It's electroencefalografista, and it's the word for the person who reads brain waves.
9. Spanish can also be called Castellano or Castilian
There are a few differences between them, where it's spoken varies depending on region or according to political viewpoint.
10. Spanish is a phonetic language.
If you know how to spell a word in Spanish, you'll know how it's pronunced most of the time.
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