Geography of the Spanish-Speaking World and Nationalities

1. The Spanish-Speaking World

The origin of the Spanish language is Latin and Indo-European. The Spaniards (from España (Spain) took the language to the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries. There are currently 20 countries that have Spanish as their official language in addition to Puerto Rico, which is a U.S. commonwealth territory.

These are the countries located in the Caribbean, Central America, North America, South America, Europe, and Africa that have Spanish as their official language:

• North America: México
• Caribbean: La República Dominicana (Dominican Republic), Cuba
• Central America: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panamá
• South America: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina
• Africa: Guinea Ecuatorial (Equatorial Guinea)
• Europe: España (Spain)

did you know

Spanish is also the second most spoken language in the United States. Approximately 13% of the U.S. population speaks Spanish as their first language. Some Spanish is spoken in the Philippines as well as in Gibraltar, in addition to a native creole language in both places.

Although Spanish is the official language of the 20 countries mentioned previously, it is important to know that there are still many indigenous languages that are officially recognized and continue to be used in those countries. There are approximately 600 indigenous languages in Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Antilles. Some of the indigenous languages are endangered; the most widely spoken indigenous languages today are Mayan, Aymara, Guarani, Nahuatl, and Quechua.

The Spanish-speaking countries have the common thread of the Spanish language, and a large percentage of the people practice the same religion (Catholicism/Christianity). Other than these two commonalities, each country is very unique. Each country celebrates its own date of independence and also has different traditions, foods, dances, customs, etc.

2. ¿De dónde eres? (Where Are You From?)

To answer the question:

One can either answer with a country or with a nationality:

The forms of the verb ser are used when stating a person’s nationality or place of origin.

hint

A description of nationality is an adjective, so its ending has to correspond to the gender and number of the subject. Note, also, that while place names are capitalized in Spanish as they are in English, adjectives of nationality are not capitalized in Spanish.

If the adjective of nationality ends in a consonant, it adds the ending -a for the feminine singular form, -es for the masculine plural form, and -as for the feminine plural form.

EXAMPLE

706fe6da3602ce28550ca09ed966cbac.mp3	inglés → inglesa → ingleses → inglesas (English/British)
04daa2a4c11247b1187b262b14c79a5d.mp3	japonés → japonesa → japoneses → japonesas (Japanese)

3. Países donde se habla español (Countries Where Spanish Is Spoken)

The following is a list of countries and corresponding nationalities. You don’t need to memorize all of these, just the ones in bold print (the countries where Spanish is spoken).

América

Europa

África

Asia

Oceanía

Now try building some sentences yourself to discuss where someone is from.