This article will discuss the connection between the Spanish language and the amount that is spoken in Latin America. You may be surprised by how many countries include Spanish-speaking populations. Latin America is one of those places. Have you ever wondered why the Spanish language has spread so far across the world? The Spanish language has spread across a large portion of the world. The answer lies in Spain’s history of exploration and colonization.

Why Is It Called Latin America?

The area we also call South America is also known as Latin America. The term “Latin America” is a reference to the parts of the continent that speak Romance languages. This is similar to the reason that Spanish is considered a Romance language.

The term makes sense because these languages have Latin as their ancestral language. Over time, this term changed to relate to the whole continent as it is now understood these days.

Unfortunately, this can lead people to assume that this continent does not have a great diversity in cultures, history or society. This is the misleading part of the name, as there is a wide diversity within Latin America, despite what the name may imply.

Do People Speak The Same Language In Mexico And Spain?

The language spoken in Spain and Mexico are officially the same language. This is similar to the English language and the differences in this language across the world. Although there may be some minor variations between Mexican and Spanish speakers, these differences are certainly not enough for issues in communication. This means that if you were to learn Spanish, you could travel to Mexico and Spain without any problems.

If you were to look at a map, you would notice that there is quite a distance between Spain and Mexico. Again the reason that Spanish is spoken in Mexico is because of Spain’s history of colonisation. The dominant language in the United States as well as Australia and New Zealand is because of Britain’s colonisation. Spain also achieved some colonisation including parts of Central America as well as South America.

What is most intriguing is that although there are some differences between the two languages, the Spanish colonization of Mexico was almost 500 years ago, the languages are still mutually intelligible. If you consider that Shakespeare was born about 50 years after the start of Mexico’s colonization, and how much English has changed since he started writing his plays, it is quite an impressive feat by the Spanish language.

You might be interested to know that there are actually some different languages within Spain itself. Besides Spanish one of the other spoken languages is called Catalan. These languages is not as mutually intelligible as the languages spoken in Mexico and Spain. You can read more about the differences between the Spanish language and Catalan if you are interested.

What Language Do I Need To Travel To Latin America?

If you want to travel to Latin America, depending on where you wish to travel, you would be best off knowing either Spanish or Portuguese.

If you only speak Catalan and do not speak Spanish, you will have a very difficult time in Latin America.

This is because Catalan is not spoken in Latin America, so there is no need to learn Catalan in order to travel to this continent. If you do want to learn more about the difference between Catalan and Spanish, you can find it here.

Because much of Latin America was colonized by the Spanish, there is a large number of countries that speak this. This is also true of Brazil, which uses the Portuguese language for much the same reason: colonization.

If you speak Spanish and English, you will be able to travel through a large amount of Latin America without many communication barriers. If you wanted to add another language, this would be Portuguese.

Do South Americans Call Themselves Latino Or Hispanic?

According to the United States Census Bureau, a Latino or Hispanic person is someone of a “Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race”. Strictly speaking, there is a difference between the two words, in that Latino describes the country/culture of the person, while Hispanic describes the language ability (Spanish) of the person.

The term Latino is much more commonly used in North America to describe non-native English speakers, particularly Spanish speakers loosely.

Interested In Learning The Spanish Language?

There are more hidden gems that can be learned about the Spanish language besides its connection to Latin America. If you are thinking of doing some traveling, I hope that this post has made you consider some of the potential of traveling to Latin America. As an alternative, you can always try out being a tourist in Spain, as well as visit other countries along the way. If you’re interested in finding out what it is like to live in Spain, you can find some information here.

You don’t need to worry too much about how much of the language you learn, especially if you’re only traveling for a short trip. If you still want to learn, find out some great tips here!

If you are considering learning the language, that’s a great idea as well! Spanish is an easy language to learn, and a good way to start is by using Duolingo.

Considering how widely spoken Spanish is in the world, you can’t go wrong with this language if you’re not sure what language to learn.