E-ging Solutions is a world-leading Shanghai translation company with specialties in Spanish interpretation.

Approximately 414 million people worldwide speak Spanish as a native language, making it second only to Mandarin Chinese. Spanish is one of the six official languages of the United Nations and is the most widely understood language in the Western Hemisphere. Many Americans understand at least some rudimentary Spanish vocabulary, and if your company uses Spanish interpreting services, you may have heard your Spanish interpreter speaking.

Whether or not you wish to study Spanish formally, the language is interesting for both its history and its place in the modern world. The story of the Spanish language is rich and varied – and there are facts about Spanish that even your interpreter might be surprised to learn. The next time you have a chance to connect with your Spanish interpreter, the following facts could spark interesting conversation.

1. Spanish is one of five official languages in Spain. While 89% of Spaniards speak Spanish as either a first or second language, other regional languages still make up a significant part of the country’s language tableau. Co-official languages of Spain include Aranese, Basque, Catalan, and Galician.

2. Spanish is the primary language of 20 countries worldwide. Spain is the only one of these located in Europe. Of all the countries with a majority of native speakers, only Spain and Equatorial Guinea are not outside the Americas.

3. Brazil, whose official language is Portuguese, borders 10 different countries. Eight of the ten are Spanish-speaking countries. On both sides of those borders, along a 2,700-mile strip of South America, a blend of the two languages known as Portunhol is routinely spoken by millions of people. In the past 20 years, Portunhol has begun to gain acceptance among linguists as a living dialect. Many periodicals and even some books have been printed in variations of Portunhol.

4. There are five principal Romance languages – Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Romanian. Primary Spanish speakers make up roughly half of all people in those combined language groups, meaning that Spanish is the most widespread descendant of Latin. (The term Romance derives from the Latin romanice loqui, meaning “to speak Roman.”)

5. Mexico is by far the most populous nation of Spanish speakers. With a population of slightly more than 120 million, it is nearly the size of the next three major Spanish-speaking countries (Spain, Colombia, and Argentina) combined. With 35 million Spanish speakers, the fifth-largest Spanish speaking country in the world is the United States.

Connecting with your Spanish interpreter could be a good way to learn more about the wide world of Spanish culture.  A better understanding of Spanish will help you appreciate the nuances and intricacies of the language, as well as directly benefit your company. These facts will get you started. Good luck, or rather, ¡Buena suerte!