Catalan (catalá in Catalan)
General information	Speakers in Spain (%)
Its geographical origin in the 7th century was the Eastern part of the Pyrenees. Catalan is also spoken outside Catalonia. Inside Spain it is spoken in the Balearic Islands, Valencia and in areas of Aragón and Murcia. It has what most linguists wopuld regard as the additional dialects of Mallorquín and Valenciano. Outside Spain, Catalan is spoken in the Rosellón (Rousillon) region (France), in Andorra and in the Italian Mediterranean island of Sardinia. Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia and one of the most important cities for this and other reasons. Like Portuguese, French, Italian, Castilian and Galician, Catalan belongs to the Romance group of languages (which derive from Latin).	It is the language used most by Catalans, about 90% of whom understand it and speak it daily. Catalans have not emigrated much abroad because of the availability of work in the textile, fish and shellfish industries. Galicians & Andalusians went to work in Catalonia in the 60's and 70's.
Other interesting details
Catalan comes from Iberian and Gallic Latin, although it is not 'a mixture of Castilian and French', but an independent language. It has more in common with Provençal than with Castilian, French and Portuguese. In 1907 Prat de Riba founded the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (Institute for Catalan Studies) and Pompeu Fabra, in 1913, formalised grammar and spelling for the written language. In Catalonia it shares official status with Castilian. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) an intense process of Catalan awareness took place. Nowadays, Catalonia is home to an important number of foreigners, mainly from countries like Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, and West Sahara. They have learned to speak Catalan.

Galician (galego in Galician)
General information	Speakers in Spain (%)
Its geographical origin was Galicia and the North of Portugal - Portuguese is very similar to Galician. It is also spoken outside Galicia in the neighbouring regions of the Asturias and Castilla-León borders, as well as in the borders with Portugal - although here there is a lot of Galician-Portuguese mixing. Galician is also spoken outside Spain, normally at a private level or in many Latin American countries in the so-called Casas de Galicia or 'Galicia Houses' which are social and cultural associations with the aim of promoting Galicia's language and culture. For this reason, in Latin America all Spaniards are called 'gallegos'. Galician is also taught at other Spanish universities outside Galicia (Catalonia, Madrid) and in other European universities (Oxford, Saint Petersburg). Santiago de Compostela is the capital of Galicia and one of the most important cities for this and other reasons. Like Portuguese, French, Italian, Castilian and Catalan, Galician belongs to the Romance group of languages (which derive from Latin).	It is the language used by most Galicians. Among local inhabitants, about 97% understand it, 86% speaks it daily, 45% can read it and 27% write it. Almost 40% only speaks Galician and 10% only Castilian. Outside Galicia, about 50,000 people speak Galician in the west of the Asturias region, about 20,000 in the León region and about 2,500 in the Zamora province - not forgetting the Galicians living outside Spain. Many Galicians emigrated and to many places so there is a saying: 'there are Galicians even on the moon'.
Other interesting details
The spoken and written language comes from Latin and in the Middle Ages it was the language of poetry even in Castilian areas and during Franco's dictatorship, unexpectedly, the Galician language continued being the popular and literary language. In Galicia it now shares official status with Castilian The Real Academia Galega (Galician Royal Academy) was founded in La Habana (Cuba) in 1905. In 1982, with the purpose of bringing together the various Galician dialects to create a more unified and standardised Galician language the Real Academia Galega and the Instituto da Lingua Galega (Institute for the Galician Language) elaborated the 'Unitarian and morphological rules of the Galician language'.

Basque or Euskera (euskara in Basque)
General information	Speakers in Spain (%)
Its geographical origin was the northeast of Spain, although Basque is also spoken outside the Basque Country (or Euskadi). Within Spain, it is spoken especially in the Navarre region. Outside Spain, in the south of France (mainly in the so-called French Basque Country). Bilbao is the capital of the Basque Country and one of the most important cities for this and other reasons.	Nowadays, it is not a language used daily by most Basques, although as many as 95% used it before the arrival of the Castilian-speaking immigrants (mostly from Andalucia). It is said that now 25% of the Basque population speak Basque perfectly and that a higher proportion understands it. Around 70% of students in the Basque Country study it at school, about 13% have bilingual teaching and 18% study only in Basque. Outside Spain, there are a number of Basques in France and the USA.
Other interesting details
It is a spoken and written language, with joint official status with Castilian. From the 16th century onwards the Catholic church in the region used the written Basque language in church. It is completely different to Castilian and to any other European language. No firm agreement has been reached as yet amongst linguists about its origins, so it is still a mystery. Some say that it is a surviving form of an original Iberian language, others say that it is a Semitic language (like Hebrew and Arabic), and the majority says that it is related to the languages of the Caucasus in Russia. It already existed when the Romans invaded the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and was the only language that survived the Latin invasion. In 1919 the Real Academia de la Lengua Vasca (Royal Academy of the Basque Language) was founded and in 1968 a Basque standardised grammar was adopted, called batúa.

Bable
General information	Speakers in Spain (%)
Was already in use in the former Kingdom of León during the Middle Ages. Some linguists say that Bable is actually 'a leonés dialect spoken in Asturias'. Written Bable could be found in the 13th century, mainly in legal and administration texts.	A very small number and exclusively in the region of Asturias.
Other interesting details
An important cultural and educational activity is taking place with the intention of enhancing Bable, and in the 60's the Bable Academia de la Llingua (Language Academy), magazines such as Asturias Semanal (Weekly Asturias) were created and some writers do write in Bable as well.

Aragonés
General information	Speakers in Spain (%)
Its geographical origin is the former Kingdom of Aragón. For some it is a dialect, for others a language.	A very small number and exclusively in the region of Aragón.
Other interesting details
The revitalisation of Aragonés has not been successful

Gascón (or Aranés)
General information	Speakers in Spain (%)
Its geographical origin is around the Valle de Arán (Arán Valley) and the Catalan Pyrenees. For some it is a dialect, for others a language.	The very small number of Gascón speakers are to be found in the Valle de Arán and the Catalan Pyrenees.
Other interesting details
The tendency is that the language is disappearing. No serious efforts for its recovery have taken place.

Sephardim (or Ladino)
General information	Speakers in Spain (%)
It began in Spain growing from the mixing of Hebrew and Castilian. Ashkenazim Jews used to speak Yiddish; a Jewish language/dialect based on the German language, whereas Sephardic Jews did not. Sephardim is a true minority language and its use is decreasing. Nowadays, together with Jewish history in Spain, its resurgence is being promoted. For any Spanish speaker it is quite easy to understand Sephardim since it is very similar to old Castilian.	It is a language hardly used in Spain, and even many Spaniards are unaware of the Sephardim language
Other interesting details
A Centre for Sephardic Investigation was opened at the end of 2002 in Ourense, a province of Galicia. South and Central Spain (especially Toledo, former capital of the Spanish kingdom and city where Christians, Muslims and Jews lived together) have made a considerable effort towards the support of this language.

Arabic
General information	Speakers in Spain (%)
Mainly spoken by those coming from Magreb countries, particularly Morocco (which has the highest number of people living in Spain).	Around 0.5%
Other interesting details
As a consequence of French colonisation, many Arab countries have French as the co-official or second language. In the Rift area (the most northern 50 km of Morocco) Chelja is also spoken, which is a dialect with many Spanish words. Due to the growing number of Arabic speakers in Spain, a radio programme in Arabic has started on a national level everyday for some minutes.

German
General information	Speakers in Spain (%)
People who come from Germany speak it nearly exclusively.	Around 0.1%
Other interesting details
Spoken mainly by pensioners living in the Canary Islands or in the Balearic Islands.

English
General information	Speakers in Spain (%)
Mainly spoken by citizens of the United Kingdom, Ireland, USA and Australia (the British are the largest numbers of English speakers in Spain).	Around 0.1% and increasing
Other interesting details
Spoken mainly by pensioners living in the Canary Islands or in the Balearic Islands, but also top executives or English teachers who have mainly settled in the big cities.

Portuguese
General information	Speakers in Spain (%)
It is spoken by citizens of Portugal, Brazil and former Portuguese territories (Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and Timor Leste).	Government figures in 2000 showed 41,997 Portuguese from Portugal, 10,034 Brazilians, 2,052 from Cabo Verde, 1,907 from Guinea-Bissau and 801 from Angola. This means there are perhaps 56,800 Portuguese speakers in Spain (0.14%).
Other interesting details
Portuguese and Galician are very similar languages. They have a common historical origin (the Middle Ages), a shared geographical origin (Northwest Spain) and a common linguistic origin (Latin).

Eastern European Languages
General information	Speakers in Spain (%)
At the end of December 2000 there were a total of 42,386 foreign residents from Eastern Europe. Of this total, the ones that stand out for their numbers are the 10,983 Romanians, 8,143 Polish, 5,244 Bulgarians, 4,835 Russians and 537 Ukrainians.	By adding up all the speakers in Spain we would hardly reach 0.1% and by country, the highest number of speakers (Romanians) hardly reaches 0.03%
Other interesting details
The common alphabet for these languages is the Cyrillic alphabet.

Asian languages
General information	Speakers in Spain (%)
On 31/XII/2000 there were a total of 71,015 foreign residents from Asia. Of this total, the ones that stand out for their numbers are the 28,693 from China, the 13,160 Philippinos, the 7,843 Pakistanis, the 7,813 Indians and the 3,136 Japanese.	By adding up all the speakers in Spain we would hardly reach around 0.17% and, by countries, the highest number of speakers (from China) hardly reaches 0.07%
Other interesting details
Spanish is also spoken in part of the Philippines, due to it being an ex-colony of Spain. English is also quite commonly spoken. Tagalo is the vernacular language.

A range of African Languages
General information	Speakers in Spain (%)
In late 2000 there were a total of 261,385 foreign residents from Africa. Of this total, the ones that stand out for their numbers are the 199,782 Moroccans, the 13,847 Algerians, the 11,051 Senegalese, the 8,840 from Gambia and the 4,507 from Equatorial Guinea (although many of these speak Arabic).	By adding up all the speakers in Spain it is estimated that there are around 0.6%. By country, the highest number are from Morocco.
Other interesting details
Due to having undergone various processes of colonisation (and neo-colonisation) they also speak other languages apart from their vernacular languages, such as English, French, Portuguese and Spanish (Spanish in Equatorial Guinea and in Western Sahara).

Language and the state

Castilian (or Spanish) is the official language of the Spanish State. However, it is clearly not the only Spanish language. The Spanish Constitution (1978) recognises the right for the Autonomous Communities to use their own languages, something which had been forbidden except in private during Franco's dictatorship (1939-1975).

Article 3 of the Spanish Constitution says:

1. Castilian is the official language of the Spanish State. All Spaniards have the duty of knowing it and the right of using it.
2. The other Spanish languages will also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities in agreement with their own statutes.
3. The enrichment of the different linguistic variations in Spain is a cultural heritage that must be respected and will have special protection.