10 Spanish-speaking Countries: An Exciting Linguistic Journey

October 22, 2024 | 11:39 am

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Spanish is the fourth most spoken language in the world, officially recognized in around 21 countries. Almost 560 million people on Earth are Spanish speakers, with countries like Mexico and Argentina taking the top places.

Among 21 countries, here are the top 10 Spanish-speaking countries in the world.

10 Spanish-speaking Countries

This article discusses the 10 Spanish-speaking countries that announced Spanish as their official language, as cited from Lingoda.com and Baselang.com.

1. Mexico

Mexico is a notable Spanish-speaking country that held the title of most Spanish native speakers as of 2022, Statista reported. According to many sources, Mexico doesn’t have an official language due to colonialism. The country follows the de facto language, which is said to be Mexican Spanish.

Spanish is widely used as the formal language in Mexico’s government, with over 90% of the population having excellent fluency.

2. Colombia

Citing the Translator without Borders, 2005 Colombia census data showed 99.5% of Colombian residents speak Spanish. The nation reportedly has more than 37 common languages, with English occupying the majority of the San Andrés, Providencia, and Santa Catalina Islands.

3. Spain

Spain is perhaps the most recognized Spanish-speaking country on the list. The nation has four official languages that are Castilian Spanish, Catalan, Galician, and Basque. Castilian Spanish is the spoken language used by most of the citizens, if not all.

With the country being a famous destination for international tourists, English has become the most used language to communicate with foreigners. Following suit as the commonly spoken languages in Spain are France and German.

4. Argentina

Spanish is the official language of Argentina recognized by the government. Despite being one of the Spanish-speaking countries, Argentina residents speak a distinct Spanish that many people argue to sound more similar to Italian. This comes off as no wonder since Italian is the second most spoken language in the country.

According to the World Population Review, there are over 1.5 million Italian speakers in Argentina. Levantine Arabic is another notable common language, having been used by more than 1 million speakers in the country.

5. Venezuela

Located in the far north of South America, Venezuela is divided administratively into 23 states, each headed by an elected governor. Citing from the country’s official embassy page, Venezuela recognizes Spanish as the official language due to the presence of Spanish colonialism. Additionally, the new Venezuelan Constitution acknowledges the use of multiple tribes of the country’s indigenous languages.

6. Peru

Peru is among the Spanish-speaking countries, which is attributed to around 84% of the population speaking the language, according to the 2007 Census of Peru. Other than Spanish, Peru has two more official languages, Quechua and Aymara.

Citing from Translators without Borders, the majority of people in urban areas only speak Spanish, with the rest of rural areas speaking indigenous languages.

7. Chile

Most of the population in Chile speaks a variant of Spanish that is close to Andalusian Spanish in pronunciation. According to the Translator without Border, there are around 14 million Chille’s residents who speak Chilean Spanish.

Before World War II ended, Germany was widely spoken by the Chilean population. Today, only 200,000 German-speaking Chileans remain in the country, with the majority residing in Los Lagos and Los Rios.

8. Ecuador

Spanish is Ecuador’s official language recognized in government and business environments, but Quichua is spoken by many of the indigenous people in the country. It’s noted that there are more than 10 indigenous languages used in Ecuador, with Quichua and Suar being the most common ones.

9. Guatemala

Guatemala is one of the Spanish-speaking countries, demonstrating the language as the nation’s official one. There are other 22 distinctive Mayan languages and two indigenous languages commonly used. Garifuna and Xinca are said to be spoken by most indigenous populations in Guatemala.

10. Dominican Republic

Spanish is the official language of the Dominican Republic, with many of the residents sporting the Canarian Spanish accent. Some places in the Dominican Republic use Haitian Creole to communicate daily.

These 10 Spanish-speaking countries mostly adopted the language in line with the colonialism each country has gone through in the past.

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