Espagnol

Espagnol is the French name for the Spanish language and, in French usage, the term for a person from Spain. In English, the language is called Spanish; Espagnol reflects the same linguistic identity as l’espagnol in French.

Spanish is a Romance language of the Ibero-Romance subgroup, developed from Vulgar Latin in the Iberian Peninsula. It originated in the medieval Kingdom of Castile and spread globally through Spanish exploration and colonization. The language has evolved into a range of regional varieties while maintaining a common core understood by speakers across countries.

Standardization is overseen by the Real Academia Española (RAE) and the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española, which coordinate orthography, grammar, and usage. Spanish has a broad official status: it is an official language of Spain and most Latin American countries, and it is widely spoken worldwide as a native language or as a second language. Estimates place native speakers at over 460 million and total speakers well above 560 million.

Dialects vary considerably. Castilian Spanish forms the basis of the standard in Spain, while Latin American Spanish comprises numerous regional varieties. Phonological differences include phenomena such as seseo and ceceo, and there are vocabulary and grammatical differences, including the use of vosotros in Spain versus ustedes in many Latin American countries.

Writing and orthography use the Latin script, with the letter ñ and the use of diacritics to indicate stress and vowel quality. Spanish has had substantial cultural impact through literature, cinema, music, and global communication, and remains a dominant language in international business and education.