Kastilisch

Kastilisch is the German term for the Castilian language, the form of Spanish associated with the historic region of Castile in central Spain. In German-language contexts, Kastilisch denotes the standard variety of Spanish used in education, media, and formal communication, commonly equated with what is taught as Spanish in schools.

Kastilisch is a Romance language, part of the Ibero-Romance subgroup. It developed from Vulgar Latin in the Iberian Peninsula and, through medieval and early modern developments, became the basis for the standardized Spanish language. The modern standard has been codified over centuries and is today guided by bodies such as the Real Academia Española.

Geographically, Kastilisch refers to the standard form of Spanish used in Spain and in many Spanish-speaking countries for formal communication. In Spain it coexists with regional languages such as Catalan, Basque, and Galician; internationally, Castilian Spanish underpins formal education and media, though regional varieties exist in Latin America and elsewhere.

Standardization and orthography are overseen by the Real Academia Española and a network of national academies. They publish the Diccionario de la lengua española and the Ortografía de la lengua española. The orthography uses the Latin script with diacritics and shared punctuation rules with other Romance languages.

In terms of phonology, standard Castilian Spanish features the distinción between /θ/ and /s/ in much of Spain and employs vosotros in the second-person plural informal form, with ustedes preferred in many Latin American varieties. Notable differences exist in vocabulary and syntax across regions, but mutual intelligibility with other Spanish varieties remains high.