Despite Castilian (Or Español) being the main language of Spain
there are also a number of other languages spoken throughout
Spain - many are now recognised officially by the government and
regulated by governing bodies to ensure that they remain a part
of Spain's history and diversity.
Euskara Batua (unified Basque)
Definitely the most interesting language in Spain, Euskara is
widely spoken throughout the Basque region of Northern Spain.
The majority of Basque speakers live in Spain with a smaller
percentage living over the border in Pyrenean France. The
Basques are a fiercely proud people and have an extremely
developed sense of regional identity. Despite having a large
amount of political and cultural autonomy, there is still a
strong movement for complete independence from Spain and the
terrorist group ETA have been terrorising the nation for 30
years in the hunt for complete self rule for the Basque country.
The language itself has 600,000 speakers on both sides of the
Franco-Spanish border with about 75% of those hailing from the
Spanish side. The language has always proved to be something of
a mystery to linguists as it has not been proven to be related
to any other language. Euskara bears no relationship to the
indo-European family of languages which includes all of the
other languages of Europe. Some linguists have started to
propagate the theory that the language bears a similarity to the
Georgian language from the Caucasus region but conclusive proof
has yet to be uncovered. The language itself has been
standardised over the past couple of decades - being mainly a
rural language, Euskara is subject to several regional
variations, however a standardised version, Euskara Batua, has
been established for use in the media and in schools.
Catalan
A romance language, Catalan is spoken not only in Spain but also
in parts of Andorra (where it is the national language), and
also in isolated areas of France and Sardinia. There are roughly
4 million speakers worldwide who use it as their first language
and probably about the same amount who use it as a second
language. As a language it is often said to resemble a cross
between French and Spanish, although linguists point out that
the language bears more in common with Italian in terms of
grammar and syntax. Obviously spoken throughout Catalonia there
are also several other dialects of Catalan, most notably
Valencian. Many in the "Pai Valencia" still claim it is a
separate language and this has been the source of much political
and linguistic debate over recent years.
Galician
Lying in the extreme north western tip of Spain, Galicia is one
of Spain's more isolated regions. Yet to be penetrated by mass
tourism, the region is subject to some of Spain's worst weather
and is also home to its third largest language. Galician is
spoken by 3 million Spaniards in Galicia itself and also in the
neighbouring regions of Asturias and Castille-Léon. The language
bears strong similarities to Portuguese, a factor that is
explained by the close proximity of the region to Portugal. The
Portuguese language did in fact develop originally in Galicia
and Northern Portugal, before a political split in the 14th
century separated the two areas allowing the languages to
develop and grow independently of each other. The native
Galician will be able to understand most Portuguese - similar
vocabulary and word order can be seen across both languages and
there is fierce debate once more as to whether they are
languages in their own right, or dialects of the same language.
Again much of it has to do with the perceived independence of
the region that is, in many ways, symbolised by its language.
Like Catalan and Euskara, Galician now has an official status
and is taught in schools adding weight to the strong social
movement to protect and preserve the language.
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