The Spanish language is a Romance language that originated in northern Spain. From there, Spanish has spread out to many other countries, expecially in the western hemisphere.

Spanish is the official language of most Central and South American countries as well as one of the official languages of Equatorial Guinea, in Africa. In total, twenty-five nations and territories use Spanish as their primary language. In addition, it is an important language in many others, including the United States where it is the second most popular language.

The Spanish language is spoken natively by approximately 320 to 400 million people , making Spanish the most popular of the Romance languages and quite possibly the second most natively spoken language. With an estimated combined total of approximately 500 million native and non-native speakers, Spanish is most likely the fourth most spoken language in the world by total number of speakers.

Spanish is one of the United Nations' six official working languages. The language is spoken most extensively in Spain, the Americas, and to a small extent in Asia Pacific and Africa. The Spanish language is by far the most popular studied foreign language in U.S. schools and Universities.

Countries Where the Spanish Language is Spoken:

The Spanish language is spoken in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay, Venezuela and significant parts of the population in Andorra, Belize, Gibraltar, and the United States.

For a chart that depicts a quick and easy way to learn Spanish and obtain a high level of fluency, download this .pdf file:  Learn Spanish Language

Also, after reading the chart, visit the Rosetta Stone Spanish Language Program and Pimsleur Spanish Language Program pages.