So, are you interested in learning Spanish, or want to know how many countries with native Spanish speakers are there? That should be an easy task in today’s world.

All you need is some spare time and a lot of enthusiasm. You can learn Spanish from the comfort of your own home using online language platforms such as Live Lingua Spanish. 

Check out this list of places where Spanish is spoken throughout the world to check where you can travel and practice speaking Spanish or polish your great Spanish conversational skills!

Well, let’s talk about its origins before we spread out in search of all the countries where Spanish is spoken today.

Spanish comes out of the Latin language, same as many European languages such as Italian, French, Portuguese and Romanian.

Let’s just say that the Vulgar Latin, spoken around 1200s, got mixed up with the Arabic, spoken by the Moors that conquered a nice chunk of Southern Spain at the time, and the Castilian language was born.

Spanish speakers from Spain would say that this is the original Spanish, however today there are so many different versions and dialects spread all over the world. 

How Many spanish speakers are there in the World?

Would you be surprised if we said that Spanish is only second to the Chinese in terms of native speakers around the globe?

There are approximately almost half a billion (around 460 million) native Spanish speakers in the world.

The bronze medal in this race is for the English language, standing strong with approximately 370 million native speakers on Earth.

We don’t have any statistics from other solar systems and galaxies yet.

Apart from the native Spanish speakers, there are a ton of people that know or are learning the Spanish language as their second or third language.

Spanish is the third language in school systems and universities all over the world with English and French being first and second choice.

Where Are Most of the Spanish Speakers Located Today?

Most of the native Spanish speakers countries are in South and Central America, also known as Latin America.

Although the language originated on the Iberian Peninsula in Europe, we all know how, when, and why it crossed the Atlantic Ocean and found its second and bigger home.

The language naturally evolved into many different forms and dialects throughout the continent. 

The differences between the Castilian Spanish and the Spanish of the “New World” are minor and subtle most of the time.

They span from differences in grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.

One can argue that the differences between these two types of Spanish are similar to the differences between British English and the one in the United States.

What Are the Numbers in Latin America?

More than half of Latin American natives speak Spanish. Roughly around 60% of them.

Others speak Portuguese, English, French and very little speak indigenous languages and dialects, such as the Mayan language.

Mexico leads the charts in Latin America (and in the whole world) with something above 120 million native Spanish speakers.

Some may say that the United States is now the world’s second largest Spanish-speaking country after Mexico, according to a study published by the prestigious Instituto Cervantes.

There are about 46 million Spanish speakers in Colombia and around 40 million in Argentina.

The rest of the official Spanish speaking countries in Latin America are:

• Puerto Rico
• Bolivia
• Chile
• Cuba
• Costa Rica
• Ecuador
• Dominican Republic
• El Salvador
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Panama
• Nicaragua
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Venezuela
• Uruguay 

Spanish is not an official language but it is also spoken in the USA and Belize.  

What About spanish speakers countries in Europe?

Clearly, Spain is the place if you are looking to find the biggest population of native Spanish speakers in Europe.

However, worldwide, Spain is not even second on the list, but third behind Mexico and the United States with only 46 million native Spanish speakers.

Other countries in Europe where Spanish is not official but common are Andorra and Gibraltar.

Somewhat 2% of all of the Western Europe population also knows and speaks Spanish.

Spanish Speakers in Other Parts of the World 

There is a small number of people outside of Europe and the Americas that also speak Spanish.

One central African country named Equatorial Guinea has the Spanish language as one of its three official languages.

Spanish is also spoken in parts of Northern Africa, especially in Morocco mostly due to its proximity to Spain.

If we go East, Southeast Asia to be more precise, we will stumble upon a large population of Spanish speakers in the Philippines.

The reason behind a large number of Spanish speakers in the Philippines is simple.

The country was a Spanish colony from 1565 to 1898 and Spanish was the official language back then.

It remained a co-official language for almost a hundred years more alongside English.

Today around 3 million Filipinos speak a variation of Spanish called Chavacano.

As being one of the world’s most commonly spoken languages, learning and speaking Spanish, certainly is a great advantage in today’s world.

Moreover, most people find Spanish fun and not so difficult to be mastered after all.

FREE BOOK REVEALS
6 HACKS TO BECOME
FLUENT IN SPANISH

READ IT NOW! IT’S FREE!

Today we at Lingo Mastery had the opportunity to interview María from the very popular Why Not Spanish Youtube channel which an absolutely fantastic channel for Spanish learners. There are a lot of Youtube channels out there for Spanish learners but I got to say that Why Not Spanish is one of my favorites.

Without any further ado, let’s get to the interview!

Can you tell us what Why Not Spanish is and how it came to be?

Why Not Spanish started as a website where I uploaded materials for my students back then. Cody (my husband) had always struggled learning Spanish. It was something that was always in the back of our heads. He wanted to give it one last chance but he wanted to feel a little pressure to do it, kind of like when you pay for a gym membership so you make yourself go. So he came up with the idea of making a YouTube channel to challenge himself to really learn this time. Eventually, the channel became a useful tool for other people who were in the same situation as Cody. Now, Why Not Spanish is a successful YouTube channel and soon to be online course.

What are you doing when you’re not creating YouTube videos?

When we are not working or making videos for YouTube, Cody and I enjoy hiking and going to the mountains with our dog Maya every time we have a chance. Cody likes juggling and other nerdy things and I prefer researching about language learning, playing around with my hoola hoop, or drawing.

María, you’re a Spanish teacher, what approach do you have to teaching students Spanish?

Getting your message across is the most important part of using a language. Since I was studying to become a language teacher I have experimented with a few approaches, especially with the communicative approach where there is a lot of interaction and where learning Spanish is not a goal but rather a means to achieve whatever you need. I am constantly evolving as a teacher and I am getting away from the traditional methods and starting to learn a lot about using complete pieces of language to express meaning.  There are people who worry too much about grammar, or correcting every single mistake, and maybe they are good at it, but they still can’t use Spanish at all, that is why they don’t see any progress.

We at Lingo Mastery are always stressing how important it is to read suitable material to learn a new language. Do you think reading is important when learning a language?

Reading is a component of the language learning process. Just like listening or writing or speaking. Reading is a good tool to acquire new vocabulary and build your knowledge of Spanish, however to be fluent in a language you should be listening and imitating people who speak it (not to mention using the language and messing up a lot).

You’ve grown your Youtube channel very fast, why do you think you’ve been so popular?

We are relatable, fun and inspiring. Other people show off their skills on how they are able to speak two, three, or five foreign languages. They don’t show how they got there. They tell you about them learning Spanish in three, six months, sometimes weeks! But they don’t show their struggles, their mistakes, and their embarrassing moments. Everybody wants to be perfect. We are not perfect and that is why regular people who have struggled learning Spanish can relate to us.

What’s next for WhyNotSpanish?

We will soon launch a course for intermediate and advanced Spanish learners who are frustrated and unable to understand Spanish speakers and don’t feel confident using Spanish in their daily lives. This course will help them open up and acquire the confidence and fluency they need to really master Spanish.

---

Alright guys, we hope you enjoyed this little interview and make sure to check out Why Not Spanish on Youtube as well as their website where they have some pretty sweet learning material. Also, make sure you check out the interview we did a little while ago with Live Lingua.

Happy learning and take care!

The purest joys of learning a language by reading

Here at Lingo Mastery, we are all about the fun and adventures of learning a language by reading! We genuinely love to help our readers learn with passion, fun, and excitement!

From an academic standpoint, and based on scientific evidence, learning a language by reading is one of the best places to start! And by perusing the pages of an exciting book, you get to see what kind of information is available. Then you will have a better idea of what to expect as you move along in the direction of language fluency.

Before going any further, here are three great academic examples and science-based sources for you to keep in the back of your mind…

“A study published in the Public Library of Science discovered that people who read fictional stories and were emotionally transported in the narratives had increases in empathy.” – source

“According to Ken Pugh, President and Director of Research at Yale’s Haskins Laboratories, reading can be great for your memory.” – source

“English scholar Natalie Phillips and Stanford neurobiologists and radiologists teamed up in a rare but beautiful interdisciplinary union to find out if reading has any benefits beyond being a good way to pass the time.” – source

Now that we have some scientific and academic proof, let us proceed to the best reason for learning a language by reading…

Learn Spanish by reading because it is FUN!

Remember, learning a language by reading is incredibly fun. Because it will lead to the most memorable thrills of achieving a lifetime of Spanish language fluency. You will enjoy a deeper sense of belonging in your target language. You will create fantastic relationships that are personally fulfilling. And just by reading alone, you will have the necessary skills which are fundamental to ultimate Spanish language fluency.

Apply every sense of your awareness when you are reading

Pay close attention to your own unique way of learning a language by reading. Increase your awareness of your learning skills. And in the end, you will accelerate your expedition toward fluency tenfold.

To be aware of your individual way of studying a language, start from the beginning to commit yourself to read actively, not passively. Because learning a language by reading actively is a powerful strategy for students to retain comprehension at a much higher level.

What we do not want is passive reading. During passive reading, you only read to finish the text. Nothing else. The material will quickly become boring. Then you will lose interest and more than likely quit. By actively reading, you become more involved in the process. The learning starts to saturate your senses and enrich your memory.

Learning a language by reading in an active way, and not in a passive manner, promotes metacognition

Metacognition is defined as an awareness of your thoughts. As if you are contemplating HOW you are thinking about the language material. This methodology gives you more accurate control of your reading sessions. You have a more precise understanding of how you personally learn to absorb the information.

An example would be like asking yourself why you do not understand the third paragraph on page 64. Then, because of your awareness of how you are actively reading and learning, you can address this problem before you move on to new material.

This will definitely allow you to be better than other students, who merely glance over their reading, and keep moving on, despite not being able to understand what they finished reading a moment ago. Their frustration will slowly grow, and they will eventually be unhappy with their journey to fluency.

But you are different, so much better than the average learner because you read the way your body and mind naturally respond to new information. It is almost like child’s play.

Reading helps with mentally visualizing communication of the actual words used

Active reading is a tremendous help with visual communication of the actual words you are using and learning from.

Reading a Spanish book encourages you to use your mind much more creatively. Hence, you read the words and transform those sentences into a visual photograph or video inside your brain.

This mental image is specific only to you. It is your own unique way to process the information and organize it in a clear way for you to retain. Therefore, you keep the information in your memory for long-term language learning.

Spanish short stories for beginners is fun and easy to read, it is almost like child’s play! So maybe to make it really fun, picture yourself as an easy Spanish reader. Really see yourself digesting the information as if you are not struggling at all.

The lack of proper reading material for language learners

The lack of proper reading material when learning a language slows you down, slams your motivation, and does not engage you with excitement.

This is why we created Lingo Mastery and Storyling (if you prefer to learn with our app).

We help new language learners each step of the way. From the moment you decided to take responsibility for your language learning by reading, to the day you achieve candid, native fluency, Lingo Mastery provides you with repeatable success.

Spanish Short Stories for Beginners, packed with 20 exciting short, fast reading stories specifically written in a format you can easily digest and handle within minutes. It’s entertaining, with no grammar lessons or drills. You will have fun naturally growing your Spanish vocabulary, which you can use straight away.

PRO TIP: If you don’t have an Audible account yet, you can claim the audiobook for free by signing up! The audiobook comes with an accompanying PDF of the book for the best possible learning experience.

 

While reading to learn a language, finding a book that is fun for you to read should not be a challenge at all. You do not waste time searching for a book to read, because we have already done all the work for you.

You do not have to worry about getting a book that is too difficult for your current level of comprehension. Our book is just the right mix of challenge and ease to accelerate your language learning.

Take a look for yourself in the video below which is Chapter 1 from the Spanish Short Stories for Beginners Audiobook.

Learning a language by reading actively is a powerful strategy for students to retain comprehension at a much higher level.

By yourself, monitoring your comprehension is an important step to speaking fluently. Do not just read to get through the text. Read to fully engage yourself into the material. Track what the words mean, and see how the sentences form. While you are applying yourself, your whole body is learning the new language. It is not about sitting there, bored, turning the pages. It is all about totally absorbing your entire being into the journey.

Learning a language by engaging yourself in the material and reading actively is much better than reading passively.

Always remember, ACTIVE! Not passive reading…

The role of reading in language learning is important because it lays a solid foundation to grow upon while you continue on your path of Spanish language fluency. A strong base from which to learn from is like planting a seed in nutritious soil. The mind becomes saturated with wonderful words and sentences that grows into a robust plant, complete with powerful roots that support future growth.

Especially relevant is how active reading can improve language skills on a nearly hourly basis. You can reduce your learning time from months to mere weeks and days.

How to gain the best benefits when reading… READ OUT LOUD!

As you read out loud, you are engaging all of your senses. It is stimulating all of your body language. You will find yourself practicing your facial motions. Thus, this type of play-acting will seem as if you are already fluent in the Spanish language. As you read out your words, the physical actions train your entire learning experience. Therefore, you are now simulating what it feels like, as if you were a natural-born native in Spain or any of the Latin American countries.

And reading out loud is fun. Engage your playful side, so you can act out the stories however you wish. Perhaps even use your wardrobe to dress up and dance. You can wear a festival costume and practice celebrating a Spanish holiday. And especially relevant is that your mind will think you are right there, in the heart of the action. You are in the middle of a night market in Mexico City, shopping for fresh seafood. Or you are in the midst of a business meeting, where a lucrative client is about to sign your contract.

Most of all, reading a Spanish book is like reading from a practice script. This is where you can rehearse your actual pronunciation. It is where you can try out different ways of emoting a popular Spanish word commonly said in daily interactions.

Reading helps with written communication

Write like you speak. Speak like a local.

That is our goal here at Lingo Mastery.

Reading a Spanish book will give you the practice to write fluently. You can see the word order that native speakers grew up with. You can see the correct spelling. Therefore, in a Spanish book, there are dozens of chances to see how a specific noun or verb is used in a specific context. Then your mind captures these for future mental reference. As you can see, the benefits of reading Spanish texts are many. Because you have a wide range of key advantages, the trail to Spanish fluency is almost plug and play!

Reading helps with communication entertainment

When you read a book, the more you entertain your mind. Thus the faster you learn. You can use what you have read to engage your brain in fun ways to your heart’s content. For example, say you are reading Spanish stories. As you go through the story, you form visual scenes in your head. You picture the action as you read a book. If you really want to push your creativity, you can think of the musical soundtrack.

Become actively involved, and truly make your learning as visceral as possible!

You see the location of the current scene in far off places. Maybe it is right down the street from your house. Or taking place in the mountains of Spain during the summertime. Or the dialogue involves strolling down the beach while eating a delicious ice cream cone. All of these sensory stimulations that you create within yourself helps you retain the Spanish language so much better when you are learning a language by reading.

Reading is cheap and inexpensive compared to learning via other means

You do not have to spend on expensive airfare. There is no need to book costly taxis to start to become fluent. Simply by reading a Spanish book, you are in the comfort and privacy of your own home.

Also, you do not have to worry about booking a hotel, or finding long-term temporary housing that is safe and secure. You are already in the familiar surroundings of your own beloved home, where you are near family and friends who can emotionally support you face to face. Maybe you can even get them to join you on the same quest to achieve language fluency.

Every little bit, every little moment of reading all adds up!

When you are commuting to work, waiting for the bus, train, taxi or carpool is another chance to read. All these little moments in your day add up. And you increase your time efficiency. Before you know it, you will have finished entire chapters. Then inevitably, you will complete whole books. It is a lot more fun than simply staring at the scenery as it passes by. And a lot more productive to your Spanish language fluency progressions.

In conclusion, learning a language by reading can be the ultimate way to speak Spanish like a native. So savor the process. Check out our books, and enjoy the fluency results to come!

Click here to fall in love with Spanish love quotes!

Interview with Live Lingua

 

There are a ton of websites and services out there when it comes to learning a language and hiring a language tutor or coach. Have you ever wondered which one to pick? In our last article How To Learn Spanish Online with a Spanish Language Tutor, we went a bunch of these services. Today, we will dig even deeper into one of these services, Live Lingua. If you’re looking for Live Lingua reviews, this is a good read to get to know the company a bit more.

Live Lingua is a language learning platform, most famous for their Skype language lessons in Spanish, German, French, English, Korean, Arabic and a ton of other languages. In this interview, we will learn more about how Live Lingua came to be, how they are making the process of learning a language easier and what the Live Lingua Project is all about.

Let’s get to the interview!

 

 

Can you tell us how and when Live Lingua came to be?

Simple answer. Live Lingua started thanks to Mexican Swine Flu.

Longer answer. In 2006, I was sitting in my cube in a Fortune 500 company… bored. I was working as a systems engineer at the time. I thought that there had to be more to life than this. I wanted to help more people. Luckily I had a decent idea of how to do that. I was born in 1979 in the Philippines. My father was a US Peace Corps volunteer, and my mother was a Filipino national who was working for the Peace Corps. You could say, I was born a volunteer. So within 24 hours I had filled out my Peace Corps application, and 3 months later I was on the ground in Mexico for my 2-year service.

There I meet my wife, who was (drum roll please) also Peace Corps staff, like my mom. After finishing my 2 years, we got married and started a brick and mortar language school in Mexico. We had some success and grew to 3 locations. But then in 2008, the Swine Flu hit Mexico. During the time there was panic, and talk that the US was going to block all travel to Mexico. Our teachers counted on us to bring in students so that they could make money and support their families.

So, at that time it occurred to us to try to offer classes via Skype, just so they could have some work. At that time almost nobody was doing this. To our surprise, within 6 months, our online classes were making more money, and taking less time than our brick and mortar schools. So we decided to sell our brick and mortar schools.

That took 2 years. In the time it took us to sell the brick and mortar schools the business grew to what we now call LiveLingua.com. We also expanded to offer classes in 11 languages in that time. Since then we have grown a lot. In 2015 we were selected by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the best SMB’s in the US. We have also been featured on a number of other publications such as Forbes, Boston Globe, etc.

What is the core problem that you are trying to solve with Live Lingua?

In the world of online language education, there had traditionally only been two models.  The pure software model like Rosetta Stone or Duolingo (a one size fits all model of teaching), or the massive tutor directory models (where finding quality teaching can be very difficult).  Live Lingua was created to address what both of those models cannot, which is providing customized curriculum with a guarantee of high-quality teachers.  When a student signs up with Live Lingua, they get assigned a personal class coordinator who spends the time to get to know the student and their needs.  Once this is done, they are able to use their knowledge of the teachers, who they work with daily and some who have been with us for over 8 years, to pair you up for the best fit for the classes.  It does not end there.  The class coordinator remains in contact with the students throughout the course to make sure that things are going well.  If necessary, the class coordinator can help the student change teachers to make more progress or even assign multiple teachers if necessary.

We realize that we are in a privileged position to be able to do this.  Since we are a family owned company, not on the stock market like Rosetta Stone and don’t have any external investors to please, we are able to be more focused in quality and do not have to worry about explosive growth to please stockholders and investors.

You have a lot of free learning material at Live Lingua – tell us more about the Live Lingua Project

The Live Lingua Project was born when the old website that hosted the public domain Foreign Service Institute material went down in 2011 or so.  I had a copy of the material, so I decided to share it so that it would not get lost.  Then, my mother who was also Peace Corps staff in the Philippines, mentioned that she had helped create the Tagalog training course for them years ago, but was not sure where it was.  I looked online and could not find it.  So, I used my contacts at the Peace Corps to find out if they still existed and luckily some of them did.  They sent them to me and I put them online.  It has grown from there.  Since that time I have gotten hundreds of donations of other “missing” FSI and Peace Corps courses as well as the donation of the old Defense Language Institute courses.  It is still growing today and we do get new additions every few months.

I saw that you recently started a YouTube channel, what’s your goal with that?

The goal with the YouTube channel is two-fold.  The first is to get students – and potential -students get to know our teachers a bit better before signing up and also to give the student who is not able to afford paid lessons to have access to some of the great teachers we have at Live Lingua.

 

You have two other sites, Teacher Indie and Twiducate – what are those projects about?

Twiducate.com. I took over this site in about 2012 from its original creator in Canada. It is a free social network for schools that teachers can setup and kids can use (anonymously, as no children’s emails are required) to emulate a social media environment in the classroom. This allows teachers to integrate Web 2.0 into their classroom, but to have full control of the environment (unlike in Facebook and Twitter). This can teach the schools the tools they need in the modern world with no risk of their privacy being compromised.

TeacherIndie.com. Teachers are sadly some of the most under-appreciated and underpaid people in the world. I come from a family of teachers and professors so I know only too well. My experience is not in teaching, but in helping teachers make a living online. That is how Teacher Indie was born. It is a blog where I try to help teachers use their skills to not only make the world a better place, but also make a good living doing so.

 

Want to learn more? Head over to Live Lingua and try their Free Trial.