Tradições, artes, vida cotidiana.
Spanish is the official language of the Dominican Republic, brought to the island of Hispaniola when Spanish colonization began in 1492 and spoken today by the overwhelming majority of the population. Dominican Spanish is rooted in the Andalusian and Canary Islands dialects of southern Spain, but it also preserves words borrowed from the Taíno people […]
Spanish is the official and dominant language of Cuba, introduced by Spanish colonizers in the early sixteenth century and layered over vocabulary from the island’s Taíno inhabitants, whose words for canoe, hammock, and tobacco entered everyday Cuban speech. Cuban Spanish developed a distinctive character shaped heavily by the Canary Islands dialect brought by waves of […]
Spanish is the official language of Costa Rica. It is spoken by approximately 90 percent of the population as a first language, a legacy of Spanish colonization beginning in the sixteenth century. Several indigenous languages persist in smaller communities, most belonging to the Chibchan language family, including Bribri, Cabécar, Maléku, Boruca, and Térraba, though many […]
Spanish is the official language of Colombia. It is spoken by nearly the entire population, a legacy of Spanish colonization dating to the sixteenth century. The country’s 1991 constitution also recognizes dozens of indigenous languages as co-official within their respective territories, reflecting Colombia’s considerable linguistic diversity. Indigenous communities speak languages belonging to several distinct families, […]
Spanish is the primary language of Chile. Spoken by the vast majority of the population, it is a legacy of Spanish colonization that began in the sixteenth century. Chilean Spanish is known for a distinct accent and vocabulary shaped by the country’s geographic isolation, with a number of words borrowed from Mapudungun and other indigenous […]
