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The Spanish Constitution, although affirming the sovereignty of the Spanish Nation, recognizes historical nationalities. Castilian (called both español and castellano in the language itself) is the official language throughout Spain,spoken by the entire population, but other regional languages are also spoken. Without mentioning them by name, the Spanish Constitution recognizes the possibility of regional languages being co-official in their respective autonomous communities. The following languages are co-official with Spanish according to the appropriate Autonomy Statutes. Catalan (català) in Catalonia (Catalunya), the Balearic Islands (Illes Balears), parts of Valencia (València) (as Valencian) Basque (euskara) in Basque Country (Euskadi), and parts of Navarre (Nafarroa). Basque is not known to be related to any other language. Galician (galego) in Galicia (Galicia or Galiza). Occitan (the Aranese dialect). Spoken in the Val d'Aran in Catalonia. Catalan, Galician, Aranese (Occitan) and Castilian are all descended from Latin and some of them have their own dialects, some championed as separate languages by their speakers. A particular case is the Valencian, name given to a variety of Catalan, that also has the co-official language status recognized in Autonomous Community of Valencia. There are also some other surviving Romance minority languages: Asturian / Leonese, in Asturias and parts of Leon, Zamora and Salamanca, and the Extremaduran in Caceres and Salamanca, both descendants of the historical Astur-Leonese dialect; the Aragonese or fabla in part of Aragon; the fala, spoken in three villages of Extremadura; and some Portuguese dialectal towns in Extremadura and Castile-Leon. However, unlike Catalan, Galician, and Basque, these do not have any official status. In the touristic areas of the Mediterranean costas and the islands, German and English are spoken by tourists, foreign residents and tourism workers. Recent African immigrants and large minority of their descendants speaks the official European languages of their homelands (whether standard Portuguese, English, French, or its creoles.) According to the Spanish government there are 3.7 million legal foreign residents in Spain. Around 500,000 are Morrocan, and another half a million are Ecuadorian, more than 200,000 are Romanians and 270,000 are Colombian. There are also important numbers of Chinese, African (mostly West African, and some Central and Southern African), Russian, Polish, Philippine, British, and German citizens, plus a considerable number of Spaniard citizens descending from these communities. In 2005 alone, the immigrant population of Spain increased by 700,000 people. Spain's extremely recent explosive population growth, despite a birth rate of only half of the replacement level, is entirely due to an unprecedented deluge of immigrants. Spain has the highest immigration rate of the EU. This can be explained by a number of reasons including its geographical position, the porosity of its borders, the large size of its submerged economy and the strength of the agricultural and construction sectors which demand more low cost labor than can be offered by the national workforce. The conservative opposition party (PP) also accuses the government of instigating massive arrivals with its recent regularization of 700,000 illegal workers although statistics do not support this claim. |
Spain Information: Inside
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