Nowadays five languages are spoken in Spain: Galician- Portuguese, Spanish (Castilian), Basque, Catalan and Occitan (aranès).
It is the official language in all over the country.
It is the own language of Galicia and the West fringe of Asturias and Le¢n. Although it has some specific characteristics which make it different from Portuguese - specially in a phonetic level- it is considered a part of the same linguistic unity. During the Middle Ages, the Galician-Portuguese litterature was very important, and some Castilian poets used it.
It is the single Pre-Roman language in the country. It is spoken in the North of Spain, in the Basque Country. Its origin is unknown.
It is spoken in Val d'Aran, in the Pyrenees. It is a dialect of the Occitan language, a very important language in the Middle Ages, specially because of its litterature.
Although Spanish is an official language all over the country, these other languages coexist with it in the places where they are spoken and they are also official languages in these places, except Occitan.
Copyright Marta Ribas 1994