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LANGUAGES

Spanish is the official language in the entire territory. However, other languages are also official with Spanish in certain regions of Spain. These are: Catalan in Catalonia, Valencia and Balearic Islands, Galician in Galicia, and Euskera/Basque in the Basque Country.

Basque is the language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain and the adjoining region of South-Western France.
More specifically, the Basques occupy a Spanish autonomous community known as the Basque Country (Euskadi), which has significant cultural and political autonomy. Basques also make up sizable parts of the population in what is known as the Northern Basque Country in France and the autonomous community of Navarre in Spain. Although geographically surrounded by Indo- European languages, Basque is believed to be an exceptional language, as it is not an Indo-European language.

Catalan, called Valencian in Valencia is a Romance language, the only official language in Andorra and co-official in the Spanish autonomous communities of Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia. Spain has the majority of active Catalan speakers, and Catalan is the state's second most widely spoken language. It is spoken or understood by as many as 12 million people who live not only in Andorra and Spain, but also in parts of France and Italy.(learn catalan online at www.intercat.gencat.net)

Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia. Galicia is an autonomous community (roughly comparable to a federated state) with the constitutional status of "historic nationality", located in northwestern Spain.