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Subject: The Roman Empire once conquered most of Western Europe, including the Iberian Peninsula, which is now the peninsula of Spain, Portugal, and Andorra
Excerpt: English text from the archived bilingual edition · Chinese edition
Reference text and retained source material
The Roman Empire once conquered most of Western Europe, including the Iberian Peninsula, which is now the peninsula of Spain, Portugal, and Andorra
The Romans not only brought advanced culture to the colonies, but also the language they called "Popular Latin"
They imposed their own language on the local aboriginal language, so the language has undergone significant changes and many new languages have evolved
These new languages are considered to be Roman or Neo-Latin languages, one of which is Castilian, that is, Spanish
Nowadays, Spanish, the language used by the knights in the foothills of Cantabria of the ancient Castilian kingdom to talk to God, has become the world’s third-largest language, and its learners and speakers as a second language All over the world, and the number is still rising
As far as speaking people are concerned, it is second only to Chinese and English, and is the world's third-largest language; in terms of versatility, it is the world's second-largest lingua franca, second only to English
Spanish has become an important working language for organizations such as the United Nations, the European Union, the WTO, and the African Union with its rigorous grammar and structure. It is also one of the common languages for many international conferences
Some scholars once put forward an interesting point: Although there are as many as 6000 to 8000 languages and dialects in the world, most of them will disappear over time, and more and more people will tend to choose to use them. "Language"
Among them, Chinese, English or Spanish are the three languages that bear the brunt. In the future, the development trend of world languages will gradually concentrate on certain languages
One hundred years from now, Chinese, English and Spanish will become the "mainstream languages" of the world
There are currently about 200 to 250 languages spoken by more than one million people in the world, among which English, Chinese and Spanish are among the best
The increasing number of English speakers is because the language has a strong role and position in international communication; the strength of Chinese and Spanish lies in the large number of people who use these two languages, and mastering these two languages will facilitate the use of these two languages in the vast social space. Conduct international political, economic and cultural exchanges

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