Chapter Three: Where Franco Failed o Las Idiomas de España

With this brief aside, I shall attempt to address the question scholars of Spanish culture have been asking for generations - how many languages does this country have?

To answer it briefly, I'd say demasiadas.

To answer it in a longer fashion, I would say

1. Castellano - Traditional Spanish used all around the country
2. Catalán - Specific to Cataluña and las Islas Baleares
3. Valenciano - Specific to la Comunidad Valenciana
4. Gallego - Specific to Galicia
5. Euskera - Specific to País Vasco
6. Aranés - Specific to Valle de Arán
7. Aragonés - Specific to Aragon and Navarra
8. Astruleonés - Specific to Asturias
9. And then you start getting into Portuguese.

As to why there are so many languages, Spain is composed of what used to be a lot of smaller kingdoms and regions, but it now unified. At least, to the untrained eye. Independence-minded regionalists have been struggling for autonomy. But, from what I've seen in Galicia and Valencia, it appears that only ETA has been active in trying to gain this autonomy. While there may be graffiti that says "This is not Spain" in these regions, Spain is a country united by the siesta and I get the feeling that it would be too much of a hassle for everyone involved if Galicia started rebelling.

While Spain still maintains unity despite regional identities, the languages have survived. It's been 500 years since the Catholic Monarchs and Franco had a solid thirty years of fascism, but it turns out that history and military dictatorship were no match for Spanish obstinacy.