What is the most commonly spoken language in South America?
Spanish is the most commonly spoken language. Out of the 13 countries in South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guyana, Guyana, Peru, Paraguay, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela), 9 speak Spanish. Of course they have other native languages and dialects but Spanish is the official and most used language. The 4 non-spanish speaking countries are: Brasil (Portuguese), French Guyana (French), Suriname (Dutch) and Guyana (English), but these last three territories have a very small population. Is good to know too, that Central America is also Spanish-dominated in language terms. Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Cuba, El Salvador, Republica Dominicana and Guatemala are spanish-speakers. Only Belize, Bermuda and the Caribbean Islands speak other languages (most of then French and English). If you consider that Mexico (that is considered now North America) speaks Spanish, and almost 20% of the US residents are hispanics, and their number
Well most people in South America prefer Spanish over Portuguese. It’s not really politics but rather preference and most of my Brazilians friends here tell me that they have a easer time learning and understanding Spanish than understanding those people from Portugal. Spanish speaking countries are not interested in learning Portuguese at all, because Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world that comes right after English. Thus, I don’t think politics are going change anytime soon and Brazil needs to intergrade to become part of Mercosur and I don’t they willing to give that up.
