Hispanophone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Hispanophone is someone who speaks the Spanish language either natively or by adoption. As an adjective, the word means "Spanish-speaking." The word originates with the name of the Roman province, Hispania. The Spanish translation of this word would be hispanohablante or, more rarely, hispanoparlante.
The term differs from "Hispanic", which describes the person's descent.
In a cultural, rather than merely linguistic sense, the notion of "Hispanophone" goes further than the above definition. The term specifically refers to people whose cultural background is primarily associated with the Spanish language, regardless of ethnic and geographical differences. The Hispanophone culture is the legacy of the Spanish colonial empire and its irradiation.
There are an estimated 417 million Hispanophones globally, making Spanish one of the most widely spoken languages in the world today. Hispanophone areas include Spain (where the language originated) and Hispanic America. There is a sizable Hispanophone minority in the United States comprising nearly 12% of the total population (about 40 million people) as well as smaller Hispanophone groups in Canada, northern Morocco, Equatorial Guinea, the Philippines (the latter three being former colonies of Spain) and in many other places, particularly large cities.
