Picturesque coastlines, tropical climate, exotic flora and fauna, as well as vintage cars driving around the city streets - all this is fabulous Cuba. It is not surprising that this place attracts tourists so much. By the way, Cuba has a second name (though unofficial) - since 1959 the country has proudly called itself the Island of Freedom.
What language is spoken in Cuba? The question is really interesting, because before colonization, the island was inhabited by tribes of Indians. Let's look at this point in more detail.
A little about the population of Cuba
Before the Spaniards began the colonization of the island, the tribes of Siboney, Arawak Indians, Guanahanabeys, as well as settlers from Haiti lived here. Those languages that were then spoken in Cuba have long been considered dead. They had little or no impact on the language spoken in Cuba today.
The Spaniards exterminated most of the Indian tribes. They began to bring slaves to Cuba from Africa, and in considerablequantities - more than a million people were transported over three and a half hundred years.
Galicians, Castilians, Navarrese, Catalans also began to arrive from Spain. In addition to them, the French, Germans, Italians and British moved to the island.
In the middle of the 19th century, Chinese began to be imported into Cuba. In subsequent years, more than 125,000 people were moved here.
Also, at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, the population of the Canary Islands actively emigrated to Cuba.
At the beginning of the 20th century, many Americans also moved to the island and established colonies on the island of Pinos.
During the First and Second World Wars, more and more new immigrants appeared in Cuba, primarily Jews moved here.
You can imagine how diverse the population of the island has become! More than 11 million people now live here, and the racial composition of the country is very ambiguous, so the question of what languages are currently spoken in Cuba becomes even more interesting.
Official language of Cuba
What language does everyone in Cuba speak? Spanish is the official language here. But, of course, it is different from European Spanish. The dialects of African slaves brought to the island centuries ago had a great influence. Also contributed to the language that is now spoken in Cuba, many other immigrants from different countries. The result is a Cuban dialect (also known as Cuban Spanish) - Español cubano.
What is interesting about Cubandialect?
I must say that most of all Español cubano is similar to the Canarian dialect. This is due to the fact that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, residents of the Canary Islands moved to Cuba, which influenced the language variant that is now spoken in Cuba.
Cuban Spanish has its own nuances of pronunciation that may seem unusual at first to those who speak classical Spanish.
Second person plural pronouns are not used here - Cubans only speak "you" to everyone, although in fairness it should be noted that in the east of the island there is also an appeal to "you". Eastern Cuban dialect is closer to Dominican Spanish.
Spanish in Cuba contains words that are unique to the Cuban dialect. They are usually called "cubanisms". Again, many Cubanisms are associated with the vocabulary of the Canarian dialect.
In addition, in the Cuban variety of Spanish, there are borrowings from English, French and Russian. The political situation in Cuba contributed to the emergence of the words compañero/compañera, which translates as "comrade". Here the word is used instead of señor/señora ("master"/"lady").
What other languages are spoken in Cuba?
What language is spoken in Cuba besides Spanish? A small number of residents of the Island of Freedom speak Russian - this is the same generation that studied in the Soviet Union. Many of themremember Russian well.
Some of the Cubans also speak English and French. Knowing English, of course, helps them in the tourism business.
