Spanish Word for Language

The Spanish word "idioma" means language in English.

In Spain, and some parts of the Spanish speaking world, it is uncommon to use the word "español" (Spanish) to refer to the language. This is also the case when contrasting it with languages such as French and English. It is referred to as "castellano" (Castilian), which is the language of the Castile region, when contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Basque, Galician, and Catalan.

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to characterize the official language of the entire Spanish State, as opposed to "las demás lenguas españoles" (the rest of the Spanish languages).

In Spanish regions whereby other languages are spoken (Catalonia, Basque Country, Valencian Community, Balearic Island and Galicia) as well as in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, the name castellano is preferred rather than español, which is more commonly used to refer to the language as a whole in the rest of Latin America and Spain.

There is a certain amount of controversy in Spain about the name of the language, which is a part of a greater controversy about Catalan, Basque, and Galician nationalisms.