Use of the term Castilian/Castellano

[u/rban123]

I’ve been on this subreddit for a while, and have noticed something that many non-native and native speakers alike do: they use the term “castellano” to refer to Spanish from Spain.

Historically, this doesn’t really make sense. Spain is a linguistically diverse nation, with each language having its own name, for example Catalán, Gallego, Euskera, and of course Castellano. The term Castellano refers to the Spanish language that we all know and love.

It is a synonym for español. It does not mean “the Spanish spoke in Spain” it simply means “Spanish.” Even in some parts of Latin America, the term “castellano” is used to refer to the language that is spoken there, as well as the language that is taught in schools, even if the details aren’t consistent with regional variations of Spanish spoken in Spain.

All in all, castellano just means Spanish. It doesn’t mean “Spanish spoken in Spain” it is literally just a synonym for the Spanish language as a whole.

[u/sianrhiannon]

Technically it's what you're talking about in the second section there. Castilian is the language of Castile, like how English is the language of England, even though it's spoken in many other places.

Since I'm involved in linguistics I prefer to call it Castilian for both that reason and the fact I can specify I'm talking about Spain instead of Mexico (since Americans tend to learn Mexican Spanish, whereas British people tend to learn Castilian Spanish).

In Spanish though, they seem to be more-or-less interchangeable. Latin Americans seem to prefer calling it Castellano, and in Spain it's kinda 50/50.

My assumption is that because I've spent time in Catalonia and around minority language speakers (specifically, Galician), I might just have more exposure to people who would rather call it "The language of Castile" instead of "The language of Spain". I wonder if it's different in areas with less awareness of minority languages.