Language

[Somebody17]

Why is Spanish sometimes known as Castillian?

[naz_nomad]

The language originated in Castille, Spain ...simple as that

[heathfield]

It originated in Castille, right enough, but it was because Castille was centre of power and the home of the Spanish royal line that its dialect became 'proper' Spanish - the equivalent of our 'Queen's English'.

[Buenchico]

The language is also known as Castillian to distinguish it from Catalan. Citizens of Barcelona can take offence if you refer to Spain's two languages as 'Spanish' and 'Catalan'. From their perspective, there are two versions of 'Spanish', one of which is Castillian and the other is Catalan.

Chris

[jno]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_given_to_th e_Spanish_language

[Narolines]

You're no doubt more knowledgeable than I on this subject, Buenchico, and I'm in no position to disagree, but just an observation - Catalan is clearly far more closely related to Provencal than it is to Spanish, and in my experience (admittedly limited to a few visits to Barcelona and the surrounding countryside) Catalans regard the Spanish as a foreign people and Spanish as a foreign language; more than once I have been told things like "Oh, that's the way they do it in Spain, not here" or "In Spain they would call it........" or "Next time I go to Spain....."

[crosso]

there are many dialects of Spanish, for example gallego, andalucian, and it is too simplistic to answer your question here. The influence of catalan reaches much further down than Barcelona, in fact to Valencia and even beyond. So if you want to learn pure Castillian or send your kids on an educational Spanish holiday then stick to known Castillian language centres and when you or they have mastered it, then branch out and add extra dialects (I speak as someone who was sent to a Catalan area to learn Castillian Spanish for school surposes...pure misery)