Unity (The Spanish Academy)

In 1713 La Real Academia Española de la Lengua, RAE (The Royal Academy of Spanish Language) was founded. The academy was inspired by the French Academy. The king of Spain, Charles V, was French. Since then, RAE has been serving the Spanish speakers to establish a standard.

Basically, RAE updates the three books: the dictionary, the grammar, and the orthography (the norms of spelling).

After the independence of the Hispanic nations in the 1800s, each new country founded its own academy to contribute with the Spanish standard. Currently 22 academies form the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española, ASALE, where the Spanish Academy is just one of them, but is given the honor to be chair of the Board. ASALE is currently the responsible of updating the three books.

Academy Country
Real Academia Española Spain
Academia Colombiana de la Lengua Colombia
Academia Ecuatoriana de la Lengua Ecuador
Academia Mexicana de la Lengua Mexico
Academia Salvadoreña de la Lengua San Salvador
Academia Venezolana de la Lengua Venezuela
Academia Chilena de la Lengua Chile
Academia Peruana de la Lengua Peru
Academia Guatemalteca de la Lengua Gauatemala
Academia Costarricense de la Lengua Costa Rica
Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española The Philippines
Academia Panameña de la Lengua Panama
Academia Cubana de la Lengua Cuba
Academia Paraguaya de la Lengua Española Paraguay
Academia Boliviana de la Lengua Bolivia
Academia Dominicana de la Lengua Dominican Republic
Academia Nicaragüense de la Lengua Nicaragua
Academia Argentina de Letras Argentina
Academia Nacional de Letras (Uruguay) Uruguay
Academia Hondureña de la Lengua Honduras
Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española Puerto Rico
Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española United States
Academia Ecuatoguineana de la Lengua Española Equatorial Guinea

577 million people speak Spanish, the 7.6% of world population. (2018). To keep the unity and richness of Spanish, the ASALE scholars “listen” how people speak Spanish all over the worlds and they make proposals to include new words in the dictionary. If ASALE approves a new term to be included in the dictionary, they include the area were that word is spoken. Thus, words like tlacuache, that is used only in the Mexico area because of the influence of Nahuatl, appears in the dictionary with the word México in parenthesis.

So, the scholars don´t invent any words or rules, they just listen to the people and do justice.

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