Castilian Spanish

In English, Castilian Spanish usually refers to the variety of European Spanish spoken in northern and central Spain or as the language standard for radio and TV speakers. In Spanish, the term castellano (Castilian) usually refers to the Spanish language as a whole, or to the medieval Old Spanish language, a predecessor to modern Spanish.

The term Castilian Spanish can be used in English for the specific dialects of Spanish spoken in north and central Spain. Sometimes it is more loosely used to denote the Spanish spoken in all of Spain as compared to Spanish spoken in Latin America. There are several different dialects of Spanish in the official languages in Spain of which Castilian is only the most prominent.

For Spanish speakers, castellano most often refers to the language as a whole, as a synonym of español (Spanish).

The Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy or RAE) defines Castilian Spanish as a standard language, and many speakers accept RAE as the governing body of the language.

However, some traits of the Spanish spoken in Spain are exclusive to that country, and for this reason, courses of Spanish as a second language often neglect them preferring Mexican Spanish in the United States and Canada whilst European Spanish is taught in Europe. Spanish grammar and to a lesser extent pronunciation can vary sometimes between variants.

The term in Spanish for dialects spoken in Northern and Central Spanish would be español septentrional or castellano septentrional ("Northern Spanish"). Español castellano, the literal translation of Castilian Spanish, while not being a common expression, would be understood literally and it would only refer to varieties found in Castile itself, so the varieties found for instance in Aragon and Navarra would be excluded even though they are a part of castellano septentrional.

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