Spain

SPAIN

- CAPITAL & LARGEST CITY : MADRID

- OFFICIAL LANGUAGE : SPANISH- Recognised Religional Languages :

Aragonese, Asturian, Basque, Catalan, Galician, Occitan.

- ETHNIC GROUPS : 87.8% - SPANISH 12.2% - OTHERS

- CALLING CODE : +34

MADRID

- GOVERNMENT : UNITARY PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY

- Monarch : Felipe VI.- Prime Minister : Mariano Rajoy

- AREA : - Total: 505,990 km2 (52nd) 195,364 sq mi

- Water (%) : 1.04- POPULATION : 46,464,053 (2014)- CURRENCY : EURO (€) (EUR)- TIME ZONE : CET[f] (UTC+1)

- Summer : (DST)CEST[f] (UTC+2)

- RATE OF LITERACY : 98%- State education in Spain is free and compulsory

from the age of six to sixteen. The current education system was established by the 2006 educational law, LOE (Ley Orgánica de Educación), or Fundamental Law for the Education. In 2014, the LOE was partially modified by the newer LOMCE law (Ley Orgánica para la Mejora de la Calidad Educativa), or Fundamental Law for the Improvement of the Education System, commonly called Ley Wert (Wert Law).

EDUCATION

ECONOMY- Spain's capitalist mixed economy is the 14th

largest worldwide and the 5th largest in the European Union, as well as the Eurozone's 4th largest.

LANGUAGES

RELIGIONS

MEDIA

Popular newspapers in Spain;- El País (Madrid)- El Mundo (Madrid)- ABC (Madrid)- Marca (Madrid) SportsTop 3 TV Channels in Spain;- Telecinco- Antena 3- La 1Top 3 Websites in Spain;- Univision.com- Telemundo.com- Yahoo en Espanol

CULTURE

CUISINESpanish cuisine consists of a great variety of dishes which stem from differences in geography, culture and climate. It is heavily influenced by seafood available from the waters that surround the country, and reflects the country's deep Mediterranean roots. Spain's extensive history with many cultural influences has led to a unique cuisine. In particular, three main divisions are easily identified:

1- Mediterranean Spain: Heavy use of seafood, such as pescaíto frito (fried fish); several cold soups like gazpacho; and many rice-based dishes like paella from Valencia and arròs negre (black rice) from Catalonia.

Pescaíto Frito Arròs Negre

2- Inner Spain: Hot, thick soups such as the bread and garlic-based Castilian soup, along with substantious stews such as cocido madrileño. Food is traditionally conserved by salting, like Spanish ham, or immersed in olive oil, like Manchego cheese.

Cocido Madrileño

3- Atlantic Spain: The whole Northern coast, including Austrian, Basque, Cantabrian and Galician cuisine – vegetable and fish-based stews like caldo gallego and marmitako. Also, the lightly cured lacón ham.

Caldo Gallego Lacón Ham

FESTIVALS

San Fermín Festival

The festival of San Fermín in the city of Pamplona is a deeply rooted celebration held annually from 12:00, 6 July, when the opening of the party is marked by setting off the pyrotechnic chupinazo, to midnight 14 July, with the singing of the Pobre de Mí. While its most famous event is the encierro, or the running of the bulls, which happens at 8:00 am from 7 July to 14 July, the week-long celebration involves many other traditional and folkloric events.

La Tomatina Festival

La Tomatina is a festival that is held in the Valencian town of Buñol, a town located 30 km / 19 miles from the Mediterranean, in which participants throw tomatoes and get involved in this tomato fight purely for fun. It is held on the last Wednesday of August, during the week of festivities of Buñol.

SPORT

While varieties of football had been played in Spain as far back as Roman times, sport in Spain has been dominated by English style association football since the early 20th century. Real Madrid C.F. and FC Barcelona are two of the most successful football clubs in the world.

EL CLASICO

El Clásico, is the name given in football to any match between fierce rivals Real Madrid C.F. and FC Barcelona. Originally it referred only to those competitions held in the Spanish championship, but nowadays the term has been generalized, and tends to include every single match between the two clubs: UEFA Champions League, Copa del Rey, etc. Other than the UEFA Champions League Final, it is the biggest football club game in the world, and is among the most viewed annual sports events.

Spanish Culture Differences- Tossing a pen to someone means that person is innocent.- It is considered impolite to toss things to each other. If

you need to give something to a native, make sure you walk over and hand it to them.

- Saying the word "stupid" in the English language is common and innocent enough. BUT in Spanish culture the translation is very strong and offensive. Avoid using the Spanish word for stupid at all times.

- Don't be offended when Latins call you a "gringo". To them the words simply describes someone as foreign and isn't meant to degrade.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

www.spanishprograms.com