Spanish is one of the most spoken languages of the world. As per 2023 it is the the second language of the world with the most native speakers (after Mandarin) and it is the fourth most spoken language in the world (after English, Mandarin and Hindi).

Spanish is spoken in all continents (yes! even in Oceania where Spanish is the most spoken language on Easter Island), but it is mainly spoken in Europe and America where it is the official language of twenty countries. 

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Although the accent and the vocabulary of daily life Spanish can vary a lot throughout all countries where it is spoken, Spanish is just one language. Spanish is Spanish whether it is spoken in Spain or in Guatemala or Chile, just as English is English in England, the US, or Australia. 

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Spanish is a Romance language (no, not romantic! Although it can be, but this means that it originates from Latin) and it has a lot in common with other Romance languages like Italian, French and Portuguese. 

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La Real Academia Española (the Royal Spanish Academy), or RAE, is the institution that decides the standard of the Spanish language wherever it is used in the world (yes, basically they decide what is right or wrong within the language), while the Instituto Cervantes is the institution that decides the standards of Spanish as a foreign language (how to teach it and promote the language and the culture).

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Instituto Cervantes is the institution that recommends the number of hours that students need to take in order to cover each level of the European Framework for Foreign Languages: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 or C2. The institute is present in 45 countries and recommends the necessary number of hours per level  depending on the language of the country where it is located. The Instituto Cervantes in Brazil might recommend a smaller number of hours to cover the A1 level, than the Instituto Cervantes in Russia. This is because Spanish and Portuguese are closer related languages than Spanish and Russian.