Romance languages

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The Romance languages, less commonly known as the Latin languages, are the languages that directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant (living) subgroup of the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family. The most prominent Romance languages include Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian and Catalan. The Romance languages spread throughout the world owing to the period of European colonialism beginning in the 15th century. There are more than 900 million native speakers of Romance languages found worldwide, mainly in the Americas, Europe, and parts of Africa. French, Spanish, and Portuguese also have many non-native speakers; they are widely used as lingua francas. There are also numerous regional Romance languages and dialects. All five of the most widely spoken Romance languages are also official languages of the European Union.

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