Why isn't Italian spoken in Latin America?

Question

i realise that most speak spanish/portuguese and this is due to the influence of its former colonial masters. but then why the 'latin' in latin america?

Answer 1

Italian isn't Latin, either...
Latin was the language spoken in ancient Rome. After the fall of the Roman empire, many of the peoples of the Western Roman Empire, who had been speaking Latin for some time, no longer had a central "authority" for the language -- that led to its changing, being modified by local languages that had co-existed, and getting other changes added to it. The Franks in Gaul influenced Latin into French, for example.
But all of those languages -- French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and a few others -- all have Latin roots and share many words and structures. NONE of them, however, are "true" Latin, and honestly Italian isn't any closer to old Latin that Spanish is...

The former colonies of European powers in South and Central America are called "Latin" because they all adopted one of those languages, driving out their native languages. I suppose if they all spoke Spanish it could be called "Spanish America," but there are Portuguese and French colonies as well...

Answer 2

Because they speak Spanish.

OK, seriously: there is no uncontested definition of Latin America. Some include the few French-speaking communities in Louisiana. Generally however, Latin America refers to countries in Central and South Amercia where romanic (i.e. of latin origin) languages are spoken. That includes French Guyana (albeit the fact that it's part of France and therefore the EU), Brazil etc. but you could make a case for arguing that Belize (English-speaking) is technically not part of Latin America. Oh, and if you're keen on Italian in Latin America, try Argentina.

Answer 3

A lot of the continental countries have languages which include Latin words and phrases, also they are similar in other respects, each borrowing words from the other. I think the term `Latin America` refers to the race rather than the language. The dark haired Italians are typical of `Latin -lookers` as are some of the South Americans. It is the way they look not the language they speak.

Answer 4

The Spanish language, along with French, Italian, Portuguese, and Romania are all derived from the Latin language.

Answer 5

Spanish and Portuguese are descendants of Latin as much as Italian is. The Latin refers to that. The name came up as a way to seperate it from "Anglo-America" (that is Canada and the US, which came from British colonies).

Answer 6

If the Italians had conquered South America the people would speak Italian. As the majority of South America was conquered by Spain and Portugal, the majority of its people speak Spanish and Portuguese.

Answer 7

The group of "latin" languages include Italian, Spanish and Portuguese and so I expect that is where is came from.

Answer 8

The 'Latin' refers to the Latin group of languages, sometimes called the romance languages. Italy didn't invade South America, Spain and Portugal did.

Answer 9

Spanish and Portuguese are derived from Latin

Answer 10

Both Spanish and Portuguese are derived from Latin.

"Latin-America" is opposed to "Anglo-American", i.e. English-speaking North America.