Galician is a Romance language primarily spoken in the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. It's closely related to Portuguese, and both languages evolved from Galician-Portuguese, a language spoken in the region during the Middle Ages. Around 2.4 million people have some degree of competence in Galician.

The language is also spoken in some border zones of the neighbouring Spanish regions of Asturias and Castile and León, as well as by Galician migrant communities in the rest of Spain; in Latin America, including Argentina and Uruguay; and in Puerto Rico, the United States, Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe.

There is ongoing controversary regarding Galician's status relating to Spanish and Portuguese. Some linguists try to associate it as a dialect of Portuguese, but within Galicia Spanish and Galician dominate. Use of Galician splits by age, with over half of those over 45 indicating that Galician is their primary language, with lower numbers for the younger population. Those under 45 were more likely than those over 45 to answer that they never use Galician.