Schools require students to learn English, Spanish and to a lesser extent French.

Portuguese, Italian, German, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Tagalog and other languages are also spoken by smaller communities on the island.

The language, however, was not widespread in Aruba until the 18th and 19th centuries when most materials on the island and Roman Catholic schoolbooks were written in Papiamento.

Use of English dates to the early 19th century, when the British took Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire; when Dutch rule resumed in 1815, officials noted the already widespread use of the language.

Aruba's location off the coast of South America has also made Spanish extremely important.