How do you say it in Spanish?

How do you say it in Spanish?
 

Is it ¿Cómo se dice ___ en castellano? or ¿Cómo se dice ___ en el castellano?

With or without the article (or without the prepositional phrase altogether - It's assumed you want to know how it's said in Spanish).

Se dice "en castellano".

Si se dice "en el castellano" se puede entender como un lugar , un bar ...etc.

I agree.

Could be?

Por supuesto. El contexto es todo. :)

What is the rule for when it is necessary to put an article before the name of a language?

The only case I can think of right now, is when the language is the subject of the sentence: :thinking:

El español se habla en veinte países. -> Spanish is spoken in twenty countries.
El alemán es un idioma muy difícil. -> German is a difficult language.
Me gusta mucho el francés. -> I like French very much.


In other cases, the article is omitted.

John no habla español. -> John doesn't speak Spanish.
Mary se expresa muy bien en alemán. -> Mary expresses herself pretty well in German.
Tenemos un examen de italiano. -> We'll have a test of Italian.
¿Sabes inglés? -> Do you speak English?
Estoy aprendiendo chino. -> I'm learning Chinese.
Este libro está escrito en griego. -> This book is written in Greek.
...

I agree with Angelica.

The Spanish language is spoken in twenty countries.

The German language is (very) difficult.

I like very much the French language.

Just using your examples, Angélica, for Caballero.

:)