Anyone can speak or understand more or less Spanish. Even without taking a Spanish course, we are probably all able to speak at least a few words or phrases in Spanish.
Cervantes, yes, of course. Everyone knows his name. But do we really know his story? Spanish has many accents and similarities with other languages in common: French, Portuguese, Italian or Catalan for example.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to order your paella in English in Spain? Discover step by step the impressive history of the Spanish language and take notes for get your learning started.
The great history of Castilian and Spanish
In the 21st century, the Spanish language is one of the most widely spoken in the world. To be exact, the language of Cervantes is the second most widespread language in the world!
Learning Spanish is therefore offered everywhere, whether as an official language (or mother tongue) or as a foreign language (eg Spanish for beginners). If you are planning to go holidays on Spain, you can easily find a Spanish school Barcelona. Immersion programs are perfect for reinforcing vocabulary, lexicon, expression, sentence structure, oral expression or communication, conjugation, pronunciation (accent, consonant, tonic accent, Spanish alphabet), phonetics, conversation or grammar.
Roman Empire: the latin roots
However, it took a several years to make this language standardized and “teacheable”. Between the 3rd and the 1st centuries BC The Romans conquered the Iberian Peninsula and left only the Basque language. Otherwise, only one language was spoken: Latin (written Latin and vulgar Latin).
In the 5th century, the Visigothic invasion brought some Germanic accents to vulgar Latin. 3 centuries later, the language evolved influenced by Moors and other Arab contributions.
The main role of monarchy in Spanish development
The Spanish monarchy was born in the following centuries and the Castilian was able to develop a little more. But it was during the Reconquista (Christian reconquest of southern Spain to the Muslim population) that what is now called the Spanish language spread in the region.
The “golden century” and the conquests of the New World finally allowed the Spanish people to gradually spread throughout the world: in America (Middle and South) and in the Philippines.
Catalan and Spanish: what are the differences?
If you plan to visit Barcelona, you may already know that the this region is identified also by Catalan language. Have you always wondered if it is worth learning Catalan? Speaking Catalan has some advantages, especially in Barcelona. The love of the Catalan language is very strong in Catalonia. But bilingualism is still the norm.
“Castellano” has its own grammar, vocabulary, territory, pronunciation and phonetics, alphabet and is the most widely spoken language. Catalan has real differences from Castilian and it is often said that Catalan is very close to French.
While Spanish can sometimes be easily translated into French, it is even stronger in Catalan. For example “bona nit” or “Quin és el teu nom? “. It is the same for certain numbers: “zero, four / four, cinc / five, sis / six “.
Overview of Spanish accents
Through the colonial policy of the 15th and 16th centuries, Spain conquered many regions of South America (Argentina, Colombia, Peru), Central America (Costa Rica, Mexico), the Caribbean (Cuba), Asia (Philippines) and Africa (Equatorial Guinea).
This explains the importance of the Hispanic and Hispanic population in the world, from the European Union to the southern tip of Latin America.
Spanish is now the official language of 21 countries around the world and therefore has almost as many different accents. When learning the Spanish language, it is important to take an interest in the different accents in Spain.
Castilian is a Romance language with a widespread accent in Spain, whereas the Andalusian accent has spread a bit in Latin America.
However, the “c”, “s” and “z” are all pronounced as “s” in South America. The “s” at the end of the word is also less supported. Another similarity with Andalusian: the “ll” is called “y”.
Learning Spanish therefore also means learning the different Spanish accents. It is quite possible to do this in a language course, with a phonetic alphabet, or even a private Spanish teacher!