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Spanish Language
After Chinese and English Spanish is the most commonly used language world wide. It is the most common first language in the Americas, and Spanish speakers also can be found in Spain, of course, United States, Philippines, and even Africa. Estimates say that, including second-language speakers, 417 million people speak Spanish around the world.History of Spanish
Spanish is a romance language which has had 3000 years of development. The majority of its words derive from Latin, but the language also includes Germanic lemmas (due to the 5th century BC Visigoths' invasion) and has been influenced by Arabic, as the Muslim settled in the region for about 7th centuries, starting from 700 BC. The standardisation of the language is the result of the work of the "Real Academia", an institution which was started in 1713 with the task of creating the "pure" form of Spanish and deciding how neologism and international words should be incorporated in the standard form of the language. In reality, the "Academia" has always been reluctant towards new words and through the years its canons have created a "static" language, one quite different from the Spanish used in everyday conversation. This phenomenon has became more evident after the fall of the dictatorship of the general Franco. After more than thirty years of regime and censure, literature and culture went through a real process of revitalization and the language became more colourful. Thanks to technical and scientific advances, many neologism entered Spanish vocabulary and anglicisms, up to now rejected, started to be accepted and adapted to modern Spanish. Due to this late explosion of vitality, Spanish is a language in continuous evolution.Spanish Dialects
First of all, it should be pointed out that the dialects of Spain are different from the four official languages which are recognized in some of this regions (apart from standard Spanish, these include Catalan, Basque and Galician). Around 1200, King Alfonso X established the language which was spoken in the region of Castilla to become the national standard. From now on, the "Castillano" became the universal form of Spanish, the one that is used in politics, education and administration. Starting from this standard language, many variations have produced in different areas of Spain and of America, especially as for spoken language. For instance, in America the dialects affect intonation and the use of some words (in Spain the 2nd person pronoun is "tu", while in Argentina it os "vos").Spanish literature
Spanish literature is full of great names and has always been of great importance in the Europe literary scene.The golden Age in literature was reached during the Renaissance, with works such as the "Don Quijote" by Cervantes or famous playwrights as Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina or Calderon de la Barca. The 19th century was dominated by the realistic novel of Benito Perez Galdos and the poems of Machado and Garcia Lorca. The called "Generation of 98" was a group of writers which, having its leader in the great Miguel Unaumo, tried to revitalized and give new impulse to Spanish cultural life. In the years of the Civil war, literature went through a period of stasis, as many writers were exiliated. When they went back to Spain, Camilo Jose Cela was one of the first to emerge. The World War II brought to the spotlight Miguel Delibes while in the post-Franco period it was the novel of experimentation of Mendoza and Juan Benet to emerge.
Spanish grammar and Slang
Spanish is at the same time a classical language based on strict and complicated grammar rules and a colourful language in evolution.Being a romance language, it is highly inflected as for nouns, adjectives and verbs (these include numerous tenses and three modes, indicative, subjunctive and conditional). Spanish is also based on a quite complicated set of prepositions, among which mention should be made of the famous "por" and "para": "por" indicates cause or reason, while "para" indicates purpose or destination, but sometimes the difference is so slight that even those who no longer are learners still make confusion between the two.
If you go to Spain for a period of time, you will realize that the Spanish you study in the books is quite different from "real", everyday Spanish. Spanish speakers frequently add diminutives to nouns and adjectives, that don't only indicate size but also make a word less harsh or indicate affection. Some examples are:
planta --- plantita ("plant"---"little plant")
vaso --- vasito ("glass"---"little glass")
niño --- niñito ("small boy"---"little tiny boy")
In addition to diminutives, Spanish is full of colloquialism and idiomatic expressions which are used not only among young people.
- Más vale tarde que nunca: Better late than never.
- ¡Pierde cuidado!: Don't worry!
- ¡Anda a bañarte! (Chile) Go away!
- Menudo pájaro es ese: I wouldn't trust him further than I can throw him.
- Es broma: Just kidding.
- Dicho y hecho: No sooner said than done.
Spanischkurse in Salamanca (German)
Die Seite enthält Infos rund um Sprachkurse in Salamanca; sämtliche Sprachschulen in Salamanca sind aufgeführt; Infos zu Freizeitbeschäftigung Ausgehen Ausflügen.
Resources related to Languages
- Sprachaufenthalt in Spanien (site in German)
- Courses and Universities in Barcelona - BrighterPlace.com offers a directory of schools for international students living in Barcelona, Spain.
- Study Spanish in Spain - Spanish language courses in Spain and Latin America Get a free Brochure.