Besides English and Portuguese, another language that made it across the Atlantic and spread over vast territories is Spanish, or español (es-puh-nyol). It is spoken across all continents, and today it's on the rise. Spanish is the 4th most spoken language in the world, the 3rd most used language on the internet, and the 2nd most learned language globally! And for an English-speaking person, it is also one of the easiest to learn — easier than Italian, or Portuguese, or French, or German.
Mexico holds the 1st place by the largest amount of Spanish speakers — 114 million! Could you guess what country takes the second place? USA! — with over 55 million of them (native and bilingual), which almost as much as in whole Colombia, or about 15% less than in Spain itself! If you know Spanish, you can talk to 600 million people all over the planet, out of which 500 million are native speakers!
Spanish is the language in which the first modern novel — more precisely, the infamous "Don Quixote", a pivotal figure in Spanish and world literature, — was written. Published in 1605, these writings by Miguel de Cervantes started the modern novel form!
The year 1492 doesn't only mark Columbus's discovery of America, but it's also a year when Antonio de Nebrija (real name Antonio Martinez de Cala), the most influential Spanish humanist of his era, published the first Spanish (Castillian) grammar, which was the first work dedicated to the Spanish language and its rules, and the first grammar of a modern European language to be published — an achievement that, in fact, was barely acknowledged until the 18th century!
Talking about this word Castillian, did you notice how Spanish seem to have two names: "español" and "castellano"? What's that about? In Spain, there is a controversy with the term "español" as a reference to the language because it is considered to include all the languages spoken in the country, like Catalan, Galician, Basque, Castillian, Aragonese, Asturian, and some others.
So the Castillian language, emerged from many regional languages and dialects, receives that name for its roots in the region of Castile. Over the years, under the influence of Latin — the language that arrived on the Iberian Peninsula (the peninsula that includes Spain and Portugal) around 2,000 years ago — and Arabic — residing in Spain for nearly 800 years, since 711, — it gradually evolves into the language that by the end of the 14th century is known as Castillian, the language of Spain.
In the 15th century, through the colonization efforts of the Spanish, it arrived to the New World (Americas), where differences between native languages of the area and Castillian were so radical that communication was almost impossible. And that's how the Catholic Church came up with the vital goal to install Castillian in the region, which only grew from there.
Today, the term Castilian, or castellano (the Spanish word for it), is used to refer to the Spanish language spoken in Spain as opposed to Latin American Spanish. It's common for English speakers to use the word Castilian when referring to Spanish spoken in Spain. Let me also mention here that in Central America all countries name their language "español", except El Salvador; and in South America all countries, except Colombia, call it "castellano", but ultimately these days the two are often just synonyms.
Although, when you do decide to learn Spanish, be aware that, depending on the country, the language may differ by the vocabulary and pronunciation of some sounds.
Most of those sounds in Spanish you already know as an English speaker. In fact, Spanish alphabet has all the letters that English has, plus one — the letter that is a visit card of the Spanish language: ñ (eh-nye) — that soft, "melted-cheese" kind of sound made in Italian by the combination of "g" and "n" of "lasagna".
Pronunciation-wise, Spanish sounds are more tense, abrupt, and shorter. They are also more predictable for it doesn't matter where in the word they are positioned, you always pronounce them the same way, almost like the Georgian language we have just Langventured into. So learning how to read and write in Spanish is beginner-friendly: the words are spelled the way you hear them.
The sound that might take you some practice is [ v ]: in Spanish it is pronounced like something between "b" and "v", as if you are trying to say the sound [ b ] without letting your lips touch: "Lo veo" (loh beh-oh) — "I see". And, of course, you got to roll your "r"s! Also, if you see an "h", that's the letter you do not need to pronounce at all: hora (oh-ruh) — "hour".
Stress in Spanish words is also easy. There are 3 simple rules to follow:
- If a word ends in a vowel, -n, or -s, then the stress falls on the next to the last (penultimate) syllable:
na-da (nuh-duh) — "nothing", o-ri-gen (oh-ree-khen) — "origin", lu-nes (loo-nes) — "Monday"; - If a word ends in a consonant other than -n or -s, then the stress falls on the last syllable:
doc-tor (doc-toh-r) — "doctor", ca-ra-mel (kuh-ruh-mel) — "caramel", i-den-ti-dad (ee-den-tee-dud) — "identity"; - If a word carries a written accent, then the stress falls on the syllable with it:
rá-pi-do (ruh-pee-doh) — "fast", ca-fé (kuh-feh) — "coffee", fá-cil (fuh-seel) — "easy".
Basically, with that you can read Spanish already!
The biggest challenge in Spanish that you may face lies in the verbs, as it is usually the case with foreign languages: they conjugate, meaning their endings change depending on the person (you, he, they, etc.). This implies that a Spanish verb includes in one word both the indications of the action performed and who performs it. For example, from the English verb "enjoy" alone you can't really say who exactly carries out said enjoyment — you need a subject before it to help you figure that out, say, "I" or "you". In Spanish, that subject is clear from the ending:
- "disfruto" (dis-froo-toh) = "I enjoy",
- "disfrutas" (dis-froo-tus) = "you enjoy",
- "disfrutamos" (dis-froo-tuh-mos) = "we enjoy", and so on.
Because of that quality of Spanish verbs, statements and questions in Spanish often differ by intonation only:
- "Disfrutas el café." — "You enjoy coffee."
- "¿Disfrutas el café?" — "Do you enjoy coffee?"
And that is why in Spanish you can see what is called
inverted punctuation marks like ¿ (an upside-down question mark) starting a sentence or even a phrase with an interrogative intonation, or ¡ (an upside-down exclamation mark) kicking off the exclamatory ones like: "¡Qué sorpresa!" (keh sor-pre-suh) — "What a surprise!"
Ok, all the Spanish mysteries are debunked! And one Episode was all we needed! Do you feel how simple Spanish can be?! Apply
the third secret to success in any language on your journey that I shared with you in our Georgian Langventure, and you are on your way to make connections with over 600 million people!
Suerte! (Sweh-r-teh!) Good luck!
"Disfruto Langventure! Thumbs up!"
Discover more about Spanish and other languages at langventure.mystrikingly.com!
