When You Dnt Know Spanish So You Cant Jajaaj
We explore the history and telescopic of the Spanish linguistic communication in this helpful guide for expats who are thinking about moving to the country.
Spanish is the official language of Spain, also equally many countries in Latin America, and Equatorial Guinea. It's also the fourth virtually spoken language in the earth and is, therefore, a very valuable language to acquire. And thankfully, information technology is also considered to be one of the easiest for English speakers to grasp.
While learning Spanish is part of the fun of moving to Spain, knowing nigh the history, origins, dialects, and accomplish of the language enriches the experience. Not just that, merely y'all'll be able to impress your new friends with your in-depth knowledge.
In this guide, we encompass the following topics:
- What languages are spoken in Kingdom of spain?
- Where Spanish is spoken worldwide
- Origins and history of the Spanish language
- Pronunciation and phonology
- Spanish grammer
- Castilian dialects
- Interesting facts virtually the Spanish language
- Learning Spanish
- Useful resources
Babbel
Desire to brush up on your Spanish before making the move to Spain? Say hola to Babbel! The language-learning app lets you lot become to grips with Spanish at your own stride. With great resources and professionally-fabricated courses, you'll presently know the words to your favorite reggaeton songs. Download Babbel today and first your Spanish journey.
What languages are spoken in Espana?
According to a 2012 survey, 94% of people in Spain speak Spanish as a native or second language. Meanwhile, 12% of people claim to speak English, and most of them are under 55. So while yous will probably run into some English language speakers in the country who can help you out, it'south a expert thought to learn the Spanish linguistic communication.
What we call 'Castilian' is frequently described as Castilian Spanish (Castellano), which originated in northern Espana and was primarily used in the Kingdom of Castile (Reino de Castilla). There are other languages in Spain, too, which we will explore beneath.
Basque (Euskara)
This language is unrelated to whatever other living linguistic communication, so learning information technology is an exciting challenge. Nearly 35% of the Basque population, who live in the Pyrenees in northern Kingdom of spain and southwestern France, tin speak Basque.
Catalan or Valencian (Català or Valencià)
Some might question whether Català and Valencià are the aforementioned languages, but the Valencian Academy of Languages (Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua) says that this is the instance. Between 75 and 90% of people in Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands speak it.
While speaking Spanish might help y'all sympathise some words in Catalan, the language is actually more than closely related to French and Italian.
Galician (Galego)
Galician is quite similar to Portuguese. This is maybe non surprising given that Galicia borders Portugal. The language is spoken by twoscore% of Galicians and by people in parts of Asturias and Castile and León.
Other unofficial languages
Spain is too dwelling house to other minority and unofficial languages and dialects, such every bit Aranese, Cantabrian, Extremaduran, Aragonese, and Astur.
Where Spanish is spoken worldwide
Castilian is a global linguistic communication, there are nigh 489 million native Castilian language speakers in the world. Among both native and non-native speakers, information technology'southward the 4th about commonly spoken linguistic communication worldwide. Castilian is also the third near unremarkably used language on the internet, after Standard mandarin and English language. In add-on, there are 585 meg 'potential users' of Spanish – that's 7.5% of the world's population. Furthermore, 22 million people study Castilian every bit a foreign linguistic communication.
Spanish is spoken in Spain, of class, and is an official language in many countries in Latin America also as Republic of equatorial guinea. Of the 19 other countries that have Spanish as an official language, United mexican states is home to the largest population of Spanish speakers, which amounts to over 120 million.
In addition, there are 41 1000000 Spanish speakers in the US and ane.4 meg in the Eu outside of Kingdom of spain. Many people in Andorra, Belize, and Gibraltar also speak Castilian. As a outcome, you are spring to come across a multitude of different Spanish accents and dialects around the world.
Origins and history of the Spanish language
Spanish is a Romance language, which evolved from Latin. Other Romance languages include Italian, French, Romanian, and Portuguese. Historically, Arabic besides influenced the Spanish language, as a effect of Muslim rule in the eighth to 15th centuries.
The language was kickoff standardized in 1492, and Castilian colonization brought it to the Americas. Latin American Spanish is thought to take been influenced by Andalusians who moved there.
Pronunciation and phonology
Like to English, Spanish uses the Latin alphabet, and messages almost entirely correspond with their pronunciation.
There are five vowels in Spanish, every bit follows:
- a – similar 'a' in 'true cat'
- e – like 'e' in 'bet'
- i – between 'i' in 'kit' and 'ee' in 'feet'
- o – like 'o' in 'lot' but slightly shorter
- u – similar 'oo' in 'kick' but further back in the mouth
These vowels can become together to make other sounds; for example, in the word hoy (pronounced 'oy'), which means 'today'. Besides, wait out for vowel combinations that begin in i or u as they make what sounds similar 'y' or 'westward' in English. For instance, fuego (burn down) sounds similar 'fwego' and tierra (Earth) sounds like 'tyerra'.
Yous volition detect that many Spanish language words have accents, such equally sábado. These show where to stress the discussion, so you say 'SA-bado'. Most Spanish words have their stress on the second-to-final syllable but take an accent when this is not the case.
Many consonants in Spanish are like to their English language counterparts. Nonetheless, at that place are plenty of exceptions, such as the ones beneath.
How to treat consonants in Spanish
- c and z : these sometimes make the sound 'th' like in 'think' in some dialects of Spanish
- m and j : before e or i, these brand a 'ch' sound like in 'loch'
- h : ordinarily silent in Spanish
- ll : this letter combination can make a 'y' a 'j' or a 'sh' sound, depending on which dialect of Spanish you lot speak
- ñ : the little wiggle over the north is a tilde and shows that you should add together a 'y' sound subsequently it; this stands as a dissever letter in the Spanish alphabet
- q : in Spanish, this makes a 'k' sound
- r and rr : pronounce a single r by tapping your tongue on the palate behind your teeth once. To pronounce rr, bear upon it more than than once; this is chosen 'rolling your rs'.
- v and b : both sound like the 'b' in bed
Spanish grammar
In Spanish, nouns (words for people, places, and things) accept 2 genders: masculine and feminine. Of form, there are enough of exceptions, merely a good general rule to follow is that most feminine nouns end in a, and most masculine nouns end in o.
Nouns in Spanish
The words for 'the' and 'a' besides testify whether a substantive is masculine or feminine, atypical or plural:
- una manzana – an apple
- un niño – a child
- la guitarra – the guitar
- el plátano – the banana
Another feminine word endings include –ión, –d, and –z. For case, la canción (vocal), la salud (wellness), and la paz (peace). There are also some nouns ending in –a that are masculine, like el mapa (map).
Spanish verbs and tenses
Castilian verbs, or action words like 'run,' 'eat,' and 'slumber', are perhaps one of the trickiest parts of Spanish grammar. This is because the finish of the verb changes to show who takes the action and when. In fact, there are fourteen different verb tenses which tin brand learning them a fiddling overwhelming.
However, the main matter you lot need to know is what tense you need, and this relates to when an action happens. Similar to English, in that location are several ways to talk about the by, nowadays, and hereafter in Castilian. Verbs fall into iii categories: those catastrophe in –ar, –er, and –ir.
Understanding how Spanish tenses work can be daunting at first, especially as some accept very like meanings and different usages depending on which country they are spoken in.
Sentence structure
Spanish word gild is very similar to that of English language and follows a subject field-verb-object pattern. This means that the person doing the action comes at the beginning of the sentence, the action comes next, and the person they do the action to comes concluding.
This might audio confusing, so here is an example:
Maria quiere una manzana = Maria wants an apple
Give-and-take for word, the sentence is exactly the same.
Questions in Spanish are also straightforward, and when spoken, come with an up inflection at the terminate. And when written, they come with a question marker. Below is an example.
¿Quieres leche? = Practise you want milk?
However, information technology is more common to swap the subject with the verb in a sentence, for case:
Maria quiere una manzana = Maria wants an apple
¿Quiere Maria una manzana? = Does Maria want an apple?
You can also ask questions by using a question word, such as ¿cómo? (how?), ¿cuál? (which/what?), ¿cuándo? (when?), ¿dónde? (where?), or ¿qué? (what?). Note that all question words in Spanish accept an accent. And when y'all use one of these, the subject comes subsequently the verb:
¿Qué quiere Maria? = What does Maria desire?
¿Dónde está la biblioteca? = Where is the library?
Here are some useful example phrases for when you movement to Spain:
- ¡Hola! – Hello!
- ¿Qué tal? – How are you?
- ¿Cómo te llamas? – What's your name?
- Me llamo Maria – My name is Maria
- Mucho gusto – dainty to meet you
- Por favor – please
- Gracias – cheers
- Lo siento – sorry
- Disculpa – excuse me
- ¿Dónde está el baño? – Where is the bathroom?
- Te quiero – I love you
Formal and informal Spanish
Spanish has ii levels of politeness, depending on whether yous know someone well or not. Y'all utilise tú for someone y'all know, vosotros for lots of people you know, usted to address someone you don't know, and ustedes to address a group of people politely.
These different forms of 'you lot' also decide the verb ending yous use:
- Tú hablas – you (one person, breezy) speak
- Usted habla – you (one person, formal) speak
- Vosotros habláis – you (plural, informal) speak
- Ustedes hablan – you lot (plural, formal) speak
Spanish dialects
There are several differences between Castilian in different regions of Spain and across the Americas. One of them is pronunciation. For example, in northern Spain, c and z audio like 'thursday' in 'think.' However, in Spanish-speaking America, the Canary Islands, and parts of Andalusia, they are pronounced the same as 's'. In the very south of Andalusia, meanwhile, c, z, and s are pronounced with a slight 'th' audio.
The way people address 'yous' is also different. There are four forms of yous in Kingdom of spain, depending on politeness and how many people y'all are speaking to. These are tú, usted, vosotros, and ustedes. In Spanish-speaking America, some parts of western Andalusia, and the Canary Islands, vosotros is not used at all, and they apply ustedes for all forms of plural 'you'. Nevertheless, some countries apply vos instead of tú which comes with dissimilar verb endings. This is the case in most of Central America, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and some parts of United mexican states, Bolivia, and Chile.
Dissimilar vocabulary
If you're learning Spanish in Spain, bear in mind that there are many differences in the words you volition employ. For instance, depending on where you are, a cake might be called a pastel, torta, dulce, tarta, queque, or a bizcocho.
Although this is quite an innocent example, information technology is really possible to offend people if y'all use the wrong word, then be careful of this. For instance, in Argentina, the Castilian Spanish word for shell translates locally as a female torso part!
Latin American Spanish is too influenced past ethnic languages. For example, aguacate or 'avocado' has its roots in the Nahuatl word ahuacatl.
Interesting facts about the Spanish language
- Laughing in Castilian: While English speakers might spell their laugh 'haha,' in Spanish, information technology'southward written jajaja; h is usually silent in Castilian, merely j is closer to the audio nosotros brand when laughing.
- Upside-down question marks and exclamation marks: You tin come across this in the phrase ¿Cómo te llamas? (What's your name?). These but show where the question or exclamation begins and ends. Other languages that use them include Galician and Astur.
- Arabic influence: Many words in Spain have Standard arabic roots; for example, booze (also 'booze' in English) comes from the Arabic al-kohol.
Learning Castilian
If you're thinking about moving to Espana, learning Spanish is a great style to get settled in. It can make your new life abroad a lot easier: from sorting visas to finding a chore, to stepping onto the Spanish dating scene. Of course, existence able to speak Spanish is also a requirement if you want to gain citizenship.
According to the Instituto Cervantes, there are more than 22 one thousand thousand learners of Spanish worldwide, 907,000 of which reside in Spain. This just goes to show that at that place are many ways to learn Spanish, whether yous're already in Spain or getting set up to move in that location.
Some simple ways to get started include downloading apps such as Babbel and Duolingo and learning on the get. Withal, if existent-life classes are more your affair, Kingdom of spain has many government-subsidized Castilian classes and individual linguistic communication centers that you can attend. For more than information on what y'all should be downloading for your new life in Espana, read our guide to the peak 10 must-accept Spanish apps.
Useful resources
- Instituto Cervantes – a public institution for promoting the Spanish linguistic communication
- Real Academia Española – founded in 1713, the Royal Spanish Academy studies the Castilian language and shares information about it
- Ensenañzas de Idiomas (Madrid) – provides information near learning languages in Madrid
Source: https://www.expatica.com/es/education/language-learning/spanish-language-107559/
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