{"id":775,"date":"2010-12-08T16:36:03","date_gmt":"2010-12-08T20:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carleton.ca\/ces\/eulearning\/"},"modified":"2023-12-13T15:38:39","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T20:38:39","slug":"spanish","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/ces\/eulearning\/culture\/languages-of-the-eu\/spanish\/","title":{"rendered":"Spanish"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Source: Lonely Planet Images (Photographer: Guy Moberly)<\/p><\/div>\n

Spanish is classified as an Ibero-Romance language and is most closely related to Catalan, Galician and Portuguese. Spanish uses the Latin alphabet, and the acute accent on vowels to indicate stressed syllables. The letters \u00d1 and \u00f1 are exclusive to Spanish and represent a single letter and not a modification of n. Spanish and Catalan are the only languages to use the opening question and exclamation marks \u00bf \u00a1 [1<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Spanish is the official language in Spain, including the Balearic and Canary Islands and the Northern African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. It is the official language in 20 countries worldwide, many of them in Latin America, but also in Africa (Equatorial Guinea) [2<\/a>] [3<\/a>]. Spanish is spoken as a first language by about 352 million people, or by more than 417 million, including non-native speakers (according to 1999 estimates). It is an official language of the European Union, the United Nations and the African Union [4<\/a>].<\/p>\n

Although the use of Spanish is widespread, there are many pronounced dialectal differences among the various regions of Spain and Latin America in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. For example:<\/p>\n

Pronunciation <\/em>
\nLatin American dialects generally lack the sound “th” which is so prominent in Iberian Spanish. Speakers of Iberian Spanish pronounce words such as ciudad<\/em><\/strong> (city) as thiudad<\/em>, whereas speakers of Latin American Spanish generally pronounce it as siudad<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Grammar <\/em>
\nLatin American Spanish has only one form of the second person plural — ustedes — which is used for both informal and formal address. In contrast, Iberian Spanish has two forms: ustedes <\/strong><\/em>(formal) and vosotros<\/strong><\/em> (informal).<\/p>\n

Vocabulary<\/em>
\n<\/strong> A Spanish word in one Spanish-speaking country can have a completely different meaning in another Spanish-speaking country, or may not be used at all. For instance, the word for “computer” is ordenador<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0in Spain, but computadora<\/em><\/strong> in Latin America. The word for “bus” is guagua<\/em><\/strong> in Puerto Rico but in Chile it means “baby” [5<\/a>].<\/p>\n

Useful Expressions:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n
Hello<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
Hola<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
Goodbye<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
Adi\u00f3s<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
How are you?<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\u00bfC\u00f3mo est\u00e1 usted? (formal) \u00bfC\u00f3mo est\u00e1s?\u00a0 (informal)<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
Excuse me<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
Perd\u00f3n\/Lo siento<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
Do you speak English?<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\u00bfHabla ingl\u00e9s?<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
Yes\/no<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
S\u00ed\/No<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
Thank you<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
Gracias<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
My name is…<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
Me llamo…<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
I’m from Canada.<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
Yo soy de Canada.<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
I’m lost. Where is the nearest telephone\/train station\/hospital?<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
Estoy pierden. \u00bfD\u00f3nde est\u00e1 el tel\u00e9fono\/la estaci\u00f3n de tren\/el hospital m\u00e1s cercano?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
How much does it cost?<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\u00bfCu\u00e1nto cuesta?<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Language Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Try out this Spanish dialogue: Uni\u00f3n Europea: Un modelo para Norte Am\u00e9rica<\/strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Learn Spanish online with BBC <\/a>
\nWordReference – Online Spanish dictionary\/translation tool <\/a>
\nUltralingua web – Spanish language site with conjugation, translation and reference tools<\/a>
\nSpanish Pronto – Spanish language learning portal<\/a><\/p>\n

Culture en espa\u00f1ol<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n