Spanish, like many other languages, is a romance language that evolved from common Latin. It is the most widely spoken romance language, both in the number of speakers and the number of countries. Spanish is the official language for twenty one countries. Around five hundred million people speak Spanish, making it second only to Chinese in terms of most spoken languages. In the United States, more than forty one million people speak Spanish as their first language.
Spanish is one of the easiest languages to learn for native English speakers. According to the experts, it will take you around 22-24 weeks to achieve what is called general professional proficiency in reading and speaking. However, general social proficiency comes much earlier,
I attended the Required Live Class for Unit 1 on Jun 23 from 6-7pm. My teacher was Erin Melo and we reviewed major concepts of Spanish I and II. Together, we went over reflexive verbs, differences between ser and estar, saber vs. conocer, preterite, imperfect, por vs. para, and gustar. Something new that Mrs. Melo taught me is the acronym HOGSWEAT (Habitual, Ongoing, Growing up, Setting the scene, Weather, Emotions, Age and Time), where each letter stands for a use of the imperfect. This is going to help me a lot, especially since I’m unfamiliar with the imperfect tense. She also reviewed the use of reflexive terms, which was very beneficial to me. I was also confused on differentiating saber between conocer and she explicitly explained when
1. One way to read Richard Rodriguez’s essay is as a discussion of two discrete educational philosophies. What are they?
Rodriguez said “I wrongly imagined that English was intrinsically a public language and Spanish was intrinsically a private one.” (21) He believes that Spanish is a language often spoken in a family setting and English is a language that you could speak with your friends in public places.
The basic language of the U.S is English. Both governments include English as one of their mandatory languages taught in schools. The American government also supports Spanish; they do not consider Spanish as one of the main
Spanish is a significant joining power in the Mexican American community. Mexican Americans will not forget their native tongue; though equally, English and Spanish are spoken in
Spanish is the most common second language in the world and the most popular language taught in the United States schools. One reason it seems Spanish is the most popular second language, is over 20 countries claim it as their first language and over 400 million people speak it. More people on earth today speak two or more languages. With numbers like that it seems we all should learn a little bit of this popular language.
majority of people in the U.S. that speak a language other than English speak Spanish
The official languages are both Spanish and English, but Spanish is most certainly the dominant one. To the people there, language is more than just words. There's a lot they can say with simply the position of the body, the overemphasized gestures of hands, and the look on a face.
Language and culture coincide and go in harmony with each other. “Our culture is what shapes our language and our language is much more than just a tool; it is a rink to our surroundings that determines how we are perceived and understood. ”(Tuncer 1) Spanish is such an fundamental
Speaking Spanish or any second language opens a lot of doors in life. While the little Spanish I do know is incomprehensible to most fluent Spanish-speakers, it has helped me in some situations. The article Se Habla Espanol by Tanya Maria Barrientos is the story on how she (Tanya) dealt with the tribulations of being born in Guatemala, moved to and raised in the United States, and attempting to learn her native Language once again (Barrientos 645). While many of us, including Tanya, have difficulties learning a new language and understanding others cultures, the struggle will prove to be worth it in the end.
At first, speaking English was a bit difficult because I did not feel confident using it with others. The most advanced students sometimes made fun of my English. The students who spoke my own language made more fun of me than the ones who were fluent in English. The teasing by the students made me feel embarrassed and shy to speak the English language, giving me a fear of being made fun of or looked at differently. Practicing the English language with my own siblings and playing with the neighborhood kids who already managed the language gave me more confidence to speak English. Taking Spanish courses in school was also an advantage, which helped me to get better at my native language and kept me from losing it.
If you encounter a native of France or Spain, he will most likely speak French or Spanish, as the national language of his home country. However, a notable number of people speak a cultural language as well. The salience of these languages on the north vs. south side of the Pyrenees Mountains is substantial. Catalan, spoken in northeastern Spain and southeastern France, and Basque, a language isolate spoken in northern Spain and southwestern France, are minority languages. Both are distinct from Castilian Spanish with their own literature, people, and culture. While Basque and Catalan are prevalent in their respective Spanish autonomous communities, the “border” of the Països Catalans (Catalan Countries) and Euskal Herria (Basque
When learning Spanish, it is interesting to think of it as the new English. Learning languages increases intellect. Spanish has many similarities with English in terms of the vocabulary. These open up ones ideas and thinking to diversify a learner intellectually. It is a fact that learning a language like Spanish leaves one sharper than anyone who just speaks, reads and writes English. Most children are advised to learn as many languages as they can. Why is this? Foreign languages like Spanish broaden the mind and this is another reason why learning it is
After being decently proficient in speaking Spanish, I realized that learning another language wouldn’t do me any harm. Why not? I picked up French. One of the beautiful love language of Europe, another challenge that I could take on. It still took a great amount of effort to remember each word and be able to craft those into meaningful sentences. But it was worth it. Reading and speaking in French, Spanish, English and Hindi were loads of fun.
Spain has been a country since 1516. Spain is a very large and diverse country. They are very populated and has the highest percent of population that speaks Spanish because the country's native tongue is Spanish. The main sport played in Spain is soccer. Spain's capital is Madrid. The prime minister of Spain is Mariano Rajot. The population of Spain is a rough estimate of about 46.77 million.