Vacation Spanish

Spanish has all the same letters as in the English alphabet. However, it adds four more: ch (che), ll (ayyeah), ñ (enyeah) and rr (erre with a trill!).

Vowels are pronounced a (ah), e (ay), i (ee), o (oh) and u (oo).

Most Americans are not aware that the Spanish-speaking television network, Univision, is the number one rated cable television network in the U.S. Antonio Banderas of Spain is now one of America’s most popular actors. Jennifer López and Selma Hayek, well-known Hispanic actresses, now frequent the covers of People Magazine and the tabloids. Pedro Almodovar is the most celebrated movie producer from Spain.

In literature, Colombian born Gabriel García Márquez (100 Years of Solitude) and Mexican born Octavio Paz (The Labyrinth of Solitude) are two of the most popular and greatly celebrated Spanish Language authors.

Spanish music includes Salsa, Merengue, Tejano, Mariachi, Romántico and Rock en Español. A sampling of well-known artists include: Enrique Iglesias, Gloria Estefan, Luis Miguel, Maná, Olga Tañón, Mojado, Grupo Límite and Shakira. Some better-known Spanish dances include: the Flamenco, the Bolero, the Tango and the Merengue.

The English language is a hybrid of the Germanic and Romance families of languages. English originated as a Germanic language. Other members of the Germanic family include German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. Unlike the other languages, of this group, English went through a great transformation in 1066 when the French Normans invaded Great Britain and ruled the land for over 300 years. French did not supplant the Anglo-Saxon language, but rather added to it.

As a result, English and Spanish are directly related. Even though English has its roots firmly in the Germanic language family, it is now considered to be a Latin language. Today, well over 50% of English vocabulary words are of Latin-French origin and the number of new English vocabulary words of Latin origin is growing.

Spanish is a member of the Latin or Romance family of languages that also includes French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and Catalán (Barcelona). After the Roman Empire collapsed and the Roman Legions began to disperse, Latin dialects developed in the vast region from Gaul (modern-day France) to Romania. Spanish was one of these local dialects. It originates directly from the dialect of Castile spoken in the Middle Ages in Central Spain around Madrid.

Today, Spanish is the primary language of over 30 nations in Western Europe, North, Central, South America and the Caribbean. The largest concentration of people who speak Spanish are in Mexico with a population of over 80 million. Mexico City is the largest city in the world with a population of over 25 million. Spanish is also spoken in Northern Africa, the Canary Islands and even in the Philippines.

In the United States, Spanish has traditionally been spoken in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, New York, the Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. But today, Spanish is spoken throughout the United States. With the influx of migrant agricultural workers, you can hear Spanish spoken as far north as Nebraska and the Dakotas, all over the Carolinas and even in New England.

Spanish is the third most-widely spoken language on the planet behind Chinese and English. Over 350 million people worldwide speak Spanish.

Castilian (Castellano) is the official term for formal Spanish from Spain. Other major dialects include: Cuban, Puerto Rican and Argentine Spanish.

While there are numerous textbooks and phrase books on the market that teach Castilian Spanish, this book teaches Mexican and/or Latin American Spanish, which is more relevant for Americans.

Mexican Spanish is the dialect most familiar to Americans. It uses vocabulary that is closest to American English. The Mexican dialect varies from region to region. The northern “cowboy” variety is louder and slightly rough sounding. In parts of central and southern Mexico the accent sounds almost musical with wide tonal variety.

Interestingly, on the border region of Mexico and the U.S., from Matamoros/Brownsville to San Diego/Tijuana, a mixture of Spanish and English is often spoken. It is called Spanglish or sometimes Tex-Mex. Spanglish speakers freely switch back and forth in conversation between English and Spanish, often in the middle of a sentence. They have also created their own vocabulary, taking words from English and giving them a Spanish twist. Examples include: renta, carpeta, troca, pipa and lonche.

Puerto Rican and Cuban Spanish are recognized by the extremely fast pace of speech and the “eating” of the endings of words. Of all the dialects, Puerto Rican and Cuban Spanish are probably the toughest to comprehend. Thankfully, at least with Puerto Rican Spanish, many American English words are used. Argentine Spanish has an Italian-like rhythm and accent.

Spanish is now America’s second language. Today nearly 15% of the U.S. population is of Hispanic (mostly Mexican) descent. Hispanics are now the largest minority in the country. The United States has the third highest concentration of Spanish speakers in the world behind only Mexico and Spain, and ahead of Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela. Spanish has deep historical links to the United States unlike any other language, with the possible exception of French in Louisiana. Spanish has been spoken in the mountains of northern New Mexico and in southern Colorado for over 500 years.