Spain – Spanish Language and Culture
Population: 45 million (2009)
Capital: Madrid
Area: 505,988 km² (195,363 sq miles)
Currency: euro (EUR)
National Holiday: 12th of October
Calling Code: +34
Time Zone: GMT +1
GDP: Total – US$ 1.47 trillion (2010)
Per Capita – US$ 32,030
The Spanish Language in Spain
Since many languages are spoken in Spain, the traditional Spanish in Spain is referred to as “Castellano” (or “Castilian” in English). Within Castilian, various forms can be found – the dialect spoken in Northern Spain is considered the most “correct” form and is relatively similar across most of the north of the country. Dialects differ strongly in the south (Andalusian Spanish), as well as in the Canary Islands.
One characteristic of Spanish in Spain which never spread to the Americas is the use of the second person plural “vosotros”. The main characteristic of Castilian pronunciation is the English “th” sound (as in ‘thick’) for the letter z (and also c in some cases), whereas Latin American Spanish uses the “s” sound for these letters. Castilian is derived from Latin, but it also has many words of Germanic and Arabic origin, as well as newer influences from Latin America since colonial times. The letters “k” and “w” are used only in words and names coming from foreign languages (e.g. kilo, folklore, whiskey, William).
Special words and expressions
- tío/a – used to refer to a friend or a person, “ese tío” – that guy. Another word, ‘chaval’, can also be used here
- picha – friend, pal, what you call your friends; used in Andalucía.
- vale – ok, yes
- tapa – finger food, very popular (and delicious!) across Spain
- ¡de puta madre! – (vulgar) Great! Excellent!
- voy a coger el bus – I’m going to take the bus (in Latin America ‘coger’ is vulgar; they use ‘tomar’ – to take)
- el coche – the car (in Latin America the terms ‘auto’ and ‘carro’ are preferred)
- a lo hecho, pecho – what’s done is done
- el curro – work
- ¡estás al loro! – you are up to date, paying attention
- el chupito – a shooter, shot of alcohol
- quillo – from Andalucía, short for chiquillo (little one), used to refer to friends or a person in a friendly way
- el bocadillo, el bocata – the sandwich, the snack
- ¡me cago en la leche! – (literally: I defecate in the milk) an expression of astonishment, anger or frustration.
- capullo – an idiot
- tú no sabes ni torta – you have absolutely no idea
- está pensando en la musaraña – he/she is in the clouds, is distracted
- nos quedamos hasta las tantas – we stayed until late
- de eso, nada – no way
Articles about Spain
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Intermediate level
- Cuatro mitos y verdades sobre España
- Desmontando el mito de la siesta
- ¿Poco idioma? Manual para “sobrevivir” en España
- 100. Edición – ¡Celebramos con los Veinte Mundos!
- Barcelona, historias de taxi
- Pre uvas el “simulacro de Año Nuevo”
- ¿Y tú, crees en los Reyes Magos?
- ¡Qué viva España! ¡Y qué viva Cataluña!
- Natación Sincronizada, sirenas del deporte
- Fiesta de Santa Águeda: mujeres gobernantes
- Madrid se rinde ante la “comida sobre ruedas”
- ¡Una “Reina Pepiada”, por favor!
- El Quijote para estudiantes de español
- Los horarios en España, otro ritmo de vida
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Advanced level
- Lotería de España, la fábrica de sueños
- La pelota vasca, más antigua que el fútbol
- Camino de Santiago una ruta legendaria
- Las lenguas oficiales de España
- Catellers torres humanas de tradición y pasión
- Los patios cordobeses un regalo para el mundo
- Caravana 1:0
- Silbo Gomero – un lenguaje ancestral “diferente”
- Vos, tú o usted… ¿quién tiene razón?
- Tenerife, un paraíso al servicio de la ciencia
Other languages spoken
- The territory of Spain in the past was home to many different kingdoms, and today it is very diverse across its 17 autonomous communities
- Catalan and its variant Valencian (co-official) – spoken by more than 9 million people
- Gallego/Galician (co-official) – spoken by 3.1 million people
- Euskera/Basque (co-official) – spoken by 1.2 million people
- Aranese/Occitan (co-official) – spoken by approx. 7,000 people
- Other minority languages include Andalous, Extremaduran, Leonese, Murciano, Asturian, Aragonese.
- Many of these languages are similar and have sub-dialects of their own. Some smaller languages are on the verge of extinction.
- Portuguese – there are many Portuguese speakers along the western borders of Spain. Galician is also very similar to Portuguese and there are dialects produced by mixing the two.
- Arabic – there are close to 200,000 Arabic speakers in Spain as a result of immigration and the country’s close ties with Northern Africa.
- Rif Berber – a variety of Berber spoken by some inhabitants of Melilla, the autonomous Spanish city located in North Africa.
Spanish dialects and variations
- ‘Castellano’ and ‘Español’ are generally both used to refer to the same language, although some people refer to ‘Castilian Spanish’ as the form of Spanish spoken only in Spain (even though all other forms of Spanish across the world evolved from it)
- Spanish spoken in Madrid is considered the most ‘pure’ since it has no influences from other local languages such as Catalan or Galician.
- Conversely, both the Andalusian accent and the Canarian accent are very strong and form an important part of the identity of these regions.
- Andalusian Spanish has the characteristic of the ‘s’ pronounced as ‘h’. (a characteristic that is common in many Latin American dialects presumably due to the large amount inhabitants of these areas that colonized Latin America)
- Canarian Spanish is similar to Andalusian Spanish but also has strong influences from African languages. It played an important role in shaping Caribbean Spanish because of Canarian emigration to that region. Canarian Spanish, like most of South America, does not differentiate the pronunciation of ‘c’ , ‘z’ and ‘s’ – all are pronounced as ‘s’
Geography and Climate
The Spanish mainland is mostly made up of plateaus and small mountain ranges, with the Pyrenees in the North