El español no es el único idioma hablado en España?

Is Spanish not the only language spoken in Spain?

Hola. Bon dia. Ola. Kaixo. Adiu. Bienvenidos. Benvingut. Benvido. Ongi etorria. Planvienut. It may be easier to stick to one language, so let’s go with a Spanish language.

Hola. Bon dia. Ola. Kaixo. Adiu. Bienvenidos. Benvingut. Benvido. Ongi etorria. Planvienut.

This is where it gets confusing as they are all considered Spanish languages in Spain. The ‘Spanish’ you are used to hearing is called Castilian in Spain which refers to the standard kind of Spanish language, a bit like saying an English speaker speaks Oxford English. For foreign students, like myself, the Castilian Spanish accent is the easiest to understand as every letter is pronounced, which is why we learn this at school. The word Castilian refers to the Castile province in central Spain where the language is said to have originated. However, in many countries outside of Spain, Spanish is called Spanish as that is where the language comes from.

Hopefully, you’re still with me so we can learn more about why Castilian isn’t the only language spoken in Spain… The country of Spain is divided into 17 autonomous regions which come together to form the Spanish nation. Every community has its own regional government, and some communities have a co-official language alongside Castilian. One of these regions is Catalonia and its co-official language is Catalan. Many people think that Catalan is a dialect of Spanish, but it is in fact its own language as it evolved directly from common Latin. It is also spoken in Valencia, the Balearic Islands and is the official language of Andorra. Since Catalan is the co-official language of Catalonia, people from that region speak Catalan as their first language, and Castilian as their second or vice versa. Historically, Catalan has been through some hardship as it has been banned for political reasons on two occasions, but it is now actively promoted to maintain its cultural value. But don’t worry, if you’re thinking of jetting off to Barcelona anytime soon, Castilian Spanish will serve you well as 98% off Barcelona’s population speak Castilian.

Another region of Spain is the Basque Country which, to make matters even more confusing, is not a country. The language spoken in this area is called Basque (spoken by about 27% of the Basque population) and is the oldest living language in Europe. Some linguists even believe that is descends from the language used by cave dwellers in Spain. Although many efforts have been made to find out where the language originated from, it remains an unsolved mystery. Due to this, linguists say that Basque is a language isolate which means it does not have any relation with other languages, or they are yet to be found. The view held by most is that Basque started to develop before the Romance languages but has borrowed many of its words from these languages. As with Catalan, during Francoist Spain, the Basque language was affected by the government’s policies which included making it illegal to register new-born babies under Basque names, and tombstone engravings in Basque had to be removed. However, in later years, there was a continuation of education and publishing in Basque and it started to increase in popularity.

Of course, we have only looked at two out of the four main languages spoken in Spain (yes, there are more), but I hope this helps when you find yourself not being able to understand the language spoken in every region when you travel around Spain!

Anaya Popat

¿Cómo se habla español en todo el mundo? La evolución de diferentes dialectos

El español es idioma oficial en 18 países latinoamericanos, España y Guinea Ecuatorial (África). Aunque muchos países centroamericanos y sudamericanos tienen a la lengua india nativa como primer idioma, el español continúa propagándose.

El dialecto más común es el castellano que comenzó a extenderse durante la Reconquista, el periodo histórico en el que los estados cristianos conquistaron la España morisca en 1492.

El castellano surgió en la ciudad de Burgos, Castilla y León en el siglo IX. El idioma se extendió más tarde hacia el Sur. Posteriormente el castellano se propagó al Nuevo Mundo durante la época del descubrimiento de América desde mediados del siglo XV hasta mediados del siglo XVI.

Los países Latinoamericanos han desarrollado sus propios estándares, principalmente existen diferencias en la fonología y el vocabulario, teniendo, muchas similitudes con los dialectos del Sur de España. Por ejemplo, el castellano típico usa un sonido de ceceo como 'th', mientras que el latinoamericano usa el sonido 's'.

El gallego se habla en el Noroeste de España y el catalán se habla en el Este y Noreste de España. El andaluz es un dialecto hablado en el Sur de España y es el segundo dialecto más popular. Es una “modalidad lingüística” de la lengua española y también se habla en el territorio británico de Gibraltar.

El dialecto del español, utilizado en la España árabe ocupada antes del siglo XXII se le llamó mozárabe. Esta era una forma muy arcaica de español con muchas influencias del árabe, muchos de los refranes mozárabes se han añadido a los poemas árabes y hebreos.

El judeoespañol es un reflejo de la lengua castellana antes de la estandarización del siglo XVI. Rioplatense español se habla en la región de la Cuenca del Río, Argentina y Uruguay. La principal diferencia entre este dialecto y los otros es la entonación, que se asemeja a la italiana debido al aumento de los inmigrantes italianos en estas regiones en el siglo XIX.