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En este diagrama hay un árbol con diferentes ramas y grupos de idiomas. Con esta diagrama, uno puede ver como las diferentes lenguas "Indo-Europeas" y "Romanticas" se relacionan. En realidad, hay muchas más ramas que muestra aquí porque hay muchas más lenguas en el mundo, hay casi 7 miles lenguas distintas.

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En 123teachme, nos da un repaso de la sintaxis, o la formación de las oraciones. Habla de muchas de las cosas sobre que hemos hablado. Por ejemplo; que español es un "SVO" lenguaje, las diferentes tipas de las oraciones (interrogativas, imperativas, etc.) y el uso de los pronombres indirectos. Este recurso es muy fácil para comprender y incluye tablas y ejemplos para cada parte de la sintaxis.

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One aspect of syntax is the order in which words appear in a sentence. Spanish word order is fairly flexible; however, it is best to use the more common patterns of putting words together to form sentences, as given below. These patterns, for the most part, are simply illustrations of a few generalizations:

Normal word order in a Spanish declarative sentence: [declarative- referring to a statement, as opposed to a question]

SUBJECT ("doer") + PREDICATE ("action") + OBJECT ("recipient")

The subject comes first, if expressed; often it is incorporated into or at least suggested by the verb ending.

The predicate is the next primary element. This is composed of at least one verb, often accompanied by object pronouns and by a negative or other adverbial expressions.

Complements follow the verb; these include predicate nouns (after ser ), or direct and indirect object nouns or noun phrases.

subject   neg.    verb       direct object
Juan      nunca   levanta    la mano.

As regards direct and indirect object pronouns: They are normally attached to the end of:
1) affirmative commands:

2) infinitives:

después de bañarme... - after taking a bath...

3) gerunds ( -ndo forms):

levantándose... - getting up...

They normally precede conjugated verb forms. If the verb is a combination of a conjugated form and an infinitive or gerund, the object pronouns may be placed in either the pre- or post-position.

¡No me lo des! [negative command]

Lo hacemos a menudo. [conjugated verb]

Estoy diciéndotelo. OR [conjugated verb plus an -ndo form]

Te lo estoy diciendo.

Voy a hablarles. OR [conjugated verb plus an infinitive]

Les voy a hablar.

Indirect object pronouns precede direct object pronouns.

Normally in a Spanish interrogative sentence the order of the subject and verb is reversed: [interrogative- referring to a question, as opposed to a statement]

Usted habla italiano.
You speak Italian. [declarative]

¿Habla usted italiano?
Do you speak Italian? [interrogative]

When an interrogative word or expression (e.g., cómo, cuándo, dónde, adónde, por qué, quién, cuál, cuánto) appears in a question it normally occurs at the beginning:

¿Por qué hablan los colombianos tan rápido?
Why do Colombians speak so rapidly?

¿Cuándo viene Margarita a verme?
When is Margarita coming to see me?

Specific patterns of word order

Linking verb (e.g., ser & estar ):

Declarative sentences:

subject      (neg.)     linking verb   predicate noun/predicate adj.


(Nosotros)   (no)       somos          estudiantes de español.
(Ella)       (no)       está           cansada.

Interrogative sentences:

(neg.)     verb     subject     predicate noun or adjective

¿(No)      es       usted       el señor Montalbán?
¿(No)      estás    (tú)        lista?

Intransitive verb (no direct object):
Declarative sentences:

subject     (neg.)     intransitive verb     (adverb)

(Yo)        (no)       hablo                 (bien).

Interrogative sentences:

(neg.)     intransitive verb      subject      (adverb)

¿(No)      leen                   (ustedes)    (rápidamente)?

Transitive verb, no object pronouns:
Declarative sentences:

subject      (neg.)      transitive verb     direct object   (adverb)


(Yo)         (no)        hablo               español         (bien).

Interrogative sentences (transitive verb, no object pronouns):

(neg.)   transitive verb   subject   direct object

¿(No)    traen            (ustedes)  la cerveza?

Transitive verb, with object pronouns:

Declarative sentences:

subject (neg.) (IO pronoun) (DO pronoun) verb (DO phrase) (IO phrase)

(Usted) (nunca)  le           da un     regalo      (a Juan).
(Usted) se       lo           da                    (a él).

Interrogative sentences:

(neg.) IO pronoun DO pronoun  verb  subject (DO phrase) (IO phrase)

¿(Nunca)             le        da    (usted)  un regalo  (a Juan)?
¿Se                  lo        dan   (ustedes)           (a él)?

Interrogative sentences:

In general, in interrogative sentences -questions- the order of subject and verb reversed (compared to their order in a declarative sentence).
Yes/no questions (that is, questions which expect the reply "yes"or "no") have already been given in the previous sections.

linking verb subject predicate noun or adjective

¿Es               usted       protestante?
¿Estamos         (nosotros)   listos?

Information questions expect some information to be given in the answer, not a simple "yes" or "no". Ordinarily these sentences begin with an interrogative expression such as cómo (how), cuándo (when), dónde, (where) adónde (where to), por qué (why), quién (who), cuál (which), or cuánto (how much, how many).

¿Por qué hablan los colombianos tan rápido?
Why do Colombians speak so rapidly?

¿Cuándo viene Margarita a verme?
When is Margarita coming to see me?

interrogative     (neg)     verb     subject     object

¿Quién            (nunca)   trae                 la cerveza?
¿Qué                        quiere   ella?
¿Por qué                    dicen    ellos        eso?

Commands:

In commands the verb usually comes first, followed by the subject (if expressed). If the subject is tú or vosotros, it is included only for contrast or emphasis. Usted and ustedes are frequently included for reasons of courtesy and clarity.

Yo me siento aquí. Siéntate tú allí. [contrast]

Venga usted mañana a las siete.

Object pronouns are attached to the end of affirmative commands, and precede the verb in negative ones.

Special case #1: Verbs like gustar.

In standard declarative word order, subjects come before the verb and indirect object phrases are placed after it. The order of these two elements is normally switched with the verb gustar (to please, used -with subject and indirect object switched- in the sense of "to like"). Similar verbs include:

importar      - to matter, be important
parecer       - to seem, appear
encantar      - to enchant, delight, to like very much
interesar     - to interest, to be interested
resultar      - to result, turn out
faltar        - to be lacking, to lack
hacer falta   - to be necessary, to need
molestar      - to bother, irritate, to be irritated
(des) agradar - to please/displease,to like/not like
doler         - to hurt, ache
quedar        - to remain, to have left

ind. object phrase

ind. object  pronoun  verb     subject

A mí         me       gustan   las manzanas.
  =  I like apples.
A ellas      les      encanta  el regalo.
  =  They love the gift.
Nos                   falta    la paciencia.
  =  We lack (the) patience.

Special case #2: Direct object preceding the verb

Sometimes for emphasis or special effect the direct object noun or noun phrase is given before the governing verb. When this happens, a direct object pronoun is used with the verb, and the subject, if expressed, is often placed after the verb. In other words, the order of the subject and direct object is switched, and a direct object pronoun is added, one which agrees in gender and number with the direct object.

Carlos compró mis libros. [normal word order]

Mis libros los compró Carlos. [preceding direct object]

(Both sentences mean: Carlos bought my books.)

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One aspect of syntax is the order in which words appear in a sentence. Spanish word order is fairly flexible; however, it is best to use the more common patterns of putting words together to form sentences, as given below.

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Hemos aprendido sobre la Real Academia Española, que es, que la hace y el papel que juega en el desarrollo de la lengua Española. Es cierto que es una institución muy antigua pero todavía tiene autoridad sobre la lengua. Entonces, cuando discursos sobre el uso de las palabras "Latinx" y otras nuevas palabras pasen, la RAE tiene que decir lo que va a decir sobre ella. En este video, el presidente de la RAE ha rechazado la lengua inclusiva.

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El director de la RAE cuestionó el lenguaje inclusivo

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Este video cortito defina qué es una morfema (la unidad minima de análisis de la palabra). Dice cuales son las diferentes partes del estudio de la morfología, incluyendo los afijos, los derivativos, y los partes lexicales y gramaticales. En el video incluyen los infijos como una morfema, que es un parte de la palabra entre el raíz y el sufijo.

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Una lengua, dos lenguas, tres lenguas, misma lengua

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Una lengua, dos lenguas, tres lenguas, misma lengua

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En diferentes países hispanohablantes hay formas de español que son únicas a sus propias areas. No hay una forma de la idioma "correcta" pero es importante a saber las diferencias entre los dialectos. La mayoría de veces, alguien quien habla el español de Uruguay se puede entender a alguien de España, pero como el Ingles de los EEUU y el Ingles de Inglaterra, hay palabras y frases y acentos distintas.
(0:39-1:30))

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SPAIN SPANISH vs. LATIN AMERICAN SPANISH

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En este reporte de Pew Research Center, indican que Español es la lengua mas hablado en los EEUU menos Ingles y es la lengua creciendo más rápido que otras. No es claro si en el futuro va a caer en uso como ha pasado con otras lenguas que no son el Ingles. Pero es claro que en este momento hay casi cincuenta millones hispanohablantes en los EEUU y por lo pronto el español es una  parte importante de la cultura de los EEUU.

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With more than 37 million speakers, Spanish is by far the most spoken non-English language in the U.S. today among people ages 5 and older. It is also one of the fastest-growing, with the number of speakers up 233% since 1980, when there were 11 million Spanish speakers. (The number of Vietnamese speakers grew faster, up 599% over the same period).

As Spanish use has grown, driven primarily by Hispanic immigration and population growth, it has become a part of many aspects of life in the U.S. For example, Spanish is spoken by more non-Hispanics in U.S. homes than any other non-English language and Spanish language television networks frequently beat their English counterparts in television ratings.

But what's the future of Spanish?

According to a 2011 paper by U.S. Census Bureau Demographers Jennifer Ortman and Hyon B. Shin, the number of Spanish speakers is projected to rise through 2020 to anywhere between 39 million and 43 million, depending on the assumption one makes about immigration. Most of these Spanish speakers will be Hispanic, with Ortman and Shin projecting between 37.5 million and 41 million Hispanic Spanish speakers by 2020.

Ortman and Shin provide two other projections, both of which highlight the changing demographics of the nation's Hispanic population and the rising importance of U.S. births rather than the arrival of new immigrants to Hispanic population growth.

Today, three-fourths of all Hispanics ages 5 and older speak Spanish. However, that share is projected to fall to about two-thirds in 2020. The share of Hispanics that speak Spanish reached 78% in the 2000s.

As the share of Hispanics who speak Spanish falls, the share that speaks only English at home is expected to rise. About a third (34%) of Hispanics will speak only English at home by 2020, up from 25% in 2010, according to Ortman and Shin.

The story of the Spanish language in the U.S. is still unfolding. Whether it follows the same pattern of decline in use as other non-English languages, such as Italian, German or Polish, remains to be seen. ( The number of Italian, German and Polish speakers in the U.S. declined 55.2%, 32.7% and 25.9% between 1980 and 2010, even though the number of Americans who trace their ancestry to Germany, Poland or Italy grew over the same period.)

Nonetheless, the path that Spanish takes could be different. A 2012 Pew Research Hispanic Trends Project report showed 95% of Hispanic adults-including those born in the U.S.-said it is important that future generations of Hispanic speak Spanish. And today's young Hispanics are more likely than their parents to say they hear messages about the importance of speaking Spanish. But among Hispanics, use of English when consuming news media, television entertainment, music or speaking it is on the rise.

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What is the future of Spanish in the United States?

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With more than 37 million speakers, Spanish is by far the most spoken non-English language in the U.S. today among people ages 5 and older. It is also one of the fastest-growing, with the number of speakers up 233% since 1980, when there were 11 million Spanish speakers.

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¿Por qué crees que hay diferentes variaciones lingüísticas en el mundo hispanohablante, y ademas, crees que es beneficio tener representación de las varias formas en la RAE?

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Escribiendo los tildes y marcos de acento

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Escribiendo los tildes y marcos de acento

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Cuando escribimos un documento en la computadora, a veces el programa puede ponder los tildes y marcos de acento en las palabras y letras correctas, pero no en todos casos. Entonces, esta cita contiene las instrucciones para poner tildes en el programa de Microsoft Word. Los marcos de acento en español son importante y pueden cambiar el significado de una palabra.

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For keyboard shortcuts in which you press two or more keys simultaneously, the keys to press are separated by a plus sign (+) in the tables. For example, to type a copyright symbol © , hold down the ALT key and type 0169.

For keyboard shortcuts in which you press one key immediately followed by another key, the keys to press are separated by a comma (,). For example, for è you would press Ctrl + ` , release and then type e.

To type a lowercase character by using a key combination that includes the SHIFT key, hold down the CTRL+SHIFT+symbol keys simultaneously, and then release them before you type the letter. For example, to type a ô, hold down CTRL, SHIFT and ^, release and type o.

To insert this

Press

The Unicode character for the specified Unicode (hexadecimal) character code

The character code, ALT+X

For example, to insert the euro currency symbol , press 20AC, and then hold down the ALT key and press X.

The ANSI character for the specified ANSI (decimal) character code

ALT+the character code (on the numeric keypad)

Make sure that NUM LOCK is on before you type the character code.

For example, to insert the euro currency symbol, hold down the ALT key and press 0128 on the numeric keypad.

For more info on using Unicode and ASCII characters, see Insert ASCII or Unicode character codes.

Notes:

If you're working on a laptop without a separate numeric keyboard, you can add most accented characters using the Insert > Symbol > More Symbols command in Word. For more info, see Insert a symbol in Word.

If you plan to type in other languages often you should consider switching your keyboard layout to that language. For more info see Switch between languages using the Language bar.

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Keyboard shortcuts to add language accent marks in Word

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For keyboard shortcuts in which you press two or more keys simultaneously, the keys to press are separated by a plus sign (+) in the tables. For example, to type a copyright symbol © , hold down the ALT key and type 0169.

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Este video corto contiene ejemplos y practico de la identificación de las sílabas en español. Habla de las reglas de formando las sílabas, incluyendo que las palabras se forman con un consonante perseguido por un vocal. El video nota los sonidos irregulares y unos casos en que la sílaba viene con mas de solo uno vocal y uno consonante.

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Dividing Syllables in Spanish. La división de sílabas en español.

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Hay ciertos tipos de las sílabas en español que son los diptongos, los triptongos y los hiatos. Esta diagram muestra los tipos. Los diptongos son las combinaciones de dos vocales. Los triptongos son las combinaciones de tres vocales, unos de ellos que es fuerte con acento. Finalmente, los hiatos ocurren con dos vocales fuertes o un vocal fuerte con un otro que es débil.

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Esta diagrama de la boca y la lengua muestra dónde la lengua va cuando uno se pronuncie diferentes vocales. Las posiciones de los labios y la lengua son importantes para identificar los diferentes sonidos de español, o cualquier idioma. Español es especial porque uso el alcance efectiva de las vocales.

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Estos ejemplos de afijos nos muestra cómo un afijo se puede crear varias palabras. "Ante-" sirve como un prefijo, indicando temporalidad. "Ante-" es uno de un grande lista de prefijos, incluyendo "Des-" y "Re-". Los afijos son útiles porque eliminan la necesidad de usar muchas palabras para una cosa o concepto.

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Esta diagram de un flor es sobre la palabra raíz de 'flor'. Es un ejemplo de diferentes palabras derivativas. De la palabra raíz, uno puede crear palabras para describir una ocupación, un adverbio, un adjetivo, y otras palabras compuestas. Es importante acordarse que la palabra raíz es una palabra propia y la parte principal de las derivativas.

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Una unificación del español y la tecnología

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Una unificación del español y la tecnología

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Este reporte esta describiendo en el abstracto una programa que   usa las reglas de la idioma española para intentar a resolver problemas morfologías. Este reporte es un ejemplo muy relevante que muestra la morfología y las lingüísticas como parte de desarrollos de la tecnología. Como aprendimos, hay partes de la morfología y partes de la idioma que siempre cambian, entonces una programa para las computadores así podía ser muy útil.

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Este video habla de cinco partes de la gramática española que son critícales para comunicarse con un hispanohablante. Habla de los verbos reflexivos como "ir" e "irse", y de los conectores entre los verbos. Por ejemplo, en español la palabra "intentar" no requiere un conector, pero el verbo "tratar" si lo necesita.

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😎 5 SPANISH GRAMMAR RULES which are CRUCIAL

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Este extracto de un papel académica de la Universidad de Conneticut nos muestra un ejemplo de "clitic climbing" (escalada clítica) y dice que el uso de la escalada clítica es algo inherente en los hablantes nativos. Es una comportamiento que empieza desde niñez y los hispanohablantes nativos nunca paran en el uso de ello. La escalada clítica es un fenómeno de la lengua y de la crianza.

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Ya sabemos que en español no tenemos una palabra para "it". Entonces, los pronombres objetos indirectos se comportan un poco diferente que en inglés. Rodrigo explica cómo "lo" se lo debería usar. Es un concepto tramposo a entender para muchos alumnos, pero en realidad, la conjugación de los verbos hace mucho del trabajo de identificando los sujetos.

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En este video corto, animado, explica la historia de la peninsula
Iberia. Hay los periódicos ante Romano, Romano, Musulmán, La Reconquista, y la época de los reyes católicos. Para comprender cómo desarrolló español, y otras lenguas indo-europeas, es necesario saber la historia geográfica y política del país. Español tiene aspectos de muchas culturas y lenguas, y este proceso de cambios sigue pasando.

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History of Spain: A brief history of Spain

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En este gráfico, nos da detalles de la historia. Unos de los eventos más importantes son el union de las celtas y los iberos, la conquista de los romanos en los años viente y siete BC, la conquista de los moros, y la expansión del imperio a las americas. Esta final punto es muy importante porque desde esta expansión, han salido muchas variaciones lingüísticas.

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Este enlace es una entrada en un blog que habla de la historia de español en los EEUU y Sur America. Sur America, también conocido como "Latin America" fue controlado por varios imperios que hablan lenguas que vienen de Latín, por eso se llama "Latin America." Después de los países de Sur America se ganaron sus independencias, continuaron usando el español, y influyeron a las indígenas que ellos lo usen.

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As anything that's been around for 1,500+ years does, the Spanish language has a rich and complicated history. It has navigated the rise and fall of great empires, has been a symbol of cultural identity, and has both been used as a tool of unity and caused considerable divisiveness. Today, it is the world's second-most spoken native language and is used by people in all corners of the globe to express themselves. This fact makes Spanish a popular choice to learn, as native speakers are never too far away!

Origins in Latin

Spanish originated in the Iberian Peninsula as a dialect of spoken Latin, which is today called "Vulgar Latin," as opposed to the Classical Latin used in literature. The dialect of Spanish that we consider dominant in Europe is called Castellano or Castilian Spanish.

During the Roman Empire, the Latin language was the official language on the peninsula (called "Hispania"), but it mixed with the local languages of the inhabitants, including Celts and Iberians, and began to take on its own unique flavor.

The germination of this uniqueness was accelerated by the Visigoths, a Germanic group that conquered areas of the peninsula in the 4th century during the demise of the Roman Empire. The Visigoths spoke Latin at this time, and rather than a Germanic influence on the language, their main influence was of cultural depression on the peninsula, causing the form of Vulgar Latin spoken to develop in isolation in the 5th century. This is where historians and linguists pinpoint the beginnings of the Spanish language as we know it today.

Following the Visigoths, Muslim Moorish conquerors arrived and contributed more than 4,000 Spanish words from Arabic, along with cultural influences still evident in the design, art, and architecture of Spain. Adopted words from Arabic lost their original pronunciation, however, so the overall sounds or phonology of Spanish was surprisingly not heavily influenced by Arabic.

Castellano

The Reconquista period (between 711 and 1492) refers to the slow reconquering of present-day Spain from the Moors by the Kingdom of Castile (with the help of other allied kingdoms). Castilian Spanish was further popularized by the narrative poems spread orally about Castilian heroes in battle. These were recited even in areas that did not speak this dialect (people were short on entertainment back then).

In the 13th century, King Alfonso X of Castile, known as Alfonso el Sabio (Alfonso the Wise), assembled scribes in his courts of Toledo to document various subjects such as astronomy, law, and history, including translation of classical literature into Spanish. You could say that King Alfonso X was wise to the fact that written language was all the rage, and that commissioning works to be written in his native Castilian before a similar effort was undertaken somewhere else would ensure his language (and therefore influence... and therefore power) would remain prominent. This was a genius marketing move for Castilian Spanish. This solid basis of written Castilian Spanish facilitated the spread of the language during the Reconquista.

The next monarchs of the Kingdom of Castile, Isabella and Ferdinand, were extremely influential in the course of the history of Spanish. Isabella was the queen of Castile and Ferdinand was the King of Aragon. Both kingdoms didn't become one right away, but " it is generally accepted by most scholars that the unification of Spain can essentially be traced back to the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella." Under their rule, the Castilian variety of Spanish was made the official language of all the "re-conquered" territories. They supported Antonio de Nebrija's publication of Arte de la Lengua Castellana (The Art of the Castilian Language), the first attempt to define the grammar of a European language. Their imperial efforts also imposed Spanish on the natives of their American colonies.

Royal Spanish Academy

The Royal Spanish Academy, or Real Academia Española, was founded in 1713, mainly with the purpose of standardizing the language. For example, it did future Spanish learners a big favor by standardizing the use of accents to denote syllabic stress that does not follow the pronunciation rules (see Spanish pronunciation).

Between 1726-1739 it produced its first dictionary (in six volumes). It's still the authoritative source on Castilian Spanish today, reporting an estimated 93,000 words in its latest edition (2014). Because the language differs so much internationally, other Spanish-speaking countries have their own academies to keep tabs on their regional features.

Regional Languages of Spain

The original uploader was Alexandre Vigo at Galician Wikipedia.

Present-day Spain is home to several regional languages: Castilian (spoken by 99% of the population), Catalan (spoken by 19% of the population), Galician (spoken by 5% of the population), and Basque (spoken by 2% of the population). In some cases, these languages are not mutually intelligible for speakers, meaning that they can't understand each other without some difficulty. For example, the Basque language did not originate from the same language family as Spanish, and so it cannot be considered a dialect of Spanish. Today, Spaniards use Castilian Spanish as their lingua franca, but they use their regional language in their everyday lives and, in some cases, in schools and business.

During the Second World War, the dictator Francisco Franco declared Castilian Spanish Spain's only official language, prohibiting the use of other regional languages in many areas. As you might imagine, this caused turmoil in regions which identified more strongly with their regional heritage and local language than with the growing Spanish nationalistic fervor. The regime referred to these other languages as "dialects" of Spanish in a derogatory way - claiming that they were inferior and lacking, and therefore unfit for official use. The concept of "dialect" itself is very controversial and often has as much to do with historical and political implications as it does with linguistic tenets. As the old adage states: "A language is a dialect with an army and a navy." In this case, the reference to the regional languages of Spain as "dialects" had a strong nationalistic (unifying) motivation. Foreign films were dubbed into Castilian or forced to be reissued in Castilian if originally filmed in a regional language. Non-Castilian names were even banned for newborns in 1938.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Spanish parliament agreed to allow regions to print official documents in their regional languages, and today the use of local languages is no longer illegal. There is no doubt, though, that this historical period influenced the spread and status of Castilian Spanish. This recent cultural stifling still informs the identities of many people living in these regions in Spain. Visitors to Spain may notice a strong allegiance to regional identity and pride in local heritage as a consequence of this historical tension.

Spanish in the Americas

Latin America

Spanish colonization brought the language to the Americas beginning in 1492. Today, "Latin America" refers to countries that were subject to Spanish, French, and Portuguese imperialism and therefore still speak a Latin-based language. As a result of Spanish colonialism in Latin America and a few other areas of the globe, Spanish is the official language of 20 countries today (plus one territory: Puerto Rico) and is spoken by 400 million native speakers worldwide. Spanish colonies fought for their independence from Spain throughout the 18th century but maintained Spanish as their official language. Many of these new Latin American governments encouraged use of Spanish by the Amerindian majority to promote national unity following independence.

United States

The first European settlement in the present-day United States was actually established by Spain in what is now Florida. Spanish was the historical language of many current US states while controlled by the Spanish or Mexican governments. The gradual annexation of southwestern states changed the official language to English, but Spanish is still spoken by large portions of the populations in these areas today.

Researcher Rosino Lozano, author of An American Language: The History of Spanish in the United States, discusses how the transition from Spanish as an official language of territories in the American southwest stirred political tumult with the insinuation by many in power that these new territories couldn't be both Spanish-speaking and American. Language rights are still a complicated issue in the United States and continue to be a subject of debate. Although English is the only official language of the United States, government documents are still provided in Spanish in several states, such as in New Mexico and California. Spanish is also the most widely taught second language in the United States. In the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Spanish retains its status as the official language.

Old Spanish versus Modern Spanish

It may surprise you to know that Shakespeare's English was considered Modern English - that's how much a language can change over the years! Unlike Old English or Middle English, Old Spanish is relatively easy for a Modern Spanish (from the 16th century on) speaker to interpret. The possibility to read original medieval artifacts and ancient texts is a rare opportunity for language learners, which is usually complex even for native speakers.

Looking to improve your Spanish? Lingvist is the fastest way to learn Spanish vocabulary and Lingvist's Spanish course has more than 5,000 words!

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The History of the Spanish Language | Lingvist

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As anything that's been around for 1,500+ years does, the Spanish language has a rich and complicated history. It has navigated the rise and fall of great empires, has been a symbol of cultural identity, and has both been used as a tool of unity and caused considerable divisiveness.

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En este periódico, un autor famoso de Colombia dice que la lengua de español, como esta conocido hoy en día, debe mucho a Sur America. Él dijo que muchas de los poetas españoles de la sigla pasada fueran inspirados por otros poetas y autores Latinoamericanos. William Ospina, el autor, sostiene que la cultura y lengua hispano no se puede integrar sí todas sus formas y detalles y aspectos no son reconocidas.

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HAVANA – Prize-winning Colombian author William Ospina kicked off the Semana de Autor (Author Week) literary event in the Cuban capital, giving a talk in which he argued that the Spanish language owes a great deal to Latin America.

Ospina, special guest at this gathering organized by Cuba's Casa de las Americas cultural center, said in his talk Tuesday that the Spanish spoken today in the Iberian Peninsula is not the same as that of five centuries ago and that the influence of Latin America is plainly evident.

Speaking to a crowd of writers and academics, Ospina pointed especially to the influence of modernist poets such as Nicaragua's Ruben Dario on Spain's Generation of '27 literary movement.

"There's not a single poet from the Generation of '27 in Spain – Vicente Aleixandre, Jorge Guillen, Federico Garcia Lorca – who didn't say he discovered poetry by reading Ruben Dario, who was mainly responsible for galvanizing and inspiring the discovery and rebirth of poetry," Ospina said.

The winner of Colombia's National Literature Prize in 2005 said, moreover, that the integration of Latin America will not be achieved until "the infinity of its nuances and the subtle wealth of its differences" are considered.

"It's essential that we abandon the harmful concepts of underdevelopment and of the third world that sought to make development a pre-determined, (externally imposed) path," Ospina added.

According to the Colombian poet and novelist, Latin America is "the first great product of globalization," which emerged from "the discoveries, (was) engendered by the first advances of mercantilism, inheritors of the languages, religions and institutions of Europe."

The 55-year-old Ospina is scheduled to give a reading of his poetry this week in Havana, to join a panel of Cuban intellectuals who will discuss his fiction and on Friday to present "El pais de la canela" (Cinnamon Country), winner of the 2009 Romulo Gallegos International Novel Prize.

Published in 2008, that acclaimed work is the second novel in the author's trilogy on Spanish conquistador and poet Juan de Castellanos, a project that began with "Ursua" and will conclude with "La serpiente sin ojos" (The Eyeless Serpent).

Semana del Autor is an initiative that involves welcoming one author each year to the island to participate in a debate on his or her literary production. Last year, the guest of honor was Mexico's Sergio Pitol. EFE

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Latin American Herald Tribune - Colombia's Ospina Says Spanish Language Owes Much to Latin America

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HAVANA - Prize-winning Colombian author William Ospina kicked off the Semana de Autor (Author Week) literary event in the Cuban capital, giving a talk in which he argued that the Spanish language owes a great deal to Latin America.

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¿De cuál familia de lenguas viene el español?
A. Indo-Irania
B. Alemán
C. Indo-Europea
D. Oeste-Alemán

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Este documento contiene varios frases que usan palabras en diferentes maneras. Es interesante a comparar estos frases con los traducciones en Inglés, porque nos muestra la diferencia el cambio de uno o dos palabras puede tener en el significado de la frase. La semántica tiene que ser con la selección de las palabras.

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Para estudiar la semántica es para estudiar el significado. El profesor en este video describe los diferentes campos de estudia relacionada a la semántica. Es relacionada a otras temas que hemos explorado como la sintaxis. La semántica puede ser un campo de las lingüísticas muy abstracto.

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Las sinonimias son un gran parte de la semántica. Cuando uno esta formando una oración, hay varias palabras que se puede usar, algunas palabras significan la misma cosa que una otra, pero hay casos en que el cambio de una palabra cambia el significado de la oración entera.

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En este table de roles semánticas, vimos los diferentes roles, pero en realidad hay muchos mas que hay aquí. Los diferentes roles nos dice cómo deberíamos interpretar la palabra de interés. Un table así nos ayuda en clasificar palabras y estos ochos roles semánticas son los grupos más grandes y comunes, pero hay palabras que no se quedan bien en estos grupos o no se quedan bien en solo uno rol.

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Este articulo describe diferentes acentos de ciertos partes de Mexico, España, Colombia, Argentina y otras partes de Latinoamérica. Mientras hay videos que muestra las diferencias, este articulo describe los acentos con palabras, entonces es más fácil para comprender y identificar los acentos distintos.

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If you are learning Spanish then it may be interesting, or even useful, to know how to recognize different Spanish accents. There are a lot of them! In fact, Spanish is the second most widely spoken language on the planet after Mandarin Chinese. So with over 400 million native speakers, it's no surprise that there are dozens of accents.

So how can you learn to recognize different Spanish accents?

Learn How to Recognize Different Spanish Accents

In order to learn how to recognize different Spanish accents you need to listen for the particular pronunciation, intonation and articulation of words and phrases. Although written Spanish is all the same, the way it is spoken can be quite varied. Even within one country, you can hear several different accents.

So, the best way to recognize different Spanish accents is to learn what to listen for and then compare. A great way to do this is to watch and from Spanish-speaking countries.

To start you off on learning how to identify different Spanish accents, below is a brief explanation of what to listen for in order to recognize 5 common Spanish accents:

Castilian

Castilian is the language of Madrid and northern Spain and is quite easily identified. Its most obvious characteristic is the pronunciation of 'ci' and 'ce' as 'th'. For example, 'gracias' (thank you) sounds like grath-ee-as instead of the gras-ee-as you would hear in other Spanish-speaking countries. While it may sound like a lisp, it isn't and it will make it easy tell if the speaker is from Spain.

Mexican

Mexican Spanish is another distinct accent that has unique characteristics. Aside from the very particular slang that is used throughout Mexico, you should listen for the intonation of the last word of each sentence. The tone rises and is slightly drawn out towards the end of sentences and is slightly nasal.

Argentinian

Due to its heavy Italian influence, the Argentinian accent is quite singular. It has a sing-song quality to it and they pronounce 'll' as 'sh' instead of the 'y' sound you usually hear (same goes for Uruguay). In addition to this, Argentinians use 'vos' instead of 'tu' as in most other Spanish-speaking countries. It is also used with a verb form that is similar to 'thou' or thee' in English.

Caribbean & Coastal Latin America

When you travel to the Dominican Republic, the coast of Colombia or Venezuela, or any other Spanish-speaking coastal area, be prepared to focus on your listening. These areas tend to speak Spanish very quickly! One of the other biggest tip-offs that you are listening to Caribbean or coastal Spanish, is the dropping of the 's' at the end of words. It's considered rather informal or laid back although the speed is faster that normal! So, why drop the 's'? Well, dropping the 's' lets you speak faster, of course.

Colombian

The Spanish spoken in Colombia is often considered to be one of the most pure or neutral, particularly that of Bogotá which is clear and spoken rather slowly. That being said, Colombia is a very diverse country and there are multiple accents throughout its different regions. The most notable accent is from Medellin and its surrounding areas. Oddly enough, the people from this area also use 'vos' instead of 'tu' and the corresponding verb form just like in Argentina. The accent has a more musical quality to it and many people find it very pleasant to listen to.

At the end of the day, there are probably too many accents to really learn them all but it is a fascinating endeavor. Of course, describing an accent with words cannot compare to actually listening to it. As mentioned above, a great exercise is to watch movies and TV series. We also recommend checking out YouTube videos so you can see and hear these accents for yourself.

Below is a humorous rendition of a few classic Spanish accents by Venezuelan comedian Joanna Hausmann. It's all in good fun and as always, learning is more enjoyable when it's funny.

Hopefully this has given you some insight into what sets different Spanish accents apart and how to learn to recognize them. We'd love to find out your thoughts on what some of these different accents sound like to you. Which ones are the most difficult to understand and why?

Do you have any favorite Spanish accents you'd like to share with the community?
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Learn How To Recognize Different Spanish Accents

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If you are learning Spanish then it may be interesting, or even useful, to know how to recognize different Spanish accents. There are a lot of them! In fact, Spanish is the second most widely spoken language on the planet after Mandarin Chinese.

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En este video breve, explica una historia de la lengua española y cómo se desarrolló en Latinoamérica. Él nos da ejemplos de las diferentes léxicos, énfasis y frases que usan en diferentes países hispanohablantes. Él dijo que es importante a recordar que no hay una dialecto más 'correcto' que otra, pero en realidad la mayoría de los hispanohablantes se pueden entender.

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Spanish Dialects Around The World: How Spanish Varies From Country To Country

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El seseo, ceseo y yeismo son diferentes fenómenos de la pronunciación de ciertos consonantes. En el seseo, que usan  en los mayorías de regiones, uno pronuncia la "C" y "Z" como una "S". El ceseo es el caso contrario al seseo. Lo usan principalmente en España. El yeismo pasa cuando uno no pronuncie una distinción entre ll e y. La causa es la mayor facilidad de pronunciación de la y que la ll. La zona de yeísmo más intensa es principalmente en Madrid y el sur. Se lo encuentra en Hispanoamérica también.

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Este mapa muestra cuales países tienen el español como su lengua oficial. Están colorados en azul. El mapa no se dice mucho solo, pero  nos ayuda visualizar la historia de la colonización de España en Latinoamérica. Dos países que no están notados en el mapa son los EEUU y Brazil. En los EEUU, el Español no es una idioma oficial, pero es la lengua más hablado después del Inglés. En Brazil, hablan el Portuguese, pero también hay muchas influyas de español de los países cercas.

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En este video, la mujer habla de los dialectos de español de Miami, Los Angeles y Nueva York. Todos tienen diferentes influyas porque hay arregladas de diferentes poblaciones allá. Hay mas de 40 millones de hispanohablantes en este país, y especialmente en los estados de la frontera, uno puede oír y ver el español en todos los lugares.

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Este articulo de PBS es muy fascinante. Nos da cuenta que el español llegó a este continente antes del inglés. También incluye mitos y malentendidos de español en los EEUU. Por ejemplo, mucha gente cree que no hay tan variación de el español aquí como en latinoamerica, pero no es cierto.

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Do You Speak American . Sea to Shining Sea . American
Varieties . Spanglish . USA | PBS

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Correcting Myths
Spanish predated English in arriving in what is now the United States.
For 400 years, the two languages have co-existed; today’s immigrants
continue to bring variation. Phillip M. Carter
explains how
Spanish came to our shores and explores its many dialects.

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Este articulo de los New York Times describe cómo la lengua sigue con fuerza no solo en las comunidades hispanos, pero en todos partes de los EEUU. Por ejemplo, en los mercados, en estudios de bailes, y en un creciendo cantidad de escuelas, el español es central. En ciertos partes, hay esfuerzas para dejarse el español y solo hablar el ingles. En todos casos, el español sigue porque la lengua es integral a la identidad de alguien.

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At the same time, more than 20 states have enacted laws making English the official language, President Trump won the election with a platform that included building a border wall, and his push for new limits on legal immigration would require that applicants speak English to obtain legal residency green cards.

Juan Rodríguez, 44, a Colombian immigrant who owns La Reina, a Spanish-language radio station in Des Moines, said it was an "extremely uncertain time" for some Spanish speakers, particularly undocumented immigrants who are trying to be seen and heard less often now that the president has made deportation a priority.

"But that fear doesn't prevent us from living our lives in Spanish," Mr. Rodríguez added. "Iowa may be an English-only state, but it's also our state."

Throughout the world, the position of English as the pre-eminent language seems unchallenged. The United States projects its influence in English in realms including finance, culture, science and warfare.

But on a global level, Mandarin Chinese dwarfs English in native speakers, ranking first with 898 million, followed by Spanish with 437 million, according to Ethnologue, a compendium of the world's languages. Then comes English with 372 million, followed by Arabic, Hindi, Bengali, Portuguese and Russian.

Immigration from Latin America bolstered the use of Spanish in the United States in recent decades, but scholars say other factors are also in play, including history, the global reach of the language, and the ways in which people move around throughout the Spanish-speaking world.

Authorities in parts of the United States have repeatedly argued for curbing the spread of Spanish, like the former Arizona schools chief who said all Spanish-language media should be silenced. A judge pushed back this week against that official's drive to also ban the state's Mexican-American studies program, saying the ban was "motivated by racial animus."

Linguists trace some of the coveted vibrancy that Spanish now enjoys to decisions made well before Spain began colonizing the New World in 1492.

As the Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes explained in "The Buried Mirror," his book about the Hispanic world, the 13th-century Spanish king Alfonso X assembled a cosmopolitan brain trust of Jewish intellectuals, Arab translators and Christian troubadours, who promoted Spanish as a language of knowledge at a time when Latin and Arabic still held prestige on the Iberian Peninsula.

Alfonso and his savants forged Spanish into an exceptionally well-organized language with phonetic standards, making it relatively accessible for some learners. They are thought to have hewed to a policy of "castellano drecho" - straight or right Spanish - imbuing the language with a sense of purpose.

Even today, Spanish remains mutually intelligible around the world to a remarkable degree, with someone, say, from the Patagonian Steppe in Argentina able to hold a conversation with a visitor from Equatorial Guinea, one of Africa's largest oil exporters.

Drawing on entropy, a concept from thermodynamics referring to disorder, Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow, the Canadian authors of a 2013 book charting the evolution of Spanish, describe the degree to which Spanish is spread out geographically over a wide array of countries.

By this measure, Mandarin ranks low on the entropy scale since most of its speakers live in the same country. English boasts greater entropy, but Spanish, the majority language in more than 20 countries, ranks first, followed by Arabic.

Rivaling Spain and parts of Latin America, the United States exemplifies how the movement of people throughout the Spanish-speaking world is taking the language in new directions.

In metropolitan Los Angeles, an area with more than 4 million Spanish speakers - more than Uruguay's entire population - linguists say that a new dialect has coalesced as different types of Spanish come into contact with one another. And here in New Mexico, an influx of Mexican and Central American immigrants is nourishing and reshaping a variant of Spanish that has persisted since the 16th century.

Ojos Locos, a cavernous sports bar in Albuquerque, offers a glimpse into how Spanish is changing. Like El Super, it's part of a chain founded in the United States aimed at the Latino market.

"What's a sports cantina without delicious authentic Mexican comida - mas tacos, mas wings y mas cerveza," Ojos Locos explains on its website. Such servings were in abundance on a recent Sunday when Mexico's national soccer team played against Jamaica, and mexicano Spanish seemed to be the venue's dominant language.

But some tables were effortlessly mixing English and Spanish, especially those where children were accompanying their parents, while others, including tables of mixed-ethnicity couples, cheered, conversed and cursed (Mexico lost, 1-0) over their frozen margaritas almost entirely in English.

The ways in which families use languages at the dinner table also show how Spanish is evolving.

In the Nava family, which moved to New Mexico from northern Mexico more than 20 years ago, the grandparents passionately debate in Spanish the performance of their football team, the Dallas Cowboys.

But when their adult children talk to one another, it's in Spanglish. And the language of their grandchildren? Mainly English, with a sprinkling of Spanish words here and there.

"Our real communication is in Spanglish," said Cindy Nava, 29, a policy analyst at the New Mexico Legislature who arrived in the United States at the age of 7. "But we still recognize the importance of speaking Spanish correctly."

Irking some grammarians, Spanglish is indeed gaining ground, evident in the way characters in telenovelas are speaking, Daddy Yankee's reggaetón lyrics or ads like the Wendy's commercial in which sweethearts bond over bacon cheeseburgers served on buns of "pan de pretzel."

Ilan Stavans, a professor of Latino culture at Amherst College who has translated classics like Cervantes's " Don Quixote" and Saint-Exupéry's "The Little Prince" into Spanglish, argues that we are witnessing "the emergence of something totally new, not in any way pure, a mestizo language."

Long before Mr. Trump was elected, the growth and durability of Spanish had caused concerns, leading to "official language" laws that in some cases limit the use of any language other than English in government offices and documents, and in other cases are largely symbolic.

Rosalie Porter, who came to the United States from Italy as a child and is now the chairwoman of an organization seeking to end bilingual education and declare English the official language of the United States, said, "When I was an immigrant child, my language was not politically correct."

"Today it's different," said Ms. Porter, whose group, ProEnglish, was founded by John Tanton, a Michigan doctor who started a handful of organizations seeking to restrict immigration. "Immigrants enjoy a lot more visibility" she added, emphasizing that she understood the business reasons behind the growth of Spanish-language media.

Even apart from political efforts, the continued growth of Spanish in the United States is not assured. Linguists have documented how new generations of Latinos around the country are steadily shifting to English, just as descendants of other immigrants have done.

But if the past is a guide, Spanish will continue to evolve and endure.

"In many places in the U.S., English and Spanish are in bed with each other, a contact that is both generative and exciting," said Junot Díaz, the writer who masterfully explores the immigrant experience in the United States, largely through the travails of his Spanglish-speaking Dominican protagonist, Yunior.

"For many of us," he went on, "Spanish is our path to love, and as history has proven no one can legislate away love."

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Spanish Thrives in the U.S. Despite an English-Only Drive

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At the same time, more than 20 states have enacted laws making English the official language, President Trump won the election with a platform that included building a border wall, and his push for new limits on legal immigration would require that applicants speak English to obtain legal residency green cards.

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Este gráfico circular muestra diferentes razones para usar la alternancia de código. Yo puedo decir que yo uso alternancia de código para las expresiones habituales, para clarificar y cuando estoy hablando de la misma lengua. Yo nunca he pensado que la alternancia de código fue un parte de la lingüística.