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I understand the definition Castellano = Spanish, as it simplifies a lot of things. The danger of such definition is that it overshadows the other languages spo
by Rod 16y ago
I understand the definition Castellano = Spanish, as it simplifies a lot of things. The danger of such definition is that it overshadows the other languages spoken in Spain. The definition British English = English proper is one thing, but British = English is another, as it obscures the fact that there are other languages spoken in Britain and, thus, is somewhat "imperialistic".
In any case, I have never met a Spanish person who said "I speak Spanish" in Castellano. I have heard Spanish people saying that in English, because most foreigners are somewhat ignorant about Spain and think that the country is all about toros y sevillanas, a monolithic, homogeneous block, culturally and linguistically, which is far from the truth.
Disclaimer: I am Portuguese.
- barredo 16y agoTotally agree with you. In Spain we usually say 'castellano' (as stated by the wikipedia), and almost everyone say 'castellano' in areas where there is more than one official language. In America is different, as there are no more 'Spanish languages' spoken there (apart from Portuguese being an 'Hispanic language') it's more fair to say 'Español' again: I guess. The difference between 'Spanish' and 'Hispanic' will fill books and books. I remember studying when Queen of Castille and Navarre, and the King of Aragon married and thus, creating what's mostly known today as Spain, calling it something like 'Ispania / Espanya' and get an angry letter from King of Portugal saying something like: "You can't call your kingdom that way, because 'Hispania' refers to the whole peninsula and Portugal is not part of the kingdom, so change it asap, thanx bye" History is sure fun
- euccastro 16y agoAnd the truth is even more complex than that. Roman "Hispania" included originally a good chunk of what today is southern France and of the north of Africa, territory that nowadays would be in Morocco and Algeria. After the Muslim invasion, (I)spania it was the name the Christians gave to Al-Andalus, the Muslim part of the peninsula, while the Christian northwest preserved the name Gallaecia. In some of these maps, especially in the translation of arab ones, the opposition Gallaecia vs (H(i))spania/Al-Andalus can be observed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfcBE8iEYkc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfcBE8iEYkc The kingdom of Aragon, and therefore "Ispania", included Sicily and Naples too at some point.
- euccastro 16y agoOn the other hand, in Galicia it's independentist people who most often refer to Castillian as "Spanish", implying that Galicia/Basque Country/Catalonia not being Spain, and Asturian-Leonese and Aragonese being mostly extinct, the only language left in "Spain" is pretty much Castillian.