Spanish help!

[Napoleon Solo]

This is going to be directed towards RCGills mainly, as he's the only person I know on this board that definitely speaks Spanish. If anyone else can be of any help though, please feel free to pop in!

First question - during my learning so far I've come across two different words for the Spanish language. The first is the obvious español, though I've also heard the language referred to as castellano. In what context is each term used? Does español refer solely to the official language of Spain whilst castellano is the preferred name of the language used for Spanish-speaking countries in the Americas and elsewhere? Or is there another explanation, castellano being the official language of all Spanish speaking countries, español being used in comparison to other states possibly?



I'll return the favour, so if anyone needs any help with their Japanese just let me know!

[Winrew]

RC is the man btw.

But its summat to do with Romance from the North of Spain..

Hang on

Spanish (español (help·info)) or Castilian (castellano) is a Romance language originally from the northern area of Spain. From there, its use gradually spread inside the Kingdom of Castile, where it evolved and eventually became the principal language of the government and trade. It was later taken to Africa, the Americas and Asia Pacific when they were brought under Spanish colonial rule between the 15th and 19th centuries.
Today, it is one of the official languages of Spain, most Latin American countries and Equatorial Guinea. In total, 21 nations use Spanish as their primary language. Spanish is also one of six official languages of the United Nations.
The language is spoken by between 322 and 400 million people natively,^[13][7] making Spanish the most spoken Romance language and possibly the second most spoken language by number of native speakers.^[14][15]

Thats of that Wikepedia thing ......

[slick]

i don't know why ure asking for RC when i'm about Napolean.

Español as you mention is the local verbitation of the spanish dialect, Esp is latin for 'talk' or 'to say', we even use it in the English language in words like 'Esp'specially which was past down from the Romans during their emporic period as they used a lot of greek nouns.

añol was just a rouse by the Romans as it was also latin for anal or arse as we know it today, the Italians have never got on with their neighbours and during their conquest of spain Español became a great gag between the Roman politicians of the day as the Spanish were said to be talking 'Español' (talking arse or anally) from which came expressions such as 'talking through your arse' .

For Centuries the Spanish never quite twigged and after the Roman empire faded and the penny dropped, the Spanish goverment was quick to change there language to castellano meaning 'language so true' but by then the world knew it as Español and to this day it has stuck.

[Napoleon Solo]

Cheers Slick, that explains a lot!



And thanks to Winrew as well, the old romantic!
How do you know some much about northern Spainish romance? Did you take the missus up the Pyrenees in your youth?

[Winrew]

Nope !!!

We do get lovey dovey when we go away on holiday mind , its the heat , she just gets all hot and bothered ( horny ) i need a holiday when we get back as she gets a years worth while away

We are going to Eygpt next month , i hope it rains ,,,,,,

[rcgills]

@ Slick

This is also from Wikipedia. When I say "also", I mean because Winrew's was from there too, not because Slick's was :

Spaniards tend to call this language español (Spanish) when contrasting it with languages of other states, such as French and English, but call it castellano (Castilian), that is, the language of the Castile region, when contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician, Basque, and Catalan. This reasoning also holds true for the language's preferred name in some Hispanic American countries. In this manner, the Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the official language of the whole Spanish State, as opposed to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. the other Spanish languages). Article III reads as follows:

El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. (…) Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas…

Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. (…) The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities…

The name castellano is however widely used for the language as a whole in Latin America. Some Spanish speakers consider castellano a generic term with no political or ideological links, much as "Spanish" is in English. Often Americans use it to differentiate their own variety of Spanish as opposed to the variety of Spanish spoken in Spain, or vice-versa, to refer to that variety of Spanish which is considered as standard in the region

[rcgills]

More stuff here, including the true facts about the Romans

Names given to the Spanish language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[MYDOGDYLAN]

ermmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm cough cough