According to statistical data, over 332 million people have Spanish as their mother language.
The total number of individuals using it, is about 381 million.
Twenty countries have it as their official language: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The maximum authority dedicated to the study and preservation of the Spanish
language is the "Real Academia Espanola de la Lengua", created on October 1714 by King Felipe V of Spain.
Language is a form of expression, and as such, it cannot be static. Like a living organism, its evolution goes together with progress in science, in the arts, in industry, in sports and in every human activity.
It continues to grow with the addition of new words or "neologisms", eliminating others which become old and not in use (archaisms).
Examples of neologisms are: futbol (football); autopista (highway); rascacielos (skyscraper); antibiotico (antibiotic); cibernetica (cybernetic).
Examples of archaisms: desfacer (undue); principesa (princess).
The denomination of a language has to do with its country of origin.
The Spanish language was born in Spain, and it is also called "Castellan" (Castellano) because of its exact place of birth.
It derives from Latin, and belongs to the "romantic or neolatin" languages, such as French, Italian, Portuguese, Rumanian and Provencal.
The Spanish language has now 29 letters, after having incorporated the letter "w" which is only used in words of a foreign origin.
The letter "k" is used only in words of Greek origin like "kilometro" (kilometer), "kilogramo" (kilogram).
In Spanish there are two groups of letters: "double", which are the ones written with two signs, such as ch, ll and rr; and "simple", being all the rest.
Spanish is not difficult to pronounce and spell. It is a "phonetic" language. This means that words are spelled as they are pronounced.
There are no silent letters in Spanish, except for "h", which is always silent, and "u" which is silent under certain circumstances.
Pronunciation - Vowels
There are three "strong" vowels: a, e, o; and two "weak" vowels: i, u. Their pronunciation never change, consisting of one simple sound vibrating the laringe, without finding any obstacule to modify it while going through the mouth. The pronunciation of the vowels does not involve the teeth. Tongue and lips have also very little participation. Examples: a: as in arm; e: as in exit; i: as in eel; o: as in cop; u: as in moon.
Vowel Combinations
ua: pronounced as "wah"; ue: as "weh"; ie:as ee-eh; and ei: as eh-ee.
These samples are not exact equivalents of pronunciation, but they are near enough for practical purposes.
Consonants
Most consonants used in Spanish are pronounced like English consonants, except for a few: h is always silent; j is pronounced like a strong English h; g like a hard g in "go"; ll like y in "you"; n (with a tilde on top which we cannot reproduce on AOL) is pronounced like n in "onion"; rr: pronounced with a strong trill; r is pronounced like an rr at the beginning of a word and at other times it has a slight trill; s,z: like hissing s in "see"; qu like k. Examples: hoy (today; jueves (Thursday); garage; llamo (I call); jarro (tin cup); rosa (rose); sala (living room); diez (ten); queso (cheese).
Syllables
It is conveniente to learn the correct way to separate syllables for writing when the word cannot be written complete at the end of a line.
In Spanish, words can only be separated by complete syllable: me-jo-rar (to better); fun-cio-nar (to function); her-ma-na (sister.
Double letters ch, rr and ll are considered as one letter, and cannot be separated.
The Use of Capital Letters
1- The first word of every phrase.
2- First and last names of people.
3- The title of a person: Doctor; Sra. Maria Fernandez (Mrs); Gobernador (Governor); Don Luis Garcia (Mr); Ud. caballero (you gentleman).
Important: usted (you) written as a full word is written in small letters. Don only uses capital letter "D" at the beginning of a phrase.
4- Adjectives that are part of the name of an institution or establishment: Escuela de Arquitectos (School of Architects); Museo de Bellas Artes (Museum of Fine Arts).
5- Names of books and other creations: Historia de Europa; La Divina Comedia (Divine Comedy)
6- After : in letters and public documents: Estimado amigo: Esperamos que se encuentre bien (Dear friend: We hope you are well.
