Castilian Spanish Language

The name “Castilian” is the most classic and traditional term, however at the moment Spanish is the term most used all over the world. The term Spanish American (hispanoamericano) is very long and would exclude regions such as the Philippines, where it has been spoken for centuries. The Spanish language is the most widely spoken of the Romance languages, both in terms of number of speakers and the number of countries in which it is the dominant language.

The history of the Spanish language in Spain and the origin of the dialects of Spain begin with the linguistic evolution of Vulgar Latin.

The history of Spanish language in America starts with the colonization of America at the end of the fifteenth century. At this point the Spanish language was already firmly consolidated in the Iberian peninsula.

Besides being spoken in Spain, it is the official language of all the South American republics except Brazil and French Guyana, of the six republics of Central America, as well as of Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.

Additionally, the Spanish language is spoken in the Balearic and Canary islands , in parts of Morocco and the west coast of Africa, and also in Equatorial Guinea. In the United States it is widely spoken in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, New York City and in southern Florida.

There are about 400 million Spanish Speakers worldwide. Pronunciation and usage of the spoken Spanish language naturally vary among countries, but regional differences are not so great as to make the language unintelligible to speakers from different areas. There is no such thing as a single 'Latin-American Spanish', there are different Spanish dialects.

Each of the nineteen Latin American Spanish-speaking countries has its own accents and its own slang and popular expressions, but any of them understands and could speak and read in a neutral Spanish.

This is why you will need the expertise of Trusted Translations in Latin American Spanish translations to help you decide when you should use a neutral Spanish or when you should localize your text with an specific Spanish dialect for any specific Spanish-speaking market.

Some characteristics of Spanish Language

Spanish language utilizes the Latin alphabet with a few special letters: vowels with acute accent (á, ú, é, í, ó), dieresis u (ü) and n with tilde (ñ).

The Spanish language spelling system, due to substantial number of reforms, is almost perfectly phonemic and, therefore, is easy to learn compared to the majority of languages.

The Spanish language is pronounced phonetically; however, beware of the translation trilled 'r' which is somewhat complex to reproduce. The letter 'b' and 'v' are almost indistinguishable. The letter 'h' is silent.

Spanish language uses 3 letters in translation to the English alphabet: 'n' and the letter combinations 'ch' and 'll', which are treated as single translation letters. 'W' originally wasn't part of the Spanish translation alphabet; it has been included to accommodate words of foreign translation.

Spanish language punctuation is very close to English, but is not the same. There are a few significant differences. For example, in Spanish, the exclamatory and interrogative sentences are preceded by inverted question and exclamation marks, for example, ¿Habla usted inglés? (Do you speak English?) or ¡Qué lástima! (What a pity!). Also, in a Spanish dialog, a change in speakers is indicated by a dash (-), while in English, each speaker's remark is placed in separate paragraphs.

Formal and informal translation address: Deference and politeness is expressed by the translation between 2nd person 'tu' and 3rd person 'usted'.

'Ser' vs. 'estar': Two verbs denote the translation concept of to be. ' Ser' is used for permanent states; 'estar' is used to describe temporary things and to indicate translation.

Inflection, declination and grammatical gender are important features of Spanish language.

Translate into the Spanish Language

From a practical and non-academic point of view, it is possible to make the following operational distinctions taking into account the destination markets of different translations into Spanish:

• Neutral Spanish or Universal Spanish

  Destination Market: All Spanish speaking people, regardless of their place of residence.

  Neutral Spanish is also called, especially in English, Castilian Spanish.

• Iberian Spanish, Peninsular Spanish, European Spanish or Spanish for Spain

  Destination Market: Spain.

  The Spanish of Spain is also called, especially in English, Castilian Spanish (Spanish from Castilla), as in the case of universal or neutral Spanish, creating a conceptual confusion that can only be resolved by clarifying the concepts, that is to say explaining what is being referred to as "Castilian Spanish".

• Latin American Spanish or Spanish for Latin America

  Destination Market: Latin America and the United States

  Some people also distinguish between Latin American Spanish and US Spanish. This differentiation is in formation or creation, since the Spanish spoken in the United States of America is the Spanish of different Latin American immigrants, so there may be Spanish with more Mexican influence in California, and at the same time Spanish with more Caribbean influence in Florida.

Which Spanish I should use for my translations?

These distinctions are clear in some areas and vague in others and, depending on the area, they may or may not be clearly identifiable. Also, there are big sub-divisions, especially within the use that has been given to the term Latin American Spanish or Spanish for Latin America.

In certain cases, it is possible to use neutral Spanish and, in other cases, it’s advisable to use Latin American Spanish or Iberian Spanish. Depending on the areas or industries concerned and the public being addressed, it may be necessary to highlight these classifications emphasizing the differences instead of the similarities.

Therefore, depending on the market which the client wants to reach, a more specific Spanish should be used, for example, Mexican Spanish or Argentinean Spanish.

Our experts will help you determine which is the best choice depending on the case, the objective of your company, your budget, your communication needs and the public being addressed.