Comments on: Is there a proper type of Spanish?

By: L. A. Pinel

L. A. Pinel — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:25:15 +0000

Hola Francisco,

Spanish is a very varied language. On this regard there are many ways in which popular language usage is structured. The spoken Spanish from Mexico and Puerto Rico for example have lots of linguistic features which are particular to each of them. This phenomenon also happens among all the other Spanish varieties of oral Spanish.

Quite often when people who use different dialectical forms (varieties) of a language come in contact with each other, there can be conflictive situations resulting from their interaction. This may be more evident in the school grounds where children get together. Children can not be blamed for their reactions; they simply don’t know why they do that. On the other hand, in the school environment teachers, especially language teachers must teach their pupils to be tolerant of the particular way or ways in which children and all people use language.

As I say in my article, no Spanish variety is superior to any other; but we need to come to terms with the many different ways people make use of language by showing respect to speakers regardless of the type of Spanish they use.

By: Francisco Robledo

Francisco Robledo — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 06:48:02 +0000

Hi my name is Francisco i am from Puerto Rico, in Puerto Rico we learn the castilian spanish which is rule by the Rela Academi of the Spanish Language. Now I live in Texas my kids speak spanish but they have a hard time in school, since we teach them the spanish my wife and I learn in collage in Puerto Rico but in Texas they use the variation from Mexico and they tell my kids ours is wrong, I replay to them if they have any doubth they should check the dictionaty of the Real Academi of the Spanish Language. I belive the spanish came to Mexico with Hernan Cortez who came from Spain.Or he lerned from them?

By: big ed

big ed — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:49:04 +0000

Lets face it, learn American english first then spanish as used in the Americas and then spanglish caint, oh I mean you can not go wrong. You all have a good day, ese.

By: Bilingual Blogger

Bilingual Blogger — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:36:16 +0000

This entry of “proper Spanish” reminds me of when people say “speak proper English.” It’s a never ending debate. Beginning students of Spanish should strive to learn grammatically correct Spanish and not obsess about whether what they’re learning is “universal”, “proper” or “standard”, since it will be all three if they do that one thing.

By: Luis

Luis — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:39:12 +0000

Hola Miguel,

I didn’t know that there was a ‘Universal Spanish from Mexico’; this is the first time I hear that!

What I’ve tried to explain here, it’s to do with the nature of the Spanish language as a whole. It has nothing to do with regional or national variations, as they are too many and far too broad to be considered in a short post like this.

Standard Spanish (a regulated form of Spanish, generally the one recognized by the Spanish Language Academy) is the only ‘universal’ language type – and it doesn’t belong to anyone. This Spanish variety is a widely accepted form of Spanish. The Castilian Spanish (from Spain) and all the Spanish varieties from the American continent are all legitimate forms of modern Spanish.

There are many varieties of Spanish currently in use. They are all legitimate and from the linguistic point of view none of them is better or worse than any other. They simply are means for oral and written communication used by people that must be studied according to cultural and historic considerations.

By: Miguel Gutierrez

Miguel Gutierrez — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:21:24 +0000

What I personaly concider proper Spanish would be Spanishfrom the main city in Spain, but the apparent Universal Spanish is from Mexico. Is this wrong? I can not say, but it is definitely different from other South American Spanish, many words are similar, but not always. But sometimes it also goes as far as to some one word may mean one thing and to another is an insult. Minor example is for Chilean Pendejo it is a way to say Pubic Hair, to Argentinian it means a Little Child. There are many other differences, but to me Span Spanish is proper, and that it has to come from the place (City) of origin. Remember Latin America was started by Spaniards.