Spanish language in the Americas, also known as American Spanish, (Spanish: español americano) refers to the Spanish spoken in the Americas, as opposed to European Spanish. Linguistically, this grouping is somewhat arbitrary, akin to having a term for "overseas British" encompassing variants spoken in the US, Canada, India, New Zealand and Ireland, but not England. The point is that there is great diversity among the various American dialects, and it would be hard to point to one trait shared by all of them which is not also in existence in one or more of the variants of Spanish used in Spain. Of the more than 469 million people who speak Spanish as their mother tongue, more than 418 million are in Latin America and the United States.
There are numerous regional particularities and idiomatic expressions within Spanish. In American Spanish, loanwords directly from English are relatively more frequent, and often foreign spellings are left intact. One notable trend is the higher abundance of loan words taken from English in Latin America as well as words derived from English. In Latin America they speak of la computadora while in Spain it's el ordenador, and each word sounds foreign in the region where it is not used. It is important to note that many of these differences are due to Iberian Spanish having a stronger French influence than Latin America, where, for geopolitical reasons, the United States influence has been predominant throughout the twentieth century.
Read more about Spanish Language In The Americas: Main Features, Further Information
Famous quotes containing the words spanish, language and/or americas:
“Wheeler: Aren’t you the fellow the Mexicans used to call “Brachine”?
Dude: That’s nearly right. Only it’s “Borracho.”
Wheeler: I don’t think I ever seen you like this before.
Dude: You mean sober. You’re probably right. You know what “Borracho” means?
Wheeler: My Spanish ain’t too good.
Dude: It means drunk. No, if the name bothers ya’ they used to call me Dude.”
—Jules Furthman (1888–1960)
“Our goal as a parent is to give life to our children’s learning—to instruct, to teach, to help them develop self-discipline—an ordering of the self from the inside, not imposition from the outside. Any technique that does not give life to a child’s learning and leave a child’s dignity intact cannot be called discipline—it is punishment, no matter what language it is clothed in.”
—Barbara Coloroso (20th century)
“The only history is a mere question of one’s struggle inside oneself. But that is the joy of it. One need neither discover Americas nor conquer nations, and yet one has as great a work as Columbus or Alexander, to do.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)