APUNTES (NOTES): WHY SPANISH? Unit 1

PREGUNTA (QUESTION) 1: What are the benefits or opportunities gained by learning Spanish (or another foreign language)?

RESPUESTAS (ANSWERS) 1 : Culture —learn/appreciate differences Respect for other cultures/customs/people Language Link —communication Career —better job opportunities Vacation enjoyment —opportunity to converse with people from Spanish-speaking countries High school graduation —fulfill the 2 year requirement to graduate from high school

PREGUNTA 2: How many countries in the world speak Spanish?

RESPUESTA 2: 20 countries in the world speak Spanish; this does not include the small country in Africa (i.e., Equatorial Guinea).

PREGUNTA 3 : How many people in the world speak Spanish?

RESPUESTA 3 : Approximately 500 M (million) people in the world speak Spanish…this includes both native speakers and those that speak it as a second language.

PREGUNTA 4: How many people in the U.S. speak Spanish?

RESPUESTA 4: Approximately 51 M (million) people in the U.S. speak Spanish.

PREGUNTA 5: Who brought the Spanish language to the Americas?

RESPUESTA 5: The conquistadors

PREGUNTA 6: Is it okay to call the Spanish language “Mexican”? Why or why not?

RESPUESTA 6: Absolutely NOT! The word Mexican defines a race of people and the culture, not a language.

FACTS ABOUT THE SPANISH LANGUAGE YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED TO KNOW:  Spanish is the fastest growing foreign language in the U.S.  You have a better chance of running into someone who speaks Spanish as opposed to French, German, Latin, etc.

FACTS ABOUT THE SPANISH LANGUAGE YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED TO KNOW:  Ranked as the world's No. 2 language in terms of how many people speak it as their first language. o It is slightly ahead of English (328 million) but far behind Chinese (1.2 billion).  329 million native speakers  Romance language… o A language derived from Latin.

FACTS ABOUT THE SPANISH LANGUAGE YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED TO KNOW:  By the time Columbus came to the Western Hemisphere in 1492, Spanish had reached the point where the spoken and written language would be easily understandable today. Compare that to English around the same time… SHAKESPEARE!!!!!  Spanish is one of the world's most phonetic languages. If you know how a word is spelled, you can almost always know how it is pronounced.

FACTS ABOUT THE SPANISH LANGUAGE YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED TO KNOW:  After Latin, the language that has had the biggest influence on Spanish is Arabic.  Today, the foreign language exerting the most influence is English, and Spanish has adopted hundreds of English words related to technology and culture.

UNA PRUEBITA (A LITTLE QUIZ) 1.How many years of a Spanish class do you need? 2.Can it be of different languages? 3.How many people in the world speak Spanish? 4.How many people in the U.S. speak Spanish? 5.Who brought the Spanish language to the West (to the colonies)? 6.How many countries speak Spanish (not including Africa)?