Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Five languages

Our Spanish teacher, Eduardo, also explained that there are five different languages spoken in Spain.

Castilian Spanish or Castellano as it is known, is the official Spanish language of the State. It is the language we are learning. All Spaniards have the duty to know it and the right to use is.

However, the Spanish Constitution recognizes the right of the Autonomous Communities to use their own languages.

The Spanish languages that are officially recognized by the Statutes of the Autonomous Communities are: Euskera (País Vasco and Navarra), Gallego (Galicia), Catalán (Cataluña and Islas Baleares) and a variety of Castellano -Valenciano (Comunidad Valenciana).

Other Statutes give special protection for further Spanish languages: Bable in Asturias and the linguistic diversity in Aragón.

Then there are dialects which both alter the pronunciation of words and add new regional variations. For example In the Balearic Islands, Mallorquín is the dialectic form of Castellano.

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