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History of the Spanish Language in Latin America: Imperative Ingredient to Effectively Learn Spanish


One way to easily learn Spanish is by obtaining a better understanding as to its roots and origins. In the 15th century, Spanish made its way to America through the Italian Navigator Christopher Columbus who brought with him the Castilian language. Spanish was established as the primary language in the Iberian Peninsula due to the process termed by historians as Hispanizacion.

During the period of Hispanizacion, there were several different languages spoken in the southern part of American continent, and this created a great challenge in communication. Moreover, the cultural differences between the settlers and the Spaniards were also a factor to the communication problems that occurred during the first stages of colonization.

Catholic Church played a vital role in the expansion of the Hispanic language in Latin America. In an aim to push Spanish to be the primary language of the southern part of American continent, Jesuits and Franciscans in particular established institutions in which they educated young children and adolescents about Catholicism using the Hispanic language. The administrative imposition to learn Spanish through the so called process of evangelization gradually overshadowed the other Amerindian languages resulting to the spread and establishment of the Spanish language.

The cultural and linguistic influences that Spaniards tried to impose to their colonized Americans did not result into a perfect unilateral language though. Spaniards at that point occupied a very small minority which caused the unique blend of various dialects instead. The Mexican dialect which is spoken by the Aztecs and the Peruvian dialect that came from the Incas were two of the most influential languages that were incorporated and contributed to the rich variations of the American Spanish today.

Also, the varying Spanish explorers which came all over from Spain made contributions to the rich mosaic of the American Spanish. It was at the Seville Andalucía in the southern Iberian Peninsula that these hundreds of Spanish voyagers met prior to their long journey of exploration. Incidental to their preparatory purposes, they spend so much time in the said place, long enough for them to adopt several characteristics of the Andalucían  dialect which they subconsciously took and spread into the “new world”. It is for this reason that Andalucían Spanish and the American Spanish almost have similar characteristics of pronunciation.

The perfect blend of these sociological and historical factors gave rise to the evolution of the multicultural linguistic variety of the Latin American Spanish that is spoken in Central and Southern America today.

This clearly explains the variety and differences in various aspects of the Hispanic language. And learning these would help people who want learn Spanish as a second language.

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History of the Spanish Language in Latin America: Imperative Ingredient to Effectively Learn Spanish


One way to easily learn Spanish is by obtaining a better understanding as to its roots and origins. In the 15th century, Spanish made its way to America through the Italian Navigator Christopher Columbus who brought with him the Castilian language. Spanish was established as the primary language in the Iberian Peninsula due to the process termed by historians as Hispanizacion.

During the period of Hispanizacion, there were several different languages spoken in the southern part of American continent, and this created a great challenge in communication. Moreover, the cultural differences between the settlers and the Spaniards were also a factor to the communication problems that occurred during the first stages of colonization.

Catholic Church played a vital role in the expansion of the Hispanic language in Latin America. In an aim to push Spanish to be the primary language of the southern part of American continent, Jesuits and Franciscans in particular established institutions in which they educated young children and adolescents about Catholicism using the Hispanic language. The administrative imposition to learn Spanish through the so called process of evangelization gradually overshadowed the other Amerindian languages resulting to the spread and establishment of the Spanish language.

The cultural and linguistic influences that Spaniards tried to impose to their colonized Americans did not result into a perfect unilateral language though. Spaniards at that point occupied a very small minority which caused the unique blend of various dialects instead. The Mexican dialect which is spoken by the Aztecs and the Peruvian dialect that came from the Incas were two of the most influential languages that were incorporated and contributed to the rich variations of the American Spanish today.

Also, the varying Spanish explorers which came all over from Spain made contributions to the rich mosaic of the American Spanish. It was at the Seville Andalucía in the southern Iberian Peninsula that these hundreds of Spanish voyagers met prior to their long journey of exploration. Incidental to their preparatory purposes, they spend so much time in the said place, long enough for them to adopt several characteristics of the Andalucían  dialect which they subconsciously took and spread into the “new world”. It is for this reason that Andalucían Spanish and the American Spanish almost have similar characteristics of pronunciation.

The perfect blend of these sociological and historical factors gave rise to the evolution of the multicultural linguistic variety of the Latin American Spanish that is spoken in Central and Southern America today.

This clearly explains the variety and differences in various aspects of the Hispanic language. And learning these would help people who want learn Spanish as a second language.

Posted in Learn Spanish 101Comments Off


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