Cultura

10 idiomas más usados en Internet (values approximate, in millions of users):

1. What does this infographic show us?
2. Where does Spanish rank in this chart?
3. What do the numbers represent?
4. How are numbers written differently in Spanish?
5. Which four languages on the list are official languages of countries in the Americas?

Know the locations of the countries on the map. Open big map

In many cultures, it is common to exchange handshakes, hugs, a backslap, or kisses when greeting someone and saying goodbye. The exact greeting and gesture depend on the region and the age, sex, or social status of the people involved.

Spanish even has different ways of saying “you”, depending on the region and level of formality or social distance. Tú or vos are used with friends and family, while usted is more appropriate for older people or formal settings.

You will study these differences in later chapters. For now, it makes sense to observe people carefully to become familiar with the practices relating to greetings and physical space.

Did you know that Spanish uses a letter that we do not have in English? It is the letter ñ. When you recite the Spanish alphabet it comes after the letter n.

The sound of ñ is like the “ny” in English words such as canyon. The mark over the letter ñ is called a tilde, and the letter has become a symbol of the Spanish language around the world.

In some parts of the Americas, there are four distinct seasons in a calendar year: el verano, el otoño, el invierno, and la primavera. Canada is in the Northern Hemisphere, and Argentina is in the Southern Hemisphere, so the seasons in these two locations are opposite.

In some climates, especially in Central America, there are only two distinct seasons: the rainy season (de mayo a noviembre) and the dry season (de diciembre a abril). In Costa Rica, for example, these seasons are called el invierno and el verano, respectively.

Julio (el invierno) en Bariloche, Argentina • Julio (el invierno) en Península Nicoya, Costa Rica

Look at the poster from Spain. It depicts a scene in the streets of a famous city during La Fiesta de San Fermín. Can you explain what happens?

Find the following:

1. the dates of La Fiesta de San Fermín
2. the city where the festival takes place
3. the name of the animal depicted in the poster
4. the word in Spanish for: fairs, big, exciting

The encierro (“running of the bulls”) in the feast of San Fermín in Pamplona, Spain, is just one of many events around Spain, Portugal, and southern France that involve a millennia-old fascination with this animal in the Mediterranean area.

La corrida (bullfight) is another well-known icon of Spanish identity. Corridas are often a part of many town festivals. However, in the 21st century, many Spaniards believe that this tradition perpetuates cruelty against animals, and one region, Cataluña, has abolished bullfights.

The Toros de Guisando bull statues, found near Ávila in central Spain, are almost 5000 years old.

In English, we usually say years in hundreds (e.g., 1935 = nineteen thirty-five, 2015 = twenty fifteen). The years in Spanish are always expressed in thousands (mil, dos mil, etc.).

2017 dos mil diecisiete
two thousand seventeen

2025 dos mil veinticinco
two thousand twenty-five

1931 mil novecientos treinta y uno
one thousand nine hundred thirty-one

Richard Blanco is the first Latino poet to read a poem at a U.S. presidential inauguration (Barack Obama, 2012). Born in Madrid to Cuban parents, his family moved to the U.S. when he was an infant; and he was raised and educated in Miami, Florida.

In 2015 Richard was honored again when he was asked to read his poem “Cosas del mar” / “Matters of the Sea” at the reopening of the American embassy in Havana, Cuba.

El poeta hispano Richard Blanco recitó un poema durante la inauguración del Presidente Obama en 2013.

How many continents did you learn that there are in the world? In many English-speaking countries, students learn that there are seven: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.

But in Latin American schools, students are taught that there are six: África, América, Antártida, Asia, Europa y Oceanía.

In fact, in Latin America to be “americano/americana” means something different from being an “American” in the USA. It means that you are from any one of the countries which make up the Americas: North America, Central America and the Caribbean, or South America.

Regional varieties of Spanish have distinct names for common vocabulary, just as with dialects of English (U.S. truck = British lorry). Most of these variants are understood everywhere, and the context usually makes the intended meaning clear. You should learn to recognize a variety of regional words in Spanish, and when you speak or write, use the words associated with the places you are interested in.

el ordenador (España) / la computadora (elsewhere)

la pluma (México) / el lapicero (Costa Rica) / la birome (Argentina) / el bolígrafo (elsewhere)

el salón de clase (México) / el aula (elsewhere)

En el año 1948, el presidente José María (“Don Pepe”) Figueres Ferrer decide que Costa Rica no necesita ejército (army). El país elimina las Fuerzas armadas y usa el presupuesto (budget) militar para la educación, la cultura y la seguridad pública.

Hay fuerza pública (o policía) en Costa Rica, pero no hay soldados. Hoy, cuando visitantes (visitors) importantes llegan a Costa Rica, no hay bandas con uniformes militares en el aeropuerto. Hay un grupo de estudiantes en uniformes escolares para darles la bienvenida (to welcome them).

Estudiantes costarricenses le dan la bienvenida (welcome) al presidente estadounidense Barack Obama.

From 1975 to the present, Spain transformed itself from a dictatorship to democracy and a member of the European Union. The traditional Catholic family of the 20th century is less common than before, and Spanish families resemble the structures we find in other European countries and the U.S. Divorce and remarriage are more frequent, and same-sex marriage is legal.

Familias monoparentales (single-parent families) are growing in number, and parejas de hecho (unmarried couples) commonly head households and raise children. Spanish has precise or legal vocabulary for the complex relationships in these new family models, but people tend to use labels that show the emotional relationship:

The names of the parts of a house vary across the Spanish-speaking world:

Dónde vivimos: piso / apartamento / departamento

Lugares para dormir: el dormitorio / la habitación / el cuarto

Espacios que compartimos (we share): la sala (de estar) / el salón / el líving (Argentina, Chile)
el patio / el jardín / el solar / la yarda (U.S.)

Los edificios altos: la planta baja (bottom/ground floor)
la primera (first) planta (second floor)

In some cases the variants are regional synonyms, but in others they reveal interesting details about the local culture. For example, la yarda in U.S. Spanish refers to a typical North American suburban yard. Since most Spaniards live in pisos, with no outdoor green space of their own, el jardín in Spain suggests a public park or common garden area. In Costa Rica or Venezuela, el solar is the green space around a freestanding house.