Today, the term "Castilian" is used in other ways too. Sometimes it is used to distinguish the north-central standard of Spanish from regional variations such as Andalusian (used in southern Spain). Often it is used, not altogether accurately, to distinguish the Spanish of Spain from that of...
When I first studied Spanish in high school, my only interest was the easy grade promised by a basketball coach-teacher, who, without knowing much Spanish, had been assigned the dubious duty of teaching it. I did not know that there was a text book for the course, and I thought that ...
Japanese people aren’t shy when they’re the one holding the stick. Students are just conditioned by abuse from those charged with protecting them. They learn that if they joke around, speak at the wrong time, or act out too much, they’re likely to incur the wrath of those above ...
The German people I have heard speak either French or English were all doing a very good job. According to a Spanish speaker I know, Portuguese is particularly beautiful because tiene la sensualidad del francés y la claridad del español. I don’t have a particular opinion of the qualitie...
Why the British Pronounce “Z” as “Zed” The Origin of the Word “Soccer” Why Some Countries Drive on the Right and Some Countries Drive on the Left Bonus Facts: Eeyore’s name is based off the British Cockney dialect version of the phrase “hee-haw”. The guy who did the voice ...
The Latin Spoken in Rome In Rome itself, the common people did not speak the stilted Latin that we know of as Classical Latin, the literary language of the first century B.C. Not even the aristocrats, like Cicero, spoke the literary language, although they wrote it. We can say this bec...