Qual é a diferença entre español e Castellano ?

Question

haitike · Answer

They are the same. You can use both in all the spanish speaking countries and everyone will understand you. 

But, In some countries one is used more than the others. You can look at this map.
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pol%C3%A9mica_en_torno_a_espa%C3%B1ol_o_castellano#/media/File:Castellano-Espa%C3%B1ol.png

(blue=castellano, red=español)

* One more thing. Castellano is too a modern spanish dialect used in Castilla (Spain) and it is too the language of the medieval "Castilla Kingdom".

* About my own country, Spain. People use español in daily life. But  governments, institutions, schools and other official stuff use Castellano (Because Spain have 4 spanish languages: castellano, catalan, gallician and basque (euskara).

lulita · Answer

How different are the four Spanish languages?

ebichuman · Answer

Castellano, Catalan and Galician are quite similar because all three come from Latin. A Spanish speaker would more or less understand a Catalan/Galician text in the same way that we'd understand a Portuguese/Italian text.

Basque (Euskara) has a completely different root, so it's super different from Castellano and impossible to understand withouth studying it.

haitike · Answer

This is a example comparition with 6 words:

English Spanish Catalá Gallician Basque
-------------------------------------------------------
water agua aigua auga ur 
dog perro gos can  txakur
village pueblo poble  pobo herrixka
speak hablar parlar falar hitz egin
man hombre home home gizon
woman mujer dona muller andre

lulita · Answer

Thank you for the examples. Some words seem so different among the four languages. Do people all over Spain speak Spanish, and then some in certain regions also speak another dialect/language?

haitike · Answer

As you can see only Euskara(Basque) is completely different, the other three romance languages are very similar in vocabulary.

Yes, Spanish is spoken by all population and it is teached in all schools of the country. Basque is official in Basque Country, Catalan is official in Catalonia,Valencia and Balears Islands. Galician in Galicia. As the 4 languages are official and teached in schools neither is in danger. Of the other three, Catalan is the more popular and It is used in daily life a lot more than galician/basque by the local population, and It is used more than spanish in tons of Catalonia places. Basque and Galician are less spoken than catalan, and their population generally use more spanish, but they are still spoken.

There are other three minority non-official languages: Aragonese, Asturian, Leonese. Aragonese and Leonese are spoken by very few people and practically have dissapeared and today are considered historical languages  (from old kingdoms of Leon and Aragon). Asturian (Bable) is a more spoken, but it was not made official in the 80s like Galicia/Catalan/Basque, and It has not regenerated in the young people that learned spanish only, and today is only spoken by old villagers in Asturias, and probably will dissapear.

Then, there are the Spanish dialects (Catalan has three dialects too: catalan, valencian and balear). The most different dialects compared to the typical Official Castillian dialect are in the south of Spain (Andalucian, Canarian, Extremaduran, etc) and generally are a little more similar to American Spanish (many of the settlers of America where from this places). The dialects from bilingual places are quite different too and has accents and vocabulary influenced by their native languages (Catalonia Spanish, Galicia Spanish, Basque Spanish). There are others dialects too (Spanish Aragonese, Spanish Asturian, etc.) and inside of a State sometimes there are various sub-dialects (Andalusian variety from Sevilla and Granada are quite different between them, or Aragonese from Zaragoza and rural villages are quite different too).

lulita · Answer

Wow that's an awesome explanation. Super informative. Thank you!! If I wish to have an immersion Spanish learning experience by living somewhere in Spain for a month, which area/city should I go to for the best accent, standard vocabulary, etc. 😄

haitike · Answer

Well, I wouldn't say there is a "best accent". Spanish, if you considerer both peninsular and American dialects, has a lot of dialects and they are very diverse. Even TV standard  dialects from differents countries are  differents. But, if you want to learn the most similar dialect to Spanish films or Spanish national TV channels,  the castillian dialect it would be the best. It is spoken in the "meseta" (The center of Spain) and in the states of "Castilla la Mancha", "Castilla y León" and "Madrid". Northern, Southest and Coast  dialects are more differents. But I recommend you to go to the places that you like, you can learn Spanish in any place of Spain and you will need to adapt to different dialects in the future anyway. There are lot of foreigners here in Andalucia and they learn spanish without problems (And Cordoba, Granada, Sevilla are beautiful cities :P).

lulita · Answer

Very good advice. I'll keep it in mind 😊 I have another question if you don't mind: do people in different regions in Spain talk at different speeds (generally)? For example, people in the south may talk faster than people in the north. Also since the Canary Island is so faraway from the mainland, do people there talk differently?

ebichuman · Answer

I woudn't say that speed depends on the region. I think it depends on the person. For instance, I speak quite slowly, but other people from my region speak fast. People in the Canary Island have a slightly different accent from the mainland, and several features that resemble South American Spanish (such as the use of "ustedes" instead of "vosotros"), but nothing you should worry about :)

lulita · Answer

Haha true. I'm just a beginner in Spanish, so it probably doesn't matter to me. Just being curious 😱 I know there are different dialects in the USA and people in some regions talk in very interesting ways.

Qual é a diferença entre español e Castellano ?Podes indicar apenas respostas exemplo.

How different are the four Spanish languages?

Thank you for the examples. Some words seem so different among the four languages. Do people all over Spain speak Spanish, and then some in certain regions also speak another dialect/language?

Wow that's an awesome explanation. Super informative. Thank you!! If I wish to have an immersion Spanish learning experience by living somewhere in Spain for a month, which area/city should I go to for the best accent, standard vocabulary, etc. 😄

Haha true. I'm just a beginner in Spanish, so it probably doesn't matter to me. Just being curious 😱 I know there are different dialects in the USA and people in some regions talk in very interesting ways.

Pergunte a falantes nativos gratuitamente