Please stop saying Castilian Spanish

Guest   Sat May 24, 2008 7:11 pm GMT
Hi,

I can't seem to stop coming across this term on the Internet. It is used more and more by English speakers and clearly refers to the Spanish spoken in Spain, oposed to the Spanish spoken in Latin America. My main point is - where do all that shit come from? Do you call the English spoken in the British Isles Yorkshire English? Well, it makes even less sense in Spanish since millions of Latin Americans do call their language Castilian. I know you can use your language the way want, but what's the point? Please say the proper name which happens to be Iberian Spanish.

For those people who don't know it, the word Castilian can have several meanings in Spanish depending on the context it is used, so it means:

1- The Spanish language. Although it is the same language, people tend to call it Spanish for example in Southern Spain, and Castilian for example in Agentina. The other way round is also posible, Spanish being used in Latin America and Castilian in Spain.

2 - The Romance that Castilians spoke in the Midde Ages.

3 - The Spanish accent/dialect of Northerners in Spain (this is mainly a local term from Spain).
Guest   Sat May 24, 2008 7:20 pm GMT
true
Guest   Sat May 24, 2008 8:52 pm GMT
We the English speakers call it the way we want to. Castilian Spanish is an English term, don't forget it, so your opinion as a Spanish speaker has zero value. By the way, how do you call the Spanish variety spoken in Castile if Castilian Spanish is wrong?.
Guest   Sat May 24, 2008 10:09 pm GMT
Correct English Terminology:

Castillian Spanish
Continental Portuguese
Guest   Sat May 24, 2008 10:15 pm GMT
and why are you referring to Continental Portuguese now? It has nothing to do with subject!
K. T.   Sat May 24, 2008 11:01 pm GMT
What is peninsular Spanish? European Spanish?
Guest   Sat May 24, 2008 11:39 pm GMT
Iberian Spanish
Iberian Portuguese

it's that simple people.
Guest   Sun May 25, 2008 12:22 am GMT
Iberian sounds like an Airline company
Guest   Sun May 25, 2008 12:22 am GMT
The proper English term is Castilian Spanish. It's funny to see non natives telling us how we have to speak English.
Guest   Sun May 25, 2008 12:46 am GMT
Castilian Spanish refers to Standard Spanish spoken in Spain, so it's correct to call it that way because it is based on the way they speak Spanish in Castile. Spanish Spanish or European Spanish would be not correct because there is also Andalusian Spanish which is European Spanish as well. Last but not least, we say Castilian Spanish because it's English and not Spanish, so we don't care if in South America Castilian means another dfferent thing.
Marinheiro   Sun May 25, 2008 1:44 am GMT
Castilian is the language of the Meseta, the rest of Spain and Hispanic America is "tierra conquistada"
Basques, Catalans, Galicians, Granadine Moors, Aztecs, Incas, Mapuches, Guaranis and Italo-Argentines are speaking Castilian
Only in Brazil the Portuguese language expelled and defeated the Castilian language from the West of the Tordesillas Treaty Line and the English language expelled and defeated the Castilian language from the West of the United States, but here the Mexica are trying the reconquista in places like California and Texas !
Guest   Sun May 25, 2008 2:01 am GMT
Castilian was born in the Basque Country, the Valle de Valdegovia: one side of the Valley belongs to Alava (Basque Country) and the other one to Burgos, a province of Castile and Leon. Here the first manuscripts in Spanish were writen in 802. This is not proper Meseta but more Northern Spain. Meseta is Central Spain. It's not a secret that Spanish has strong Basque substratum because it was in reality Latin spoken by Basques.
Guest   Sun May 25, 2008 8:51 am GMT
"What is peninsular Spanish? European Spanish?"

Yes, it is. Peninsular from the Iberian Peninsula, it is problably the most used term among natives who are into languages, it is also an everyday word in the Canary Isles and still understood in the Peninsula, but I doubt it will be so in Latin America for normal people.
Guest   Sun May 25, 2008 9:53 am GMT
"Castilian Spanish refers to Standard Spanish spoken in Spain, so it's correct to call it that way because it is based on the way they speak Spanish in Castile. Spanish Spanish or European Spanish would be not correct because there is also Andalusian Spanish which is European Spanish as well."

Your logic is terrible. Iberian Spanish is the way Spaniards (all of them) use the language in a different way than Latin Americans. It's just the same than the words labeled with UK in the Cambridge dictionary of the English language. You look like you speak Spanish, so I will give you a couple of examples:

Iberian Spanish (opposed to Latin American Spanish):

Voy a por el pan.
Ya he terminado de comer.
¿Cómo de grande es tu casa?
¿Has visto el nuevo ordenador de mi coche?
¿Vosotros dónde vais?
Voy a estar en México dos años (no por dos años)

Castilian Spanish (opposed to Southern dialects in the country):

Ese comic ya le tengo.
La pegó a la pobre mujer.
Si tendría tiempo iría a verte.

Andalusian Spanish (opposed to Nothern dialects in the country):

¿Ustedes dónde vais?
(I can't think of many examples, Andalusian grammar seems to be more "standar" than the Castilian one).

The sentences of the first group can be consedered "standard" (with plenty of quotation marks) of Spain, the others, not at all. They are just regional language used by some people (sure not even the majority) in some regions. So the thing is that, calling the sentences above Castilian is not ony stupid but also a thick mistake in scientific terms.

"Last but not least, we say Castilian Spanish because it's English and not Spanish, so we don't care if in South America Castilian means another dfferent thing."

Sorry, but it is so not only in South America, but also in Spain, and in respect to the argument "es mi gato y me lo follo como quiero", it's a very poor argument.
Guest   Sun May 25, 2008 10:23 am GMT
<<Sorry, but it is so not only in South America, but also in Spain, and in respect to the argument "es mi gato y me lo follo como quiero", it's a very poor argument.>>

It's poor, but come on, yours is twice as pathetic!