Meaning of "Castilian"

furrykef   Tue Oct 30, 2007 5:37 pm GMT
<< It doesn't bother me. If native speakers of Spanish want to protest this, let them, but it really isn't our business to tell natives what to call their own language. >>

That's the thing, though, "Castilian" in English doesn't mean the same thing as "castellano" in Spanish, which is my whole point.

On that note:

<< It's very clear:

Castilian is the translation of Castellano.
Castellano is the language/dialect of Castilla la Mancha.

What's the problem?
It's not Argentine Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Cuban Spanish, Andaluz Spanish etc
It's not Asturo-lleones, it's not Gallego, it's not Aragones, Catalan/Valenciano or Andaluz. >>

But that's not true. People in Central and South America do call their language "castellano". (Not all of them do, but many...) Now, maybe in Spain that's the way the distinction goes, but it would be a mistake to say that "castellano means the dialect of Castile and nothing else", because many native Spanish speakers don't use it that way.

I agree that "Castilian Spanish" might be useful to distinguish it from "Andalusian Spanish" and the like, but I must say I have to agree that it's somewhat analogous to distinguishing, say, different dialects of British English. You make the distinctions when you have to, but there's nothing wrong with saying "British English" when you don't.

- Kef
Guest   Tue Oct 30, 2007 5:57 pm GMT
That's the thing, though, "Castilian" in English doesn't mean the same thing as "castellano" in Spanish, which is my whole point ------>

Yes, because they are different words in different languages
furrykef   Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:38 pm GMT
<< Yes, because they are different words in different languages >>

But, again, I think that's silly because only people who speak or study Spanish are likely to be familiar with the word "Castilian" in the first place.

- Kef
furrykef   Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:40 pm GMT
Well, OK, people who study the history of Spain without studying the language might be an exception, but I'm not sure it's a big enough exception to warrant the discrepancy.

- Kef
Guest   Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:44 pm GMT
You don't need to be familiar with the Spanish language to understad more or less what Castilian Spanish means. Everybody who studied History knows that Castile was the core of the Spanish Kingdom hence Castilian Spanish is the Spanish spoken in Castile.
furrykef   Tue Oct 30, 2007 7:58 pm GMT
I didn't know about Castile until I started studying Spanish, and my first exposure to the term was through the term "Castilian" as in "Castilian Spanish".
Guest   Tue Oct 30, 2007 9:13 pm GMT
It's only your case, you can't extract conclusions from that.
furrykef   Wed Oct 31, 2007 12:21 am GMT
Right. However, I do have doubts that the history of Spain and Castile is something that "everyone" knows.

- Kef
Guest   Wed Oct 31, 2007 12:31 am GMT
Not everyone, just cultured people.
furrykef   Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:44 am GMT
*rolls eyes*
Guest   Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:51 am GMT
conclusion: we shall call it Spaniard Spanish
furrykef   Wed Oct 31, 2007 7:25 am GMT
Why not European Spanish? It sounds less awkward and is more grammatically correct, since "Spaniard" is not an adjective.
mac   Wed Oct 31, 2007 7:25 am GMT
<< Everybody who studied History knows that Castile was the core of the Spanish Kingdom hence Castilian Spanish is the Spanish spoken in Castile. >>

Studied history to what extent. As mush as I think everybody should be interested in versed in history, in reality many people aren't.

People unfamiliar with Spanish, Spain, general history (people who took history class but didn't really care) probably won't know what Castilian means.

Why don't we just use European Spanish, French, English?
Guest   Wed Oct 31, 2007 7:49 am GMT
Conclusion: Castilian Spanish is the most accurate and used term, so the rest are useless.
Guest   Thu Nov 01, 2007 3:37 pm GMT
you mean Spaniard Spanish?