Exploring The African & Indigenous Roots of The Spanish Language in Latin America & The Caribbean
In the language learning community, the Spanish language is generally understood as fitting into one of two very broad categories: Peninsular Spanish from Europe and Latin American Spanish. The problem with this classification is that it ignores the diversity that developed within the Spanish language as it traversed the globe. The goal of this presentation is to give insight into how history and culture shaped the Spanish language as it arrived in the West, including its interaction with both the Africans that were taken with it and that of the native people of the Caribbean and Central and South America that were already there when the Spaniards arrived. We’ll examine the African and indigenous roots that influence the Spanish spoken in Latin America to this day, and explore the richness of the language’s Caribbean dialects which are often overlooked or labeled as “improper” Spanish.
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7 Comments
Hello, I’m from France. Actually my first Spanish teacher was from Peru and I have great friends from Mexico and Chile and it was also obvious how different the languages were. However, I learnt so much more from that presentation, thank you so much!
I got on the Sisters Only mail list after it was mentioned at the Women In Language conference. Nice to get to know a bit about one of the people behind it! This is the history we should’ve been taught in school! I’m dying to hear these other stories though!
I enjoyed this very much, Tamara. Great to listen to you again.
Gracias, Tamara! And thank you for discussing the issues with the term “Latin American Spanish”! 🙂
Good to hear you Tamara!!!! abrazos!
Muy buena presentación! aprendí muchas cosas.
Gracias Tamara! Saludos de Ecuador
Hi Tamara, what’s your podcast?