In today’s blog post, we are going to learn how to express quantity for nouns. You’ll see this topic is not too complicated, and surely you will have very few questions after we are done with the explanation. ?

Click here to keep on reading in Spanish.

Bastante / bastantes (enough)

These quantifiers express a sufficient amount of something. For example:

¿Tenemos bastante comida para todos? ¡Somos 20!

Do we have enough food for all of us? We are 20 people!

No quiero discutir contigo. Ya he tenido bastantes problemas por hoy.

I don’t want to keep fighting with you. I’ve had enough for today.

The only variant of this quantifier is its plural form, bastantes, as it lacks a feminine form.

Mucho / mucha / muchos / muchas (too, many, a lot of)

We have have already talked about the use of these words in previous posts. They are used to describe a quantity which is greater than needed. For example:

En verano, al mediodía hace mucho calor. Prefiero pasear por la noche.

During the summer, it’s too hot at noon. I prefer walking at night.

Aquí hay mucha gente. Busquemos otro restaurante.

There are many people here. Let’s find another restaurant.

If you want to intensify the message, you’ll be tempted to use a direct translation of the word combo ‘too many’. However, it is important for you to know that the phrase *muy mucho is not correct in Spanish. Instead, we can use the word muchísimo and feminine variant muchísima. This is one of those things you won’t easily find on the Internet, but that a real Spanish teacher can help you learn with a Spanish course.

Aquí hay muchísima gente.

There are way too many people here.

Sometimes, we also use bastante to define a quantity which is greater than needed but lower than the one we express with the word mucho. Let us help you understand:

1. Tengo bastantes dudas. ¿Puedes ayudarme? / I have several questions. Can you help?

2. Tengo muchas dudas. ¿Puedes ayudarme? / I have many questions. Can you help?

In the first instance, we are saying that we have some questions, and that they are not few. But, in any case, they are less than the ones I have in the second example.

Demasiado / demasiada / demasiados / demasiadas (too much, too many)

All the words above express a quantity that is greater than expected and, in addition to that, greater than what is defined by mucho. In other words, when using these quantifiers, we are talking about an excess, which has negative connotations. For example:

Hay demasiada comida. Solo somos 5 y seguro que tiraremos casi todo a la basura.

There is too much food. We are only 5 people and most of it will be thrown away.

Tu hijo tiene demasiados videojuegos. Podrías comprarle algún libro.

Your son has too many videogames. You could get him some books.

Poco / poca / pocos / pocas (few, little, not many)

Unlike the previous quantifiers, poco expresses a quantity which is lower than usual. However, it doesn’t necessarily have negative connotations. For example:

Me gusta esta playa porque siempre hay muy poca gente.

I like this beach because there are not many people.

Quedan pocos huevos. ¿Puedes comprar por favor?

There are few eggs left. Could you buy some, please?

Please note that, opposite to mucho, in this case we can add the word muy to intensify the concept of poco. So, it is correct to say:

Tengo muy poco papel en la oficina.

I have very little paper left at the office.

Many thanks to Ignacio Sellés for preparing this explanation, which was as enlighting as the bright sun of Alicante, the city where he teaches Spanish at our partner school.

We have already talked about the linguistic economy in Spanish, for example, about abbreviations and apocopes. As you know, in order to save time and space, sometimes we shorten the words, or even join several to create a single word. Today, it's time to tell you what contractions are, and also to show you some examples so that you learn to use them properly. Thus, it will be easier for you to learn Spanish and, above all, to use it accurately.

Read this blog post in Spanish.

What is a grammar contraction?

The contraction in grammar is a morphological resource (morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies the structure of words) in which the union of two words occurs (the second usually begins with a vowel) to form a single one. The contraction resorts to the rhetorical figure of the diction (alteration of the composition of the words or phrases), and primarily to the transformation or metaplasm (alteration of the writing or pronunciation of the words without changing their meaning).

Types of contractions in Spanish

1. Preposition + article

This is the most frequent type of contraction in the Spanish language:

• A + el = al

• De + el = del

* Example: "Marta fue al médico porque se encontraba mal."

We don't say: "Marta fue a el médico porque se encontraba mal.”

2. Preposition “para”

Although they have a very colloquial use and have not yet been accepted by the RAE (Royal Academy of the Spanish Language), it is possible that, in some informal conversation or colloquial piece of speech, you will hear the following contractions with the preposition “para”. However, never write these constructions in a contracted way or use them in situations that are not quite informal or for a very specific purpose.

• Para + el/la = pal/pa’la (use only in very informal situations).

*Example: "El poder, pal pueblo".

• Para + allá = pa’llá (use only in very informal situations).

*Example: “Vete pa’llá.”

• Para + que/qué = pa’que / pa’qué (use only in very informal situations).

*Example: “Pa’que veas.”

• Para + arriba = pa’rriba (use only in very informal situations).

*Example: “Venga p’arriba.”

• Para + delante = pa´lante (use only in very informal situations).

*Example: “Un pasito pa’lante, María.”

• Para + abajo = pa’bajo (use only in very informal situations).

*Example: “Tira pa’bajo.”

• Para + atrás = pa’trás (use only in very informal situations).

*Example: “Ni in paso pa’tras.”

• Para + dentro = pa’dentro (use only in very informal situations).

*Example: “¡Arriba, abajo, al centro… y pa’dentro!”

3. Other cases 

• Donde + quiera= doquiera = doquier

*Example: “Hay gente por doquier.”

• Otra + hora = otrora

*Example: “Esta ciudad era otrora campo…”

• Entre + ambos = entrambos

*Example: “Entrambos hermanos construyeron una casa.”

At don Quijote, we know that facing the challenge of learning a new language is never easy and can be almost heroic. However, we hope that this post is useful for you and that you can practice grammar contractions when you visit Spain or Latin America.

At today’s blog post, we want to talk about how to apply for Spanish citizenship. At don Quijote, we know that bureaucratic processes can be a maze full of difficulties, something tedious and even frustrating on many occasions, especially under the great pressure and the need to obtain Spanish citizenship. For this reason and to make things a little easier for you, we have decided to dedicate today's blog post to help you carry out these procedures.

Click here to change to the Spanish version.

Steps to apply for Spanish citizenship

1. Meet all the necessary requirements

First of all, and before beginning any type of procedure that entails a waste of money and time that may be unnecessary, you must be sure that you meet all the necessary conditions to obtain citizenship in Spain. These requirements are as follows:

1.1 Prove continued residence:

Except for those who are children of Spanish citizens or have been born in Spain, citizenship is obtained after a period of residence in the country. Therefore, the first thing you should do is to demonstrate that you’ve been a legal resident in Spain for a continuous period of time. The minimum time required depends on the situation of the applicant and their country of origin:

• 10 years of legal and continued residence for most of the countries of origin.

• 5 years of legal and continued residence for refugees.

• 2 years of legal and continued residence for those who come from the following countries: Latin America, Portugal, Andorra, Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Sephardic Jew.

• 1 year for those married to a Spanish citizen, born in Spanish territory or who, although born outside and their parents too, their grandparents are all Spanish.

But be careful, because there are several factors that are very important to consider. First, the study periods or other visas do not count, you must access the residence card. Second, the residence has to be continued. That is, if you are in an irregular situation, you will have to start counting again when you recover the legal residence since the calculation will be interrupted. Be careful with departures from the country too, there have been some cases in which nationality’s been denied due to departures exceeding 3 months. So, to avoid surprises and future problems, if you’re planning to leave Spanish territory for a longer duration, consult the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

1.2 Prove good civic behavior:

The second condition to comply is not to have a criminal or police record, so you will have to present such documentation. In addition, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs they ask the CNI (National Intelligence Center) to issue a report to gather information about you and your career in Spain.

In any case, Spanish jurisprudence stipulates (at the official level) that meeting both requirements ensures nothing. Not having criminal records is only an indicator for good behavior, but they do not guarantee anything in any way, that is, you can get citizenship, even if you have criminal records and vice versa. But, in the real practice, the fact of having these records, imply an automatic refusal of the application. Therefore, it is advisable to cancel such records in the case of having them before applying for citizenship by residence.

1.3 Sufficient degree of integration in Spanish society

The last necessary requirement is to prove a sufficient degree of integration in Spanish society. Before, personal interviews were conducted by public officials, however, the questions could be very arbitrary, so the process was modified and now two more objective tests are carried out.

• Those applicants who do not come from Spanish-speaking countries will have to take the DELE exam (official test accrediting the degree of proficiency and mastery of the Spanish language) – A2 minimum level required. If you want to know how to register, visit our entry How to sign up for the DELE exam in 5 easy steps.

• All applicants will have to take the CCSE test (Constitutional and Sociocultural Knowledge of Spain). This is a test that contains 25 questions taken from a catalog of 300. The good thing is that every year they are published at the Cervantes Institute website. We recommend you prepare it thoroughly.

2. Documents from the country of origin

You will also have to request the corresponding documentation in your country of origin. It is important that you do it after having the rest of the paperwork (language and culture exams, accreditation of good behavior, etc.) since such documentation may expire and you would have to repeat the procedures. Check with your country's embassy or consulate for more information.

3. Submit the application to the Ministry of Justice

Finally, after all the above requirements and steps, you will have to submit the completed application, as well as the rest of the documentation at the Ministry of Justice.

We wish you the best of luck!

This is probably not the first time you find us talking about linguistic economy. When we shorten words, either using apocopes, acronyms or other types of abbreviation, we make language more economical. In other words, we express ourselves quicker. In today’s post, we bring you a list with some of the most used abbreviations in Spanish, so you can easily identify them.

Keep on reading to learn the most commonly used Spanish abbreviations or click here to switch to continue reading in Spanish.

Before Getting Started: Differences Between Sigla and Acrónimo

Both siglas and acrónimos are shortened forms of words. In Spanish, siglas are a type of abbreviation formed by the initial letter of each term in the string. They are spelled letter by letter. By contrast, acrónimos can be spelled by syllable.

• Sigla: ECB > BCE (European Central Bank > Banco Central Europeo). Spelling: B-C-E.
• Acrónimo: UN > ONU (United Nations > Organización de Naciones Unidas). Spelling: O-NU.

In this article by RAE (which is by the way an abbreviation of Real Academia Española) you’ll find the most common Spanish abbreviations.

Country and Language Abbreviations

Let us introduce you the ISO 3166 system in case you didn’t know it. This is a standard coding system that assigns three letters to each country. This way, the code for Spain is ESP, the code for Mexico is MEX and the code for Costa Rica is CRI.

And because not all countries have just one language, the international community has created another abbreviated system called ISO 639 to identify all languages around the world using only two letters. Here’s the name of all official languages spoken in Spain according to this system:

• Spanish: ES
• Catalan: CA
• Basque: EU
• Galician: GL

International Organizations Abbreviations in Spanish

One of the biggest challenges when learning a new language is being able to understand abbreviations. Some cultures tend to keep the official abbreviation (in the source language), but we all know that in Spanish we translate everything, even movie titles.

However, most of the times organizations abbreviations are made of English or French terms, which are not that different from Spanish. Thanks to this, the Spanish abbreviation usually differs from the English one only in the order of the elements. Let’s see the abbreviation of some of the most popular organizations in the media:

Time Abbreviations

Charts, calendars, reports and official documents usually contain dates that we tend to shorten to save time and space. To do so, we can use only numbers following the format dd/mm/yyyy or shorten the name of the month and the weekday. Although there are discrepancies between the different short forms, Fundéu recommends the use of the following ones:

Month Abbreviations in Spanish

Weekday Abbreviation in Spanish

Texting Abbreviations in Spanish

Since the SMS (abbreviation of Short Message Service) appeared, the use of abbreviations increased. Afterwards, social media and instant messaging did they part and, nowadays, abbreviations are an ordinary thing in our daily chats. Twitter’s character limit and WhatsApp’s immediacy are good reasons why you should learn to identify (and use) texting abbreviations.

Let’s leave aside academic formality for a while and have a look at some of the most popular digital abbreviations.

Hope you found this post useful. Next time you face an unknown Spanish abbreviation, breath deeply and don’t panic! You can use the tips above to find out its meaning.

"But what does “purity of the Spanish language” even means? Castilian is an evolved Latin which adopted new elements: Iberic, Visigothic, Arab, Greek, French, Italian, English and even from pre-Columbian America. How can you talk about purity of Castilian? When did you decide that from now Castilian is set on stone and all new contribution are noxious impurities? This so-called purity is the last example of some sort of protectionism, linguistic chauvinism, limited, petty, and like any chauvinism it only impoverishes us."

Rosenblat, A. (1971: 12) Nuestra lengua en ambos mundos. Barcelona: Salvat y Alianza.

Languages ​​are living and changing entities that flow and adapt to the social and cultural needs of their speakers. It is often said that, when a language stops evolving, it also stops being spoken, and its use tends to disappear. Our language is kept alive and ever-changing in "ambos mundos” (both words), worlds with cultural differences that shine through the fascinating lexical variants of the Spanish language.

We have already talked about the presence of Spanish all over the world (spoken in 21 countries), not only in Latin America, but also in remote places like the Philippines or Equatorial Guinea. And, although it sounds topical, the Spanish language is very rich in terms of vocabulary. But not all the richness of our culture is reduced to lexical issues, since the foods that compose the great gastronomic variety of Spanish-speaking countries are also delicious. Today, at don Quijote's blog, we want to show you some examples of foods that receive different names according to the Spanish-speaking country we are in. So, when you visit any of them, you will know how to order your favorite foods.

Keep reading this post or click here to switch to the Spanish version.

1. Aguacate (avocado)

This rich and nutritious fruit has its origin in Mexico, and maintains the same name also in Spain, Guatemala, El Salvador and Colombia. However, in Bolivia and Chile this delicious food is known as "palta", while its name is "cura" or "avocado" in Venezuela and "pagua" in Cuba.

2. Dulce de leche (a type of sweet candy similar to fudge candy)

This is the name that this delicious candy receives in Uruguay and also in Argentina, where its part of their traditional  and, although it is not a typical food in Spain, it is increasingly common to find it thanks to the thousands of Argentines who live in this country. In Colombia and Panama, they call it “arequipe”, and "cajeta” in Cuba and Mexico.

3. Fresa (strawberry)

This is the name that this sweet and nutritious fruit receives in Spain and most Latin American countries. But be careful, because in Mexico or Costa Rica, "fresa" is also used to refer pejoratively to someone who has a good social or economic position. In Chile, Argentina and Uruguay it is known by the name “frutilla”.

4. Habas (beans)

To begin with, we must distinguish between the different types of beans and pods we have. On the one hand, we find what in Spain it’s called “alubias” or “judías” (beans), which can be red (“alubias pintas”) or white (“alubias blancas” or “judías blancas”). These, in Mexico and Central America, are known as “frijoles” (although these are black), while in the Dominican Republic are called “habichuelas” and “caraotas” in Venezuela. On the other, the green vegetable pods (“green beans”) are called "judías verdes” in Spain and Colombia, “chauchas” in Argentina and “vainitas” in Perú.

5. Jugo (juice)

Although in Spain it is usually called "zumo", the word "jugo" can be used as a synonym, although it is more common to use it for liquids obtained after cooking stews. The word "jugo" is used to refer to the squeezed fruits in the Canary Islands, Colombia and most Latin American countries. In Mexico, however, the juice is called "licuado".

6. Maracuyá (passion fruit)

If you’ve ever been to Spain, you may have had a “zumo de maracuyá” (passion fruit juice), although this food is also known as “fruta de la pasión”. Other of the many names that it receives in Latin America are “granadilla púrpura”, “pasionaria”, “curuba”, “parcha”, “calabacito” or “ceibey”.

7. Palomitas de maíz (popcorn)

This is the name that this delicious corn-based snack receives in Spain, while in Argentina it is called “pochocló” or “pororó”, “cabritas” in Chile, and “cotufas” in Venezuela.

8. Papaya

This is the name that this tropical fruit (famous for its many good properties) receives in Spain and some Latin American countries. Other names are “papayón”, “olocotón”, “lechoza” or “lechosa” in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, and “frutabomba” in Cuba. In Paraguay and Argentina, they refer to this fruit as "mamón", but be careful, because in many Latin American countries, and also in Spain, this word means something completely different and can be received as an insult.

9. Patata (potato)

The Solanum tuberusom tuber is known as “patata” in Spain (peninsula and Balearic Islands), where it is the main ingredient of one of the most typical recipes in this country: the Spanish tortilla. But, in Latin America and in the Canary Islands, it maintains the Quechua origin name "papa", as in this language of the Peruvian Andes, from where it was exported to the rest of the world after the conquest of America in the 15th century.

10. Plátano (banana)

If you are in Spain and want to ask what the favorite food of monkeys is, the answer will be “plátano”. However, Venezuelans would answer "campur" and in other Caribbean countries, "banana" or "guineo".

And here ends today’s blog post. At don Quijote, we hope you enjoyed it and, above all, that it serves you for the future. Finally, we encourage you to share with us more examples of lexical varieties in Spanish.

See you soon!

How do you call this?

And what about this?

Spanish has words for everything. And as we love to speak very quickly, we need to shorten the words we use. This is called linguistic economy. Click here to switch to the Spanish version of this post and keep on learning!

Probably you’ve learned Spanish with the help of a profe (teacher), and very likely last night you were watching the tele (TV). Maybe you went to work by bus (bus) yesterday and took some notes with a boli (pen). Do you remember what was the last peli (movie) you watched at the cine (cinema)?

Well, these words are a few examples of what apocopes are.

What is an apocope?

‘To apocopate’ is to shorten a word. That it to say, to cut off a sound at the end of it. This sound can either be a letter or a whole syllable. As in other languages, in Spanish this is a very common linguistic phenomenon.

When apocopes occur, short words keep the same meaning as their longer counterparts. Let’s see some examples of what we are talking about.

Spanish Apocopes

Nouns

We can apocopate both proper names and common names. Do you know anyone whose name is Manu or Isa? Well, in case you haven't been told yet, but their full names are Manuel and Isabel.

As we said before, when we speak Spanish, we use words like profe, bus, cine, boli, moto, bici… Well, next time you pronounce them you’ll know that you are using apocopated words, because these are their longer versions:

Profe is short for profesor, which means teacher.

Bus is short for autobús, which means bus.

Cine is short for cinematógrafo, which means cinema.

Boli is short for bolígrafo, which means pen.

Moto is short for motoclicleta, which means motorcycle.

Bici is short for bicicleta, which means bike.

Pronouns

Talking about pronouns, it is very common thing to use them shortened. When you say that algún díra irás a la playa (one day you’ll go to the beach), or that no te ha tocado nunca ningún sorteo (you have never won a raffle), you are using apocopated pronouns without realizing.

When we talk about possessions, we say that this is tu libro (your book) or that this is mi mesa (my table). But do you know which are the longer counterparts of these words?

Algún is short for alguno, which means some.

Ningún is short for ninguno, which means none.

Mi is short for mío, which means ‘of mine’.

Tu is short for tuyo, which means ‘of yours.

Adverbs

Did you know that adverbs can also be apocopated?

If one day we set the alarm much earlier than usual, we say that we woke up muy temprano (too early). Or, for example, if we compare the height of two brothers, we say that one of them is almost tan alto como el otro (as tall as the other one).

Muy is short for mucho, which means ‘too’, ‘very’ or ‘a lot of’, depending on the context.

Tan is short for tanto, which means ‘as much as’.

These are just a few of the many examples you can use of apocopated words. If you want to learn more, come and learn Spanish at our schools in Spain or Latin America.

As we live in a globalized world, international relationships are increasingly frequent. From the late 15th century to the 17th century, Western culture began to spread to other parts of the world and extensive overseas exploration emerged as a powerful factor in European culture. That led to the discovery of new continents, and also to the exploitation of different resources and cultures, meaning the beginning of globalization. In this way, all kinds of resources were exchanged, making borrowed words a thing in most languages nowadays.

As we’ve already told you in other blog posts, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world (thanks in part to the colonization during the Spanish Golden Age), with almost 500 million native speakers, a fact that has had a considerable impact on different languages. For this and other reasons (we love helping you to learn Spanish in the most original and easy way), today we want to share some 15 Spanish-origin words that are used naturally and have been borrowed by the English language.

Continue reading this entry or click here to switch to the Spanish version.

Some Spanish Origin Words

1. Aficionado: In Spanish, this term is used to define a person who has an interest in some subject informally or superficially. But in English, this word is used as a synonym for connoisseur, that is, `understood´ or `expert´. For example, a `literature aficionado´ would be someone who, in addition to enjoy reading, has deep knowledge or is an expert in literature.

2. Barrio: Native English speakers use this term as a synonym for `neighborhood´ or `quarter´, and its meaning is the same as in Spanish: a specific area of a city or town.

3. Cafeteria: It is usually used to refer to a self-service coffee shop or restaurant, but also for those spaces found in schools, or workplaces, which are used for eating and having lunch. It is also a synonym for “canteen”.

4. Fiesta: The word fiesta has the same meaning as the word `party´, and was included in English dictionaries in 1983 after Lionel Richie used it in his song `All Night Long´.

5. Guerrilla: This word means the same in English as it does in Spanish, that is to refer to paramilitary groups acting independently of official armies in a specific conflict.

6. Macho: This word is not used in English to refer to the sex of the different species, it only means `very masculine´. It began to be used after the famous song of the Village People: `Macho Man´.

7. Maestro: Actually, this term is an Italian origin word, and it is used in English with two different connotations: to refer to famous composers and conductors of classical music, and also to designate geniuses in other areas and disciplines. 

8. Mosquito: As we do in Spanish, this term is used in English to allude to a slender, long-legged insect that bites.

9. Negro: This term was used until the 19th century, especially in the US, in a very pejorative way towards black-skinned people. Today is still a super offensive insult and disrespect for African American people.

10. Patio: This term is used in the United Kingdom to refer to outdoor spaces inside pubs or restaurants. The equivalent English origin is `beer garden´ or `terrace´. On the other hand, patio is also used to make reference to that spaces that usually exist in the single-family houses in the UK and Ireland.

11. Plaza: The word plaza means the same as in Spanish and it is a synonym for `square´, `park´ or `court´, although recently it has begun to be used for shopping mall, and also for especially representative hotels, such as the `Plaza Hotel´ in New York.

12. Politico: Word used in informal contexts to refer to the politicians of a country in a pejorative way.

13. Pueblo: In English, this word is used to refer to American Indian villages of the southwestern US.

14. Siesta: The word siesta is associated with the habit of lying down for a while after having lunch. The English-origin term is `nap´.

15. Solo: This term of Spanish origin refers to loneliness or the fact of doing something without any company, especially in a musical performance or composition.

At don Quijote, we hope that this entry’s been interesting and fun for you, but, above all, that helps you understand these words in order to use them correctly in both languages. Finally, we want to share a phrase that any English speaker would understand without much difficulty: El maestro tocó un solo de guitarra en la fiesta de la plaza del barrio, lo que no dejó dormir la siesta al macho del pueblo. Can you think of any other?

How to express quantity and quality

In today’s blog post we are going to go over the main intensity and quantity expressions used in Spanish: muy (very), mucho (much/very) and poco (few). You’ll realize that not many explanations are needed and that it’s a very easy topic to understand.

Click here to continue reading in Spanish.

Muy, poco

We place muy (very) and poco, poca (few) before adjectives and adverbs to describe the intensity of a quality or a feature. For example:

El examen fue muy difícil.

(The exam was very difficult)

In the previous example muy gives us a hint of how difficult the exam was. In other words, muy modifies the adjective difícil.

Mi profesor habla muy rápido

(My teacher talks very fast)

Muy refers now to the adjective rápido, giving us more information on how fast the teacher speaks.

Es una persona poco habladora

(He or she is not a very talkative person)

In the example above, poco describes the intensity of the adjective habladora.

Mucho, poco

However, we place the words mucho, mucha, muchos, muchas and poco, poca, pocos, pocas next to nouns and verbs. We do it to indicate the quantity or quality of an action. For example:

Tenemos muchas preguntas.

(We’ve got many questions)

In this case, the word muchas helps us understand how many questions they have, and the word preguntas is not an adjective, but a noun.

Ahora hay poco trabajo en mi ciudad

(There’s few work in my town).

In the previous example, poco refers to the quantity of available jobs and it also accompanies a noun.

Hablas mucho, pero escuchas poco.

(You talk a lot, but you listen very few)

However, here mucho and poco don’t modify a noun. On the contrary, they express the intensity of two actions: hablar and escuchar, which are both verbs.

Note that when they modify verbs, that is to say, actions, mucho and poco are only used in their singular and masculine form.

Hope everything is very clear by now and you have very few doubts left. ?

Thanks to Ignacio, from our Spanish school in Alicante, for clarifying many of our doubts.

Imagine having to plan a trip without Internet. You would need to use a real map, ask around to find a hotel, choose a restaurant without reading Google reviews… Sounds tough, right? Well, centuries ago, when the first explorers and merchants sailed the seven seas, they didn’t have machine translation apps in their smartphones.

How do you think they communicated with people from other lands? The answer is easy: they had to find linguistic solutions easy to understand for both parties. Keep on reading this post or click here to switch to the Spanish version of this article and find out about mixed languages and how they originated.

Lingua franca, pidgin and creole

When a cultural exchange between two or more different cultures takes part, speakers need to find a way to communicate effectively. Before translators existed, this was possible thanks to linguae francae, pidgins and creole languages.

A lingua franca is an already existing language which people from different linguistic backgrounds use to communicate. Until the 18^th Century, for example, Latin was the lingua franca for scientists and scholars. Nowadays, English has taken that role on an international level.

In contrast, a pidgin language is a new linguistic variety that arises when two or more groups of speakers need to attain something immediately; for example, a trade deal. It’s the result of the contact between at least two languages, with one of them having more prestige than the other one.

Finally, creole languages, as their name indicates, are those that have developed organically from the colonies’ cultural mixture. With the European expansion in the 16^th and 17^th Centuries, Amerindian languages, European languages and African languages merged, generating new linguistic varieties.

5 Spanish-Based Pidgin and Creole Languages

Due to the History of the Spanish Crown, Spanish is present in many mixed languages around the world. Here’s a list with the top Spanish-based pidgin and creole languages.

1.Chavacano

Chavacano is a group of languages spoken in the Philippines. The vocabulary of Chavacano consists generally of Spanish words and grammatical structures borrowed from the local languages. It is the main language of Zamboanga City, although it is not very common for Filipinos to speak it fluently.

2.Palenquero

In Colombia, about 2500 people spoke Palenque in the early 90s. It is a mixture of Spanish and the slaves’ African languages. Nowadays, it is practically an unintelligible language for Spanish speakers and just some old people speak it, so most probably it’s going to disappear soon.

3.Jopara

Did you know that Guarani is the national language in Paraguay, as well as Spanish? 90% of the population understand it and it is taught in schools, but most speakers mix it very often with Spanish. This Guarani variation is called Jopara.

4.Cocoliche

This pidgin is the language that resulted after several Italian dialects mixed with the Spanish spoken in Argentina during the 19^th and the 20^th Centuries. Like other mixed languages, its use is mostly restricted to the conversational mode. This language has less and less speakers every time, but many Cocoliche words are now part of the Lunfardo speech, a dialect spoken in Buenos Aires.

5.Yanito

And finally, we have the only creole language in Europe: yanito. The old continent has traditionally been migrant, and that’s why most mixed languages in the world are found in colonies. However, there is one example of a creole language in Spain: Gibraltar’s yanito. People in this British territory in Algeciras Bay (Cadiz) speak a peculiar mix of English and Spanish.

Hope you learned a lot about how far a language can get. If you want to learn more on the topic, watch the video below. Are you considering now learning Spanish?

Grabbing your remote control and turning on the television is probably one of the activities you perform most frequently at home.

However, do you know how much work is actually behind this simple move? Keep on reading in Spanish to find out.

A Little Bit of History

Before television appeared as we know it today, many technological advancements took place. Some of those experiments led to the emergence of the modern TV.

Back in 1884, people managed to project the light objects issue using a metal disk and a light. However, it wasn’t until 1925 when they used these disks together to make up a real image. One of the disks worked as an issuer and the other one as a receptor.

Little by little, they kept on increasing the distance between both disks and repeating the same experiment, but through a telephone wire.

Five years after that test, in 1930, it took place the first simultaneous broadcasting: image plus audio. But what we know today as TV was still far from being achieved.

This broadcasting was the first of many of them, but they were all irregular and not scheduled.

In 1936, England started broadcasting with a consistent programming, and the United States began doing so in 1939. During the middle of the 20th Century, television started to spread throughout the world.

And What About Color Television?

During all this time there were a lot of scientists trying to achieve color images. But it wasn’t until 1970 when we finally got screens that could show the real color of objects.

Over the years and with a little help from the technological advancements, TV improved its quality and reached more and more houses.

The use of satellites helped broadcasting get faster. This way, TV got faster as well and reached more places around the world. Besides, satellites helped giving access to foreign TV shows.

And if you think that’s already a big improvement, wait to see what happened in the 80s. With digitalization, video production and broadcasting reached a whole different level of quality and speed rates.

As a consequence, TV started replacing the radio as the most popular medium for information.

However, these advancements didn’t arrive at the same time to all countries.

Television in Spain

While England’s first broadcasts took place around 1936, in Spain we had to wait 20 years more for that. The ordinary broadcasts at the time were mass ceremonies, official speeches, classic music concerts, etc. 

In 1959 it took place the very first TV broadcast in Spain: a soccer match. It was Real Madrid playing against Barcelona, causing TV sales to increase significantly before the game.

Until that point, all TV screens sold in Spain were imported. In 1960 they started being produced in the country and, as a consequence, they became cheaper. By the end of the decade, there was a television in almost 40% of the Spanish households.

The first color broadcasting that took place in Spain was the Eurovision Song Contest in 1969, live from Madrid. However, as the cameras and the rest of the equipment was provided by other countries, that was only an exception.

From 1973 on, black and white and color broadcasts shared space in Spain. But in 1978, color took over the power of TV.

World Television Day

And because such advancement should not be forgotten, since 1996 we celebrate World Television Day on November 21, commemorating the date on which the first World Television Forum was held.

The United Nations countries came to an agreement to make TV a broadcast medium for news and relevant information, promoting shows that were focused on peace, safety and social development, among other topics.

And what’s left of this story, you probably know it firsthand. DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television) made it possible to watch more channels with improved image quality and services. Nowadays, we talk about Smart TVs, apps and cutting-edge streaming platforms.