Author Topic: Quick Spanish Question for you, Hill  (Read 12512 times)

hill roberts

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Re: Quick Spanish Question for you, Hill
« Reply #15 on: October 30, 2009, 03:58:45 PM »
Hi Renz,
Personally, I think it's all in the mind. What better way to travel Europe secure in the knowledge that you can speak English? Tourism equals knowledge of the English language. Like your friend, I travel extensively in Europe and believe me, when I was in Rome in 2006, my biggest frustration was not being able to communicate in Italian. The Romans, at least the majority of them, don't speak English, and if they do, it's broken English. French and German language are neither prestigious nor that important either although it would be nice if more of us Filipinos speak it since these are major languages, too. Now consider Spanish: in the past the US used to consider this language major, but a Third World language. I suppose it is more of the Americans' ignorance of the outside world---don't forget the Americans are one of the most insular, less travelled people in the world, despite their affluence. Of course, the Spanish/Castillan language has now been catapulted as one of the top three important major languages after English and Mandarin. Nowadays, people in Europe are proud when they say they "can" speak or understand Spanish and it's only fair that it should be promoted as such. My cousin, who has been living in Munich for fifty years, speaks fluent German. She learned it in six months of moving from the US, where she was studying at Columbia University, and met her future German husband.She was one of only  seven Filipinos in Germany at that time!!! She speaks Spanish fluently too...so, equipped with English, German and Spanish, I believe she was in demand in the old days.

maudionisio

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Re: Quick Spanish Question for you, Hill
« Reply #16 on: October 30, 2009, 05:07:34 PM »
Hi! Hill Roberts: By the way, you spelled “llamado” as pronounced in Andalucia (llamao), it seems akin to Portuguese (Sao, Guzmao). Is this so? I thought the Andaluz accent was similar to Arabic because Andalucia was the based of the moorish kingdoms during the 800 years of Arab-Moor rule in Spain. Is the Spanglish in Gilbrartar spoken by the Puerto Ricans in New York? There is an old song with a line, “...Gilbrartar may tumble...” The name “Gilbrartar“ came from the Arabic “Jebel Talal” or “Talal's mountain.”

maudionisio

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Re: Quick Spanish Question for you, Hill
« Reply #17 on: October 30, 2009, 05:17:43 PM »
Hi! Hill Roberts: By the way, you spelled “llamado” as pronounced in Andalucia (llamao), it seems akin to Portuguese (Sao, Guzmao). Is this so? I thought the Andaluz accent was similar to Arabic because Andalucia was the based of the moorish kingdoms during the 800 years of Arab-Moorish rule in Spain. Is the Spanglish in Gilbrartar simila to the one spoken by the Puerto Ricans in New York? There is an old song with a line, “...Gilbrartar may tumble...” The name “Gilbrartar“ came from the Arabic “Jebel Talal” or “Talal's mountain.”

hill roberts

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Re: Quick Spanish Question for you, Hill
« Reply #18 on: October 30, 2009, 06:15:13 PM »
Hi, Maudionisio,
 Hope I got your name correctly this time...I just thought Mau would be "Mauricio"? I could be wrong. Still on the topic and pronunciation of past tense. Good observation, Mau. Indeed, that's how the majority of Andaluz speak...llamao, callao, (callado), acabao (acabado) and so forth. Well, Portugal is next door to Spain, the nearest province would be Huelva, the last province after Sevilla, the capital of Andalucia. I've been to Portugal many times in the 80's when it was still a backwater and very poor. Their accent is similar to the Gallegos (or Galicians since it is also bordering Portugal, I think northwest of Portugal is Galicia). The Portuguese language is a poor imitation of the French or even, sometimes, Catalan, if I'm not mistaken...one expects many Portuguese to speak Spanish too. As you can see, Christian Ronaldo, the Real Madrid footballer speaks very good Spanish. As for the Galicians or Gallegos themselves, they too have their own language and culture. I read somewhere that the Irish originated from Galicia! That's why the Irish are called Gaelic. They even share the same music, dance and that irish instument they play...As for Gibraltar, yes, it was Anglicised by the Brits of course but you're right about the origin of the name...but I think it used to be Gibral Tarik...again, I could be wrong. Last week after dusk, I managed to take photographs of North Africa. I could send you photographs if you give me your email. Mine is hillrob53@hotmail.com. if  you're interested since North Africa and Gibraltar are right in front of my place on a good day. It's 1'1/2 hours from Marbella to Gib.

maudionisio

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Re: Quick Spanish Question for you, Hill
« Reply #19 on: October 30, 2009, 06:21:43 PM »
Hi! Hill Roberts: By the way, you spelled “llamado” as pronounced in Andalucia (llamao), it seems akin to Portuguese (Sao, Guzmao). Is this so? I thought the Andaluz accent was similar to Arabic because Andalucia was the based of the moorish kingdoms during the 800 years of Arab-Moorish rule in Spain. Is the Spanglish in Gilbrartar simila to the one spoken by the Puerto Ricans in New York? There is an old song with a line, “...Gilbrartar may tumble...” The name “Gilbrartar“ came from the Arabic “Jebel Talal” or “Talal's mountain.”

maudionisio

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Re: Quick Spanish Question for you, Hill
« Reply #20 on: October 30, 2009, 06:37:02 PM »
Hi! Hill Roberts. By the way you spelled (llamado) as pronounced in Andaluz (llamao), it seems akin to Protiguese (Sao, Guzmao). Is this so? I thought the Andaluz accent was similar to Arabic because Andalucia was the based of the Moorish kingdoms during the 800 years of Arab-Moorosh rule in Spain. Is the Spanglish in Gilbartrar similar to the one spokesn  by Puerto Ricans in New York? There is an old song with a line “...Gilbartrar may tumble...” The name “Gilbartrar comes from the Arabic “Jebel Talal” or “Talal's mountain.”