New Additions to the Dictionary of the Real Academia Española (DRAE)

Posted On June 28, 2012By TranspanishIn Languages, Spanish Language, Tips for Translators/  No Comments

Last Friday, the Real Academia Española—the absolute authority on all aspects of the Spanish language—updated its online dictionary by means of 1,697 modifications, including new words, abbreviations, anglicisms and more. This update constitutes the fifth revision to the venerable dictionary since 2001.

With an average of more than 2,000,000 visits per day, the DRAE is the most frequently consulted online Spanish dictionary. Despite the dictionary’s popularity, the academy sometimes draws criticism for being overly conservative in terms of changes and additions to the DRAE. With that said, it seems that the Real Academia loosened up a bit this time around, adding new terms that reflect changes on societal, technological and economic levels as well as a number of slang words that have been in use for some time but were previously unrecognized by the RAE.

One of the most noteworthy changes came to the word “matrimonio” (marriage), which now incorporates same-sex union as one of the term’s accepted meanings. Given that both Spain and Argentina have legalized gay marriage, now both the law and the language reflect the concept of marriage equality in these countries.

Other words included in the update arose from social networking and the tech world, with terms such as “bloguero/a” (blogger), “chatear” (to chat), SMS, “tableta” (tablet computer) and USB finally gaining acceptance. Although “tuit” and “tuitear” (the word “tweet” both as a noun and verb) did not get the go-ahead this time around, the terms will likely be included in the next update.

With the global economic crisis at the forefront of many people’s minds, a number of financial and political terms entered the dictionary as well including riesgo de crédito (credit risk), riesgo país (country risk), and euroescepticismo (euroscepticism).

The dictionary’s next update to its print edition is slated for 2014; however, spokespeople for the academy note that the updating process is an ongoing one. You can consult the entire DRAE online at http://rae.es/drae.

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How Math Can Save a Language from Extinction

Posted On June 19, 2012By TranspanishIn Languages/  No Comments

With more and more languages fading into obscurity each year, linguists and other interested scholars find themselves frantically trying to record the details of these rare tongues before they completely disappear. Ultimately, while a language’s salvation lies in the hands of its population of current and potential speakers, the field of mathematics may be able to help when people decide that a language is indeed worth preserving.

A mathematician and her team of colleagues have worked to create a model consisting of several different equations, which describes the current state of an endangered local language. Cultural programs and organizations that promote learning of the language in question can utilize the data generated from calculations performed with this model to determine what steps must be taken for a stable population of bilinguals to develop, thus securing the language’s continued existence.

The model must be specifically tailored to variables such as a language’s cultural and economic value, and at the moment, the model only functions with Scottish Gaelic; however, researchers are hoping to expand to other languages such as Quechua and Chinook.

For more information about this research bringing together math and language, take a look at this article at Discover Magazine.

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Spanish Words Disguised as English

Posted On June 13, 2012By TranspanishIn English Language, Languages, Spanglish, Spanish Language/  1 Comment

Long before the hybrid Spanglish came on the scene, the two languages—Spanish and English—were mixing it up in dusty border towns and far-flung tropical locales. Over the years, English has been enriched by the addition of numerous Spanish loan words, some borrowed with virtually no changes while others have been anglicized to a certain extent, either in terms of spelling or pronunciation. When American settlers began exploring the west in the early 1800s, they encountered an established Mexican culture that supplied the English language with a number of everyday words. Merchants trading in the Spanish-influenced Caribbean returned not only with goods but new words as well. Novel dishes and ingredients introduced to us through exposure to Hispanic cultures have broadened both our menu options and our vocabulary.

While languages such as Spanish and French have academic bodies—the Real Academia Española and the Académie Française, respectively—charged with maintaining the purity and integrity of these languages, no such body exists for the English language. English abounds with words adopted from other languages, and new words continue to enter the language, many of which can claim foreign pedigrees.

The following list of words, although far from exhaustive, provides a glimpse of some of the Spanish loan words that you probably use all the time but never gave a second thought as to their origins.

adobe, alpaca, amigo, armadillo, banana, bandoleer, bolero, burro, bronco, caiman, caldera, chili con carne, chihuahua, condor, conga, conquistador, corral, coyote, creole, cumbia, daiquiri, desperado, embargo, flamenco, galleon, gaucho, gazpacho, guanaco, guerrilla, hacienda, iguana, jaguar, junta, latino, llama, machete, macho, maize, mambo, manatee, maracas, mariachi, marijuana, matador, merengue, mesa, mescal, mosquito, negro, oregano, paella, pampa, patio, pasodoble, piñata, plaza, poncho, puma, quinoa, rodeo, rumba, salsa, siesta, silo, taco, tango, tapas, tequila, tobacco, tornado, tortilla, vanilla, vigilante, vertigo.

Can you think of any other examples of Spanish words that have snuck into English?

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The Fate of the Spanish Language in the United States

Posted On June 7, 2012By TranspanishIn Languages, Spanish Language/  No Comments

The Spanish language is putting up a valiant fight. With 52 million Hispanics in the U.S. and the number of Spanish speakers on the rise, it looks as though Spanish is here to stay; however, historically speaking, the United States has earned a reputation as the place where good languages go to die. In the late 1800s/early 1900s, legions of immigrants arrived from places such as Italy, Russia and Germany, but by the third generation, their maternal languages had fallen by the wayside in favor of English. Will Spanish suffer the same fate with today’s new wave of immigrants from Latin America?

The truth is that the U.S. Hispanic population has benefited from economic conditions, technology, and demographic and geographic factors quite different from those experienced by European immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries.

  • Sheer numbers: The U.S. is home to some 50 million Spanish speakers versus 10 million German speakers (previously, the largest group of non-English-speaking immigrants).
  • Shared background: The majority of Spanish-speaking immigrants hail from Mexico (some 30 million).
  • Geography: Mexico, Puerto Rico and Cuba’s geographic proximity to the U.S. means that recent immigrants are less likely to completely dissociate themselves from their homelands, unlike immigrants who’ve left behind countries thousands of miles away.
  • 21st century conveniences: Ease of travel, Spanish-language media, and Internet access have all contributed to elevated socioeconomic status for many immigrants. Freedom of movement and communication leads immigrants to reconnect with their roots and prevents the ghettoization that occurred during the great period of European immigration.

A recent market research study by Nielsen (“The Hispanic Market Imperative”) advises that companies continue to court the Latino segment. The study revealed the following statistics:

  • 37% of Hispanic adults who primarily spoke English as children later learned enough Spanish to be considered bilingual.
  • Nine out of 10 Hispanic parents or parents-to-be want their children to speak both English and Spanish.
  • Hispanic adults say they want to be more Latino (31%) or bicultural (60%) than they are currently.
  • Estimates show that 56% of Latino adults speak primarily Spanish at home, compared to 40% who speak primarily English.

Hispanics are the largest immigrant group in U.S. history to show significant culture sustainability; they’re not vanishing into the American melting pot. America—if you haven’t done so already— take note.

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