Day of The Spanish Language
On April 23, the “Day of the Spanish Language” is celebrated at the United Nations as a gesture to raise the awareness of the the history, culture and use of Spanish as an official language…
Day of The Spanish Language
On April 23rd, the “Day of the Spanish Language” is celebrated at the United Nations as a gesture to raise awareness about the history, culture and use of Spanish as an official language.
In 2010, the Organization decided to begin celebrating its diversity by creating “Language Days” for its 6 official languages:
March 20 – Day of the French language, coinciding with the International Day of La Francophonie.
April 20 – Day of the Chinese language, dedicated to Tsan Chieh, creator of the Chinese script.
April 23 – Day of the English language, which coincides with the anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, arguably the most famous dramatist and poet in the world of English literature.
April 23 – Day of the Spanish language which shares the date of the death of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, the mind behind the Spanish letters.
June 6 – Day of the Russian language, on the anniversary of the birth of Alexander Pushkin known as the founder of modern Russian literature.
December 18 – Day of the Arabic language, which commemorates the approval in 1973 of Arabic as the official and working language of the General Assembly and its Main Committees.
The Original Day of Spanish (El Día del Idioma Español) dates back to 1926, when writer Vicente Clavel Andrés first proposed the idea of a day dedicated to celebrating Spanish literature. Beginning in Valencia, the tradition quickly spread throughout Spain, and in 1964, it was adopted by all Spanish-speaking countries. Originally, October 12th was chosen as the day of celebration because it is traditionally observed as the day when Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas, marking the beginning of the spread of the Spanish language and culture as well as its lasting impact on the "new world." As of now, there has been no official statement made by the UN as to why the date was changed.
The United Nations encourages companies around the world to celebrate the Days of Languages and organize cultural events that show the importance of multilingualism through music, art, food, and movies.
This year, activities coordinated by the UN will included reading extracts from Don Quixote, a Spanish language test, and a round table discussion about inclusive communication to gender in Spanish.
We hope you've enjoyed learning about the United Nations' Day of The Spanish Language! What would you like to see the UN include in next year's festivities? Leave a comment below to join the conversation!
6 Spanish Words Adapted from English You Must Know!
We’ve put together a list of a few words that the Spanish have adopted for when traditional Spanish doesn’t quite cut it. To a native English speaker they sound familiar yet still slightly strange…
6 Spanish Words Adapted from English You Must Know!
While the French and Italians may spend more time than their linguistic counterparts being outwardly vocal about the preservation of their native tongue, the Spanish language is always evolving as well (much to the dismay of the Royal Spanish Academy who has launched their own campaign to slow the change). As globalization continues to become more prevalent, the “englishification” of the Spanish language has been on the rise. We’ve put together a list of a few words that the Spanish have adopted for when traditional Spanish doesn’t quite cut it. Keep in mind that these are slang terms that have been adapted to mean something entirely different than their original English meaning. So, to a native English speaker, they will sound familiar all the while sounding slightly strange. Here are 6 that you must know!
Footing - jogging (hacer footing would mean to 'go jogging')
Parking - used to refer to a car park or parking lot
Crack - used to describe someone who's great at doing something - essentially a compliment!
Gin-tonic the Spanish have adopted the English name for the refreshing alcoholic beverage and just dropped the 'and' in the middle.
El office - a pantry or utility room.
Smoking - this term has been adopted specifically in Spain to mean ‘black tie’ and is alternatively spelled 'un esmoquin'.
We hope you've enjoyed learning about 6 Spanish Words Adapted from English You Must Know! Interested in delving even further into the Spanish language? Our culturally infused group classes taught by native instructors can improve your fluency faster than you may have ever thought possible! Click below to learn more!
Español On Demand
The popular Spanish-language channel, Univision will soon be launching an extension of Univision Now for only $2.99 per month…
Español On Demand
The popular Spanish-language channel, Univision will be launching an extension of Univision Now with content not only from the broadcaster’s programming library, but Viacom and BBC as a subscription based video service. The service will cost $2.99 per month if you currently have access to cable TV. For access to live and on-demand content you pay only $8 per month, which is still cheaper than most current subscription based video platforms.
For those unfamiliar, Univision is an American Spanish-language broadcast television network that is owned by Univision Communications. The network's programming is aimed at Hispanic Americans and includes telenovelas, dramas, sportscasts, sitcoms, reality, news programming, and imported films.
Currently, Univision is headquartered in New York City and has its major studios, production facilities, and business operations based in Doral, Florida.
The original iteration of the branch debuted a few years ago to attempt to reach mobile device users, and according to Tonia O’Connor, CRO for Univision, “Since then, what we came to realize is that they (the customer base) can’t get enough of the content on an on-demand basis.” Also, “You should think of this as the Netflix for Spanish-language content. That is what we are building.”
Univision is also planning to partner with multiple other online companies an social platforms such as: Facebook, Snapchat, & Netflix. For advertisers, Univision will unveil the ad suite: Aperture. This will allow for precision targeted data and will also include Campaign Builder: a self-serve programmatic ad platform designed to measure the impact of campaigns.
Currently the release date of this service is still TBA.
We hope you've enjoyed learning about how Univision is providing Español On Demand! Want to enjoy all of your favorite Spanish movies, telenovelas, and sportscasts in their most authentic form? Check out our highly-rated immersive group classes and private lessons at JP Linguistics today!
Summer Screams En Español!
It’s been a while since we have suggested a particular film for our readers to catch, but there is a new summer horror movie En Español that you absolutely should not miss!
Summer Screams En Español
It’s been a while since we have suggested a particular film for our readers to catch, but there is a new summer horror movie En Español that you absolutely should not miss!
Terror Films has released it’s official trailer and poster for their very first Spanish language horror movie, Forward, which is to be released Tuesday, May 1!
While the history of the Spanish cinema, specifically in the horror genre, is not in mainstream of most North American lives, we highly recommend the documentary, “Horror Europa", which explores the genre all the way from Nosferatu to the modern Spanish cinema. Even if it has been under-appreciated, Spain has long been a master of horror, excelling specifically in the realm of psychological dreads with some of the most drastic plot twists in the genre.
While Spain has had a horror boom that mirrored the U.S. in the 1960s and 1970s, it wasn’t until nearly 10 years ago that the international community began to take notice. Spain has since emerged as a leader of horror, delivering some of the most terrifying films in recent memory.
In fact, Vulture.com has curated a list of 15 of the best in case you want to catch up.
Written and directed by Henry Bedwell, the film features Harold Torres & Axel Ricco as 2 assassins hired to avenge their boss. Novel concept right?
According to the official press release, “The job leads them to what appears to be an abandoned hotel. However, they soon find themselves in an unexpected maze of madness, where realities intertwine and nightmares come to life. Faced with an evil demon named Larissa – played by Latin America television star Lisette Morelos – the duo realizes that the gates of hell prove to be closer to our plane of existence than either of them could have expected.”
FORWARD has been the the recipient of multiple film festival awards including:
Best Feature Fiction at the 12 Month Film Festival,
Winner of Best Fantasy Film at the Feratum Film Festival
the Laurel of Achievement at Cinema Grand Prix.
In addition, Forward also recieved an official selection at: Sustefest, Los Angeles CineFest & BioBio Cine.
Terror Films will release FORWARD exclusively in N. America with English subtitles on Vudu, Amazon Instant, iTunes, Google Play and Xbox Live. Following the North American release, iTunes and Google Play will host Forward in Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Costa Rica, & Honduras with a worldwide release on additional platforms in the fall.
We hope you've enjoyed learning about Summer Screams En Español! Want to nix those pesky subtitles and enjoy all of your favorite Spanish movies in their most authentic form? Check out our highly-rated immersive group classes and private lessons at JP Linguistics today!
Perserving Ladino
More than 500 years after expelling Jews from the country, Spain is officially recognizing Ladino as a Spanish language in the hope of saving the it from extinction.
Reviving Ladino
More than 500 years after expelling Jews from the country, Spain is officially recognizing Ladino as a Spanish language in the hope of saving it from extinction.
Ladino, also known as Judeo-Spanish, was preserved by Spanish Jews following their expulsion from Spain in 1492. Shmuel Rafael, director of Bar-Ilan University’s Salti Center for Ladino Studies stated that “It was the main tool for creating, disseminating and preserving the spoken and written culture of the Spanish Jews." Also that Spain’s decision has been reached from the knowledge that Ladino is a Spanish language in the same way as are Portuguese, Catalan, Basque and the Spanish dialects are Spanish.
At a conference last week at the Royal Spanish Academy in Madrid, officials announced the establishment of a new Ladino academy to be located in Israel that would put together a historical dictionary of Ladino. With Ladino becoming an official language, Spain will be able to add Ladino words and phrases to its popular online historical dictionary, for the benefit of the world’s 500 million Spanish speakers.
In Israel, Ladino can be studied at Bar-Ilan University, Ben-Gurion University and Hebrew University. The new academy will aim to act as “a crossroads for a vast amount of scholarships,” Rafael stated. “This is a very important moment, a historic moment,” Professor Tamar Alexander, chairwoman of the Ladino authority and a scholar of Spanish-Jewish culture, told the Madrid conference. The new academy is considering to operate out of the Yitzhak Navon heritage center.
We hope you've enjoyed learning about how Spain plans on Perserving Ladino! Want to learn more about the lingusitic intricacies that the Spanish language has to offer? Our native instructors and fully immersive classes are here to help! Click below to learn more.