Beware… this post is a little geeky! If you don’t speak Spanish or don’t like languages like I do, you might not be interested in this post. You might learn something new though!<\/p>\n
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Spanish is a pluricentric language<\/a>, meaning that it is spoken in many different places and there is no one standard version. For example, the Spanish spoken in Spain, which is typically called el\u00a0castellano<\/em> or Castilian Spanish,\u00a0is different from the one spoken in Mexico or in Argentina. There are differences even between individual regions in Spain. Most of these regional differences tend to be small vocabulary differences, especially when it comes to slang or curse words, but there are also some major differences in pronunciation and pronoun usage. Even with these major differences, however, individual versions and dialects of the languages are still mutually intelligible<\/a>, meaning that speakers of the various dialects can understand each other.<\/p>\n In the United States, we typically study a Latin American version of the language like from Mexico or a more neutral one that focuses on the shared characteristics between the types of Spanish. We might touch on some aspects of the different countries, but we do not really go that much into depth. As a result, I was definitely a little surprised by two of the major grammatical differences used here in Spain:\u00a0el\u00a0vosotros\u00a0<\/em>and la distinci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n Like most Romance language, Spanish has two main ways to express the English idea of “you”: a formal version (Usted<\/em>) and an informal version (t\u00fa<\/em>), similar to French’s vous<\/em> vs. tu<\/em> and German’s Sie<\/em> vs. Du<\/em>. The formal version is typically used where there’s a power distance, such as between teacher and student or employee and customer, or when there is a desire to be extra polite, while the informal version shows familiarity and closeness. Simple enough, right? The only complication for Spanish is in the plural<\/span> form of you. In Latin American Spanish, you just use the formal plural, Ustedes<\/em>, for everything, which happens to use the same verb form (conjugation<\/a>) as the third person plural “they” (ellos<\/em>), making it very straightforward. We were always taught that was an informal plural,\u00a0vosotros<\/em>, that was used in Spain, but there was never much emphasis placed on it so we just assumed it was something used in frequently like the “you guys” or “youse” that you hear every now and then in places like New Jersey<\/a>.<\/p>\n We get to Spain and it becomes clear that this assumption was very much false. Add a very open culture to the fact that everyone wants to be viewed as young in Spain and you can see see why they use\u00a0vosotros<\/em>\u00a0practically\u00a0everywhere<\/span> here. From the first time we talked to our program coordinators (\u00bfc\u00f3mo est\u00e1is?<\/em>) and host family (esto es vuestra casa<\/em>) to the professors in our classes (\u00bfcomprend\u00e9is?<\/em>) and people on the street (\u00bfd\u00f3nde ir\u00e9is esta noche?)<\/em>,\u00a0it was everywhere we went. Advertisements even use it! I was definitely glad I always paid attention to our conjugation tables and didn’t just skip over learning that verb form. It’s weird to actually see it in practice, but it’s nice in a way, because we’re finally using all six conjugation forms that we always had to write out in the tables.<\/p>\n