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Apr. 19, 2005 Since I posted my article, "Reforming English Grammar", it occurred to me to give equal time to Spanish grammar, noting a few of the good points and bad points about that language, at least from the viewpoint of an outsider. The best feature about the Spanish language is that one can always, I mean always, pronounce a written word without looking up the pronunciation, if he knows the rules, which are relatively easy. This consideration becomes important when you are studying biology, chemistry or other subjects with much special vocabulary. This is the only language that scores 100% in this regard. Greek and German score about 98%, Italian and Portuguese about 80%, French about 50% and English about 25%. Unfortunately, it doesn't work in reverse. If you hear a spoken word, often there may be two or more ways in which it could be spelled. Spanish vowels are always pronounced clearly. Thus the a's in 'calabaza' (pumpkin) are all clear and distinct. This enhances recognition amd simplifies pronunciation. Another very convenient feature in Spanish is that all plurals are regular, provided you know a couple of orthographic rules. I'm still amazed at how many irregular plurals English has. Another feature I like about Spanish is the existence of the subjunctive mood. In English there are only traces of such a thing. Often the subjunctive enables the speaker to make subtle distinctions that disappear in English. Spanish has only two contractions, 'al' and 'del', which is definitely helpful, whereas English has dozens of complicated and messy- looking contractions. But Spanish has several unwelcome features as well. First and foremost is the complicated conjugation of verbs. According to my count, if you made a chart for the paradigm of a typical conjugation, you'd have 62 boxes to fill in, but you never have 62 distinct words, because some of the words do double duty: hablamos--we speak, we spoke; iría--I would go, he would go. It would be nice if Spanish, like Greek, had a unique form for each box in the chart. Compare Greek 'agapousa--I used to love; agapouse--he used to love' with Spanish 'amaba--I used to love, he used to love'. But that's a small matter in comparison with the number of irregular verbs. Thus, instead of 'andé', one finds 'anduve' (I walked). Instead of 'poní', one finds 'puse' (I put). Instead of 'volve', one finds 'vuelve' (he returns). One could spend a lifetime learning all the irregular verbs. Nor are the irregularities productive. If all verbs were regularized by government fiat, nothing would be lost semantically, though it would be confusing for a while. Another inconvenient feature is grammatical gender. All nouns are masculine or feminine, including those which denote things. Thus, 'mesa' and 'silla' (table and chair) are feminine, while 'papel' and 'lápiz' (paper and pencil) are masculine. You have to know these genders, because articles, adjectives and pronouns have to agree in gender: la mesa roja (the red table), el lápiz rojo (the red pencil). Words ending in 'o' are usually masculine, while those in 'a' are usually feminine. Otherwise, you cannot tell the gender of a noun by looking at it. You usually have to look it up and remember it. This feature contributes nothing to precision or expressiveness, and complicates learning Spanish. Spanish words are usually longer than English words: estacionamiento--parking; demasiadamente-- too; ustedes dijeron--you said; a no ser que-- unless; vaya a la izquierda--go left; necesitamos- -we need. Another annoying phenomenon in Spanish is that double negatives are considered correct. This also happens in French, Russian and other languages, but does not occur in English, Chinese, Hebrew or Arabic. Thus, one says, "no hago nada" (I don't do nothing), or "no oigo a nadie" (I don't hear nobody). Compare Russian "ne dyelayu nichevo" (I don't do nothing). A slightly illogical but very convenient quirk in Spanish is the use of the reflexive as a passive: la casa se vende (the house sells itself = the house is sold). This happens in Russian too: dom pokupayetca (the house sells itself). In English, a compound verb like 'to try to sell' has no passive. One cannot say, "The house that is trying to be sold," or "The house that is being tried to be sold". One must resort to a circumlocution, "The house whose sale is being attempted." But in Spanish one can say, "La casa que se trata de vender," (The house that tries to sell itself), with the desired meaning. Spanish has a regular passive too, "La casa es vendida". Many people who approach Spanish and English already know some language that has something in common with them, like German, French or Italian, and may be prejudiced about the comparative difficulty of Spanish and English. But if I were a man from Mars, trying to learn both languages, I think I'd find Spanish easier than English. Nonetheless, Spanish could be simplified quite a bit, but that would probably take a revolution. When Hispanic people undertake a revolution, however, it's always about power and money rather than language reform. ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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