Learning a language can be a long and frustrating process. However, Spanish has certain characteristics which make it easy to pick up. So, let’s take a look at 5 great things that students will really like about the Spanish language.
1. There are rules
Those Romans were a stickler for rules, and they certainly didn’t mess around with their own language. As a result, Latin, and all of the languages which derive from Latin, are pretty heavy with rules. This may sound like a pain in the neck to the inner anarchist that we all have inside, but it’s actually a pretty good thing for anyone attempting to learn Spanish. Find out below how these rules make Spanish an easier language to learn than say our own mongrel tongue.
2. Conjugating verbs is easy
Need to conjugate a verb you’ve just seen for the first time? No problem! Chances are it will be conjugated the same as other verbs which end in the same combination of letters. There are three basic verb types, depending on the ending of the infinitive: AR, ER and IR. All verbs will correspond to one of these forms.
AR : Hablar, Andar, Trabajar…
ER : Comer, Saber, Conocer,
IR : Vivir, Venir…
3. The pronunciation is standard
Don’t know how to pronounce a new word? Don’t worry, it’s probably pronounced the same as a word with a similar spelling. So for us language learners, these rules are really helpful, as they mean that Spanish is uniform and predictable. Need to know where the stress falls in a word? That’s easy too, as the stress is indicated by the accented letter.
4. You don’t have to put the subject pronoun.
In grammar, the ‘subject’, for those who can’t remember or just skipped class that day, is ‘the person or thing which carries out an action’. It’s the ‘doer’ in crude terms. In English, if we don’t directly use the name of a person, we’ll usually employ a ‘subject pronoun’: ( I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they). For example:
- Vivimos en el Reino Unido.
We live in the United Kingdom. - Trabaja en Apple.
She works for Apple.
These subject pronouns are amongst the most common words in the English language, so it comes as a bit of a shock to find out that in Spanish, the subject pronouns are not just optional, but are actually used very infrequently. Here are the previous sentences in ‘normal’ Spanish, without the pronouns.
- Vivimos en el Reino Unido.
We live in the United Kingdom. - Trabaja en Apple.
She works for Apple.
Remember that in Spanish the form of the verb tells us who is the subjet. If you really wanted to use the subject pronouns, they would be:
- Nosotros vivimos en el Reino Unido.
- Ella trabaja en Apple.
Nice to know, but not the norm.
5. You get to use this ‘¿’ and ‘¡’
A final point, and as fine a reason to learn Spanish as any we can think of: you get to use exclamation marks and questions marks upside down! How cool is that?
Now, those fancy writers among you might rue the surprise factor that you can create in English by adding an unexpected piece of punctuation at the end of a sentence, but Spanish requires any question to have an upside down question mark at the beginning of any question. The same goes for explanation marks. Unfortunately you’ll have no end of trouble trying to find these on a typical English keyboard. But hey, that’s just part of the fun of learning a new language!
