Ben
Community Tutor
What is the differences between Castilian, Catalan(Valencian), Galician, Basque dialects in Spanish? I have read some profile of the Italki users from Spain, and I noticed that some of them have variant different languages spoken as I have mentioned above. I am curious and I want to know what is the differences between those languages? Which one is used more around the Spain country? Which one of those languages is the most difficult for the Spaniards to speak and understand and why? I need the answer from native Spanish users. Thank you :)
Nov 8, 2017 2:59 AM
Answers · 8
3
Castilian is considered by many to be the standard Spanish dialect (by no means the only one even in Spain), and is spoken in Madrid and much of Spain. The other languages you mentioned are not Spanish. Basque is not a dialect. It is not even a romance language or related to other European languages. It is spoken in parts of France and Spain. It is as different to Spanish as Hindi. Catalan and Galician are also separate languages, but they are romance languages. Galician has some affinity to Portuguese, and Catalan to French. However they are distinct languages. Valencian and Catalan can be considered dialects of one language.
November 8, 2017
1
Hello Ben, There are not dialects of Spanish language. What you mentioned are other languages. Spanish is an extremely homogeneous widespread language, and part of the Latin languages family. Castilian is Spanish. The language was called Castilian before Franco dictatorship, who changed the name to Spanish because of his nationalist ideology. Galician and Catalan are Latin languages, like French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian. All of them have status of languages in the same terms, and they are not dialects at all. Euskera, or Basque language, is according with Wikipedia: "Linguistically, Basque is unrelated to the other languages of Europe and indeed, as a language isolate, to any other known living language". Cheers!
November 8, 2017
1
The most extended language in Spain is the Castilian language. However, Catalan, Galician, Asturian and Occitan are also languages wich come from the Latin. Basque language is not Indoeuropean like the rest of them. In fact, nobody knows where is it from. https://aboutbasquecountry.eus/en/2016/05/08/a-canadian-linguist-who-lives-in-japan-explains-to-us-in-english-what-basque-is-and-hes-a-hit-video/
November 8, 2017
Dialects? I'd recommend reviewing the language/dialect argument. Then, you can start to understand the differences and Spain.
November 8, 2017
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