The Story of Spanish

About this book

Just how did a dialect spoken by a handful of shepherds in Northern Spain become the worlds second most spoken language the official language of twenty-one countries on two continents and the unofficial second language of the United States? Jean-Benot Nadeau and Julie Barlow the husband-and-wife team who chronicled the history of the French language in The Story of French now look at the roots and spread of modern Spanish. Full of surprises and honed in Nadeau and Barlows trademark style combining personal anecdote reflections and deep research The Story of Spanish is the first full biography of a language that shaped the world we know and the only global language with two namesSpanish and Castilian. The story starts when the ancient Phoenicians set their sights on "The Land of the Rabbits " Spains original name which the Romans pronounced as Hispania. The Spanish language would pick up bits of Germanic culture a lot of Arabic and even some French on its way to taking modern form just as it was about to colonize a New World. Through characters like Queen Isabella Christopher Columbus Cervantes and Goya The Story of Spanish shows how Spains Golden Age the Mexican Miracle and the Latin American Boom helped shape the destiny of the language. Other more somber episodes also contributed like the Spanish Inquisition the expulsion of Spains Jews the destruction of native cultures the political instability in Latin America and the dictatorship of Franco. The Story of Spanish shows there is much more to Spanish than tacos flamenco and bullfighting. It explains how the United States developed its Hispanic personality from the time of the Spanish conquistadors to Latin American immigration and telenovelas. It also makes clear how fundamentally Spanish many American cultural artifacts and customs actually are including the dollar sign barbecues ranching and cowboy culture. The authors give us a passionate and intriguing chronicle of a vibrant language that thrived through conquests and setbacks to become the tongue of Pedro Almodvar and Gabriel Garca Mrquez of tango and ballroom dancing of millions of Americans and hundreds of millions of people throughout the world.