How to be a Señorita

Señorita is defined in the dictionary as a Spanish-speaking unmarried woman.

Learning Spanish language is a journey that has recently started for me. I have always loved learning languages. In my university days, i chose French, Italian and German as my electives and has progressed to advanced speaker, then. My part-Spanish blood has finally reconciled with this affinity for studying new languages as I enrolled recently to Spanish 1 class in University of Sydney.

I hope for this to be a living blog where I will continue to share the highlights of my quest to be a Señorita.

Know the famous literature. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish writer who is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. His novel Don Quixote has been translated into over 140 languages and dialects; it is, after the Bible, the most-translated book in the world. It describes realistically what befalls an aging knight who, his head bemused by reading such romances, sets out on his old horse Rocinante, with his pragmatic squire, Sancho Panza, to seek adventure. Widely and immediately translated (first English translation 1612), the novel was a great and continuing success and is considered a prototype of the modern novel.

Know the history of the language and its influence. Spanish, like French, Italian, Romanian and Portuguese, is a romance language that evolved from Vulgar (Common) Latin. It originated on the Iberian Peninsula — the southwest corner of Europe which includes present-day Spain and Portugal. The Castilian continuation of Vulgar Latin (from Spain’s Castile region) mixed with the Arabic dialect spoken by the Moors, who conquered parts of the region, to form what became the standardized Spanish language in the 1200s. The Andalusian dialect of Spanish popped up around the same time, and is still spoken in parts of southern Spain. There are more than 400 million native speakers of Spanish, making it second only to Chinese in terms of the most spoken languages in the world. English is just behind Spanish, with approximately 360 million native speakers. Spanish is the third most studied language in the world, after English and French. In addition to the 400 million native speakers, just shy of 9 million people around the world speak Spanish as a second language. For now, I can only say, "Hola, me llamo Shiela. Soy filipina y soy gerente de proyektos. Estoy muy bien. Y tu, que tal? Como estas?"

Know the countries where it is the official language. There are many Spanish speaking countries in the world, as Spanish is the official language of the following 20 countries, as well as Puerto Rico: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Although it’s not an official language, Spanish is commonly spoken in the United States, Belize, Andorra and Gibraltar.

Know the history and culture. To be completed.

Know the food. Watch out for this space.

Know the places. Coming soon.

Know the architecture. Building it up.

Sources:

Wikipedia; https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/how-many-people-speak-spanish-and-where-is-it-spoken/; https://www.britannica.com/topic/Don-Quixote-novel;