As Spanish copywriter one of the things I offer to my clients is my knowledge of the Spanish culture. Today I will take a look to some differences between Spanish and English.
Spanish and English are similar languages in some aspects and have particular characteristics in common, while in other cases we can see notorious differences. One of this peculiar similarities is that both languages have thousands of words that are almost the same; they have just a few differences in writing and speaking between them (for example, “institución” and “institution”, “complejo” and “complex”, or “violeta” and “violet”). This was formerly caused by the Roman invasion in Great Britain centuries ago, when they mixed up the Latin with the native Celtic and Anglo-Saxon languages, and then continued over the years when in the Spanish speaking countries the new words in English were adapted and incorporated.
One important difference between Spanish and English is the adjectives and nouns position on the phrase structure. Also, while in English every name, place and special adjectives must start with capital letter, in the Spanish language this is not the same; only names and other few cases must have this condition, but location adjectives and even date names and similar ones don’t require this as an obligation.
Another determinating difference is that in Spanish the person usage can be easily noticed; there are specific words to define if the conversation (or text) is destined to a well known, relative person, or it is a serious conversation that needs formality with an unknown person. This can be seen in the “tú” (or “vos”) and the “usted” words. In English, this distinction is possible by using and remarking other kind of words, because it is always used the “you” word when must refer to another person; it is possible to use a wide range of formal and serious terms to make this possible, and changing the language depending on what person you wish to talk (or write) to.
Finally, English has a huge amount of dilaects and regional divisions, because it is spoken in several countries and places in the world, and this is influenced by the fact that English is also the international language at this time. But Spanish also have lot of regional differences but it seems easier to understand each other for Spanish speakers than the English ones.
