LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

  Never assume that you truly command both English and Spanish.      A sure sign of ignorance is the belief that one can know a language perfectly . The moment you accept that idea, you become lazy and careless, and your communication, spoken or written, ceases to improve. You will get nowhere fast.      Not a day goes by that I do not learn a new word or uncover a grammatical flaw in my English or Spanish. Often, I find fresh meanings in old words, or idiomatic turns that enrich my expression. I have come to see that to “possess” a language fully is a chimera - a delusion, an impossibility - for language is a slippery, living, chameleonic, fickle creature that never stands still.       Language is a tool that must constantly be kept in good repair. The words language and perfection do not mix - and should never be spoken together.

Os aconsejo que nunca entréis en competición con otros, sino con vosotros mismos.  José Antonio Marina, Memorias de un investigador privado , 2003. NB. José Antonio Marina, 1939-, is a contemporary Spanish writer and thinker well worth reading. 

     Spanish and English are spoken in many different countries and have many varieties, so the question often arises: Which variety is the best to study?      The point is very tenable because most people are confused, and rightly so when confronted with a difficult choice in the case of English: American English or British English? Most Europeans believe that, of course, real English is the one spoken in the British Isles and that American English is a bastard tongue. I believe the British think so too - I do not.  The case of Spanish is even more complicated. In the US, the language has been neatly divided into two distinct varieties: South American Spanish and Peninsular Spanish.   However, the question cannot be dismissed so easily and neatly.  Each country has its peculiarities: the Spanish spoken in Mexico is not the same as the Spanish spoken in Argentina or Paraguay, all of which are Latin American nations. The Cuban accent is not th...

Today I was chagrined to learn that the Oficina del Español , Comunidad de Madrid, has disappeared for good. After a few years of erratic direction by unqualified and wayward directors, the office's instigator and designer, Isabel Díaz Ayuso , President of the Community, has done away with it. Why? The original idea was, and is, very commendable and makes sense in a Community that leads Spain in many facets: employment, foreign investment, tourism—both foreign and domestic—health services, law and order, liberty, and more. It would have been the leading champion of the Spanish Language if the original idea had been helmed by a qualified person. Isabel Díaz Ayuso failed to appoint the right person for the right job. The Oficina del Español , as originally framed, would have attracted scholarship, students, events, and, yes, money. The UK knows how to monetize the English Language, while Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries do not seem to be able to equal or emulate its efforts...

Steven Pressfield , in his " The War of Art ", which I recommend, explains what a pro is. Allow me to paraphrase: A pro is he who shows up every morning, the person we can always count on, the man or woman who is reliable, who never waivers or falters. A pro is a professional, the opposite of slacker, incompetent, amateur, clumsy, inept, inexperienced... a dabbler who works at anything in an irregular or  superficial manner. I am a professional student of Spanish, English, French, German, Valenciano... and not a day goes by without studying and learning something in these languages. I have not mastered them well, and never will, I know, but I will keep on trying, till the day I die. I am a professional. I am a pro. A serious student. I make no excuses about lack of time, about traffic, lack of money, my job, my family, parking spaces... Do you take your language-study seriously?   

Una chica de Instagram, profesora de inglés, dice "No estudies gramática superaburrida." Para ella la gramática no es aburrida, es "superaburrida". Mucho más aburrida que simplemente aburrida... como para salir corriendo. Yo creo que el estudio de la gramática ni es aburrido ni es divertido, ni tiene por qué serlo. Debe ser una actividad instructiva, que aporte algo, que nos ayude a dominar algo, con rapidez y claridad, para que ahorremos tiempo y esfuerzo. Cuando vamos de acampada a un bosque, el mapa no tiene por qué ser divertido, ni aburrido: es simplemente una herramienta para que no nos perdamos. Con el mapa llegaremos a nuestro destino y no nos perderemos en un barranco lleno de osos y hienas. (¿Osos y hienas juntos?) La gramática nos dice que los ADJETIVOS en español CONCUERDAN en GÉNERO y NÚMERO con los nombres: una mesa redonda, dos mesas redondas; un papel blanco, dos papeles blancos. Y ya está. Esto no es superaburrido, ni superdivertido, ni tie...