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Spanish And The Spanish Language Essay

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Spanish is one of the most popular spoken languages around the world. In the U.S Spanish is the second most spoken language other than English and it’s the most popular foreign language learned in US secondary schools (Zentella, 182). From past experience a lot of jobs require knowing a second language and most often the two languages preferred are Spanish and English. One of the reasons this may be is because of the abundant Spanish speakers in the U.S and it’s most likely why Spanish is most commonly studied in schools. The Spanish language first came about in the fifth century on the Iberian Peninsula, which is in the Southwest region of Europe. In 19 B.C. the Iberian Peninsula became known as Hispania after the Romans took over. From that a language called Vulgar Latin originated. In Hispania two main dialects also arose, Castilian and Andalusian. In the U.S, specifically the Northeast and Southwest other dialects of Spanish are also common(F&R chapter 10 and 11). The Spanish language has existed in the U.S for centuries. The first occurrence of Spanish was in Florida in 1513 and it is said to brough by Juan Ponce de Leon, a Spanish conquistador (Silver-Corvalan, 207). The Southwest became a part of the Spanish colonies in the sixteenth century, first in New Mexico in 1598, and in Texas in 1659 (Silver-Corvalan, 207). When discussing the Southwest part of the U.S we’re referring to the following five states, New Mexico, Texas, California, Arizona, and Colorado. In

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