I have taken a lot of Spanish and linguistics classes while being here at UMass, but I would have to say that one of the classes that I have learned from and liked the most has been Spanish 471. In this class there was both a linguistic and Spanish approach to the Spanish language. It was a lot of fun because I learned a lot about Spanish dialects and varieties in the language and the different causes for each. I think it is really interesting that although a lot of countries speak Spanish, it’s not spoken exactly the same anywhere, even within one country alone, there are always differences caused by other factors that aren’t based on region.

This class covered topics I already found interesting in linguistics, but in this class those topics and concepts were strictly directed towards the Spanish language. We covered a lot of linguistic concepts but the topic that I enjoyed the most out of it was dialectology. The fact that all languages have variations for several reasons was something that sparked an interest in me because I grew up very frustrated at times for being corrected for the way I spoke at times, both in English and Spanish. I was so intrigued whenever we talked about where the notions of “correct” and “incorrect” when it comes to speaking a language are formed, who decides it, and why it happens.  I learned that while it is true that we must be corrected at times for the way we are speaking, it shouldn’t be because of reasons like “its incorrect” or “that word doesn’t exist” but because we have appropriate and inappropriate ways of expressing ourselves according to the setting and atmosphere we find ourselves in at the moment. Just because we talk a certain way with our friends and another way when speaking to a dean of a school, doesn’t mean that the language we use with our friends is incorrect or in-existent, but just that there is a change in ‘who’ you’re speaking to and a more appropriate way to communicate to the other.

I think this topic is very important, not just in the Spanish, but in all languages, because like it was mentioned in my Spanish 470 class, that was an introduction to Hispanic linguistics, being ignorant to this concept and working in education can be very harmful to students. For this reason, I think it is incredibly important for people to be educated in this matter and to know that variations exist in all languages and they don’t make certain dialects lesser than others.