How about another section?
I was thinking about perhaps another section on this site, which also looks at history of the Spanish language, exploring different aspects of language to how it evolved into being what it is today. I know that we've got numerous Spanish learning language facilities here (like the flashcards, conjugator, dictionary and the learn Spanish packages), but I feel that learning Spanish, shouldn't stop just at developing ones reading, writing or speaking skills, but also looking at the history. And maybe....with some knowledge of how something came to be, we can facilitate people's learning of Spanish. Another good thing to come out of this, I think is that for people who ask on this forum about the origins of certain aspects of this language we can refer them to that particular section, which would be produced by each one of us making our own small contributions to that section. I feel that it could work both ways, with a similar sort of thing for the English language. It's just an idea that was floating around in my mind....now the ultimate question is:
What do you think?
16 Answers
I find the idea very interesting, and I'd like to contribute, but I wonder how many people would be interested too.
I would be very interested in such an idea. I'm sure that there are probably at least a few members who would be able to provide interesting insight on this topic.
Perhaps someone or a group of people could collaborate on a series of concise reference articles on various topics relating to the history of the Spanish language. If enough quality reference articles were posted, it might warrant creating an additional partition in the reference section.
One way to structure this would be to make the first article an overview or outline of several key events or developments, and then to add additional in depth articles based on the outline. In this way, the overview page could be used to hyperlink to the more exhaustive articles (on each specific topic).
On a slightly different (although not entirely separate) subject, I would also be interested in seeing information related to the linguistic geography (dialectología) of the language, especially in terms of the various developments and outside influences as they occurred in different parts of the world. On the other hand, it is also quite possible that such a topic might be so esoteric as to render it of little interest to anyone but myself.
In any case, I am glad that you broached the idea, and I would be very much delighted were this idea to bear any fruit.
From a webmaster's point of view, the motivation would likely be "can I increase traffic to my site with this new section and get more clicks on ads" (sorry, but that's the reality of most ad-based sites).
I would recommend a list of keyword phrases you all think would apply to this topic be added in a post (example: Spanish etymology) and then a potential traffic analysis would need to be done on any actual keywords that are searched for on these types of topics.
In other words, would it be worth the effort.
On the other hand, if adding a new section is fairly trivial and document submission / approval ends up not being too cumbersome, the effort might be so little that no such analysis need be done.
Added Later:
The phrases "spanish etymology" and "history of the spanish language," do seem to get some search traffic...not a lot though compared to this site's current stated traffic load.
'Hi seb, are you thinking of a new category? that won't be possible, but this could be posted under Culture for example.'
Why won't it be possible?
I support a new section: etymology/etimología
This is the study of the history of words. I find it fascinating, and it really helps me to understand the word better when I understand the root of the word.
For example: to conjugate/conjugar
If you look at this word, you could think that it literally means, "to play with."
However, the etymology reveals that it means "to marry or yolk together." I guess all of those verb conjugations are yolked together.
I will gladly contribute.
I'm not sure, but I think he intends a new category be added to the reference section, not to the forums. - webdunce
HI web, if this is the case, this can easily be done, not a section, that is impossible, it took me a year to get the Learning Resources section, but under that very tab, I could open a tab for these kind of articles.
The threads, say posted under culture or general...could then be combined or compilated in a reference article, where all new threads could be added.
Let me know, that is possible of course.
I think It is a great idea and would be willing to support it through reading articles and voting for contributions but am not qualifed in any respect to add to it
I think that this is a great idea!! Language is interesting....and I think that another section is what this website needs.....it's all very well learning how to say something in another language, but we all need to understand how the words came to be. I'm voting for you!!!!!
I would just like to say in response to the answer by lazarus that I find the historical perspectives very helpful in learning. For example in his article on the future tense he has this section:
Historical introduction: understanding its conjugation The future was originally form by adding the forms of "haber" to an infinitive (remember that the h is not pronounced in Spanish):
comer he (eat I must) ? comeré comer has (eat you must) ? comerás comer ha (eat he/she must) ? comerá comer hemos (eat we must) ? comeremos comer habéis (eat you must) ? comeréis comer hán (eat they must) ? comerán
This "eat you must" is still reflected in commands, like the ones in the Bible:
No matarás = you shall not kill No irás a ninguna parte = You are not going anywhere
I found this information extremely helpful in putting things together, and would like to let him know that his contributions to this site are very much appreciated.
Well, that is great then, one of the members, you yourself, create a reference article with the title you wish. You then create an introduction, and then, as soon as the threads come up, they can be added to the reference article itself.
I will add the reference article to Learning Resources as soon as it has been created.
'HI web, if this is the case, this can easily be done, not a section, that is impossible, it took me a year to get the Learning Resources section, but under that very tab, I could open a tab for these kind of articles. The threads, say posted under culture or general...could then be combined or compilated in a reference article, where all new threads could be added. Let me know, that is possible of course'.
That's fine....that would work equally well. Thanks a lot for your help, I appreciate it!!
HI seb, are you thinking of a new category? that won't be possible, but this could be posted under Culture for example.
This can't be true, Heidi. What would it take to put another tab on the "More" pulldown menu? Then, it could function a little like the dictionary (search function) and a little like the Answers Forum (all info is posted by the users). - JoyceM
Joyce, you wouldn't believe how much it takes
It has taken me a year to get this done. I have fought for this like a tiger, jeje, and finally it got posted.
to get the new section in the reference section ...it has taken me much convincing and talking and letters, more letters...
If I had to get a new section under the more tab, I would choose the Learning resources, which should be more visible. But I think chances are slim.
What is a Parallel Reading section?
So, are there any admin folk here who agree with me?
