what is the differences between spanish and castellano?

Question

Hi, i saw this 2 clips of "hakuna matata" :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-D1DWV9y5Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BexEIk3KjyA

And I want to ask:

what is the differences between spanish and castellano?

And where every language is been spoken?

Gracias por tu asistencia

Is spoken, no need for 'been' here, or 'has' been spoken. :) - SpanishPal, Aug 14, 2011

Answer 1

Ok, a little bit of history will hopefully enlighten you:

In the 10th century, Spain was divided into different regions where different dialects (or languages, if you prefer) were spoken; most of the areas were under the Arabic influence.

One of those dialects, spoken only in a rather small part of a region called Castilla, was the Castilian dialect, differentiated from some of the others because the Roman influence had been weaker, and therefore, they experienced radical differences with Latin due to popular usage (mostly by uneducated people).

As the Christian kingdoms fought to expel the Arabs from the peninsula, the kingdom of Castilla grew stronger and bigger. By the end of the 15th century, they owned most part of the modern Spain, and the term "español" (Spanish) to refer to the main language spoken in the Spain began to coexist with the old "Castilian", which was the triumphant dialect that displaced the others to a certain extent. Nowadays, many regions of Spain are fighting to preserve their original languages (formerly called dialects), all of them as old as Castilian, which became what we call modern Spanish.

Presently, there are just conflicts and silly fights about the differences between tge terns Castilian and Spanish. People from Castilla (the region where Castilian/Spanish), in a way, have good reasons to call their accent Castilian, from a historical perspective, but anyone who speaks Spanish has inherited their linguistic legacy, so the rest is just nonsense. Both terms mean pretty much the same nowadays.

Answer 2

Yes you two helped me

So, if I get it right, every country has it own "Special words" but in the end they share the same spanish?

Absolutely perfectly said, Thierry! - SonrisaDelSol, Aug 14, 2011

oh! thanks ... - thierry_henry, Aug 15, 2011

Answer 3

And in case you were wondering "what kind of Spanish SpanishDict teaches", feel free to read here.

Great question. I hope I helped you!

Answer 4

Basically, Spanish is Castellano. What differs the most is how people choose to speak it (their word choice, their expressions, etc). Spanish refers more to Latin American speakers, while Castillian refers more to Spanish speakers.

Answer 5

Thanks, so there is only a small differences between spanish and castellano today?

One more thing, I pronounce LL and Y as the English J in Joseph, does it mean I speak Castilian or it's spanish(espanol)?