Capitalization of Spanish days of the week and months of the year.

Question

Regarding use capital letters in days of the week and months of the year in Spanish. In proper Spanish language, the days of the week as well as the months of the year are capitalized. It is how I learned it in Spain, and later in all of the Spanish speaking countries I worked in or studied in. Somehow, over the last decade it appears that Americans have changed the rules to suit some apparent need to make other languages appear inferior. That is epistemologically incorrect and people interested in linguistics need to know the truth.

??? I don't think so. - ian-hill, Sep 16, 2014

Welcome to SpanishDict. Please complete your profile as it relates to language. Thanks. - rac1, Sep 16, 2014

"Americans" ?? North America, South America, or all Americans?? - rac1, Sep 16, 2014

Also, please supply the source of your information. Where did you hear that "Americans changed the rules". - rac1, Sep 16, 2014

Attitude notwithstanding, you've certainly stirred up the pot. A vote for bringing up all these excellent answers for such an unexcellent post. - Jubilado, Sep 17, 2014

I have written a very simplified answer, please see my post. - Daniela2041, Dec 12, 2014

This is interesting because I am just correcting native Spanish speakers translations in Duolingo that have days of the month capitalized. I am going to find out about this. These are people from Spain and experienced translators. - sanlee, Dec 16, 2014

Answer 1

I am not sure how a difference in use or non-use of capital letters would make one language superior to another.

Anyway, I do not have time write now to thoroughly review this:

http://lema.rae.es/dpd/srv/search?id=BapzSnotjD6n0vZiTp

But on quick scan, I don’t see anything in there regarding use of capitals for days of weeks or months of years.

And I don’t think the RAE is influenced by what any English speaker thinks.

Perhaps you could supply reference sources documenting support for your contention?

Edit to add:

http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/156995/are-days-of-the-week-capitalized-in-spanish

lazarus1907 No, in Spanish you do not capitalize the days of the week. The same happens with languages: we write español and inglés, but in English they are capitalized.

From the answers I have read by Lazarus- he is not going to say this if it is wrong, and he is not going to be influenced one bit by how English speakers would like his language to be. So further confirmation.

:) - ian-hill, Sep 16, 2014

I did some research as well with all negatives. I agree, BTW, with what you said about lack of capitals not making a language inferior. Tons of languages don't even have capital letters (Arabic, Hindi, and unless I am mistaken, Chinese, Japanese too). - Helado_eclectico, Sep 17, 2014

Plus, Spanish is (one of) the main language(s) of Latin America, so I wouldn't think of it as undermining the language even if they _did_ (and I highly doubt so) introduce the no-caps rule. Languages can evolve, not degenerate. - Helado_eclectico, Sep 17, 2014

Good response, Bosque Great idea quoting Lazarus our expert grammarian and native Spanish speaker - FELIZ77, Sep 17, 2014

The lema.rae link is a very nice summation of when to use and not use capitals for anyone whose Spanish comprehension is up to it. :) - bosquederoble, Sep 17, 2014

Lazarus was (here) and is (wherever) a genius grammarian both in Spanish and English. He knew it of course and finally became a bit too good for the likes of us (my opinion here - never met the man). He's a good one to quote nevertheless. - Jubilado, Sep 17, 2014

Yes, he was gone by the time I joined, but I find his answers all the time- and like the accuracy. I have also found his answers on word reference but he doesn't seem to be active there either. - bosquederoble, Sep 17, 2014

Answer 2

In every textbook that I have taught from the rules for capitalization and non-capitalization have been:

Capitalize the names of People and Places. José Palacios de San Juan Puerto Rico.

Capitalize the first word of a sentence. Muchos hispanos viven en Los Angeles.

Capitalize the first Word of a title of a book unless the title contains names and places. "Buscando la verdad" vs. "Don Quijote de La Mancha"

Do not capitalize the names of days or months or seasons.

.

Estoy de acuerdo, Dani. - sanlee, Dec 12, 2014

Gracias es mucho más claro ahora , Minnie mi amor. - ray76, Dec 12, 2014

OK, Mickey! Or Miguelito Ratoncito! - Daniela2041, Dec 12, 2014

Ha ha , i have just realised what that means , very droll , I like the cut of your jib. - ray76, Dec 13, 2014

:) - sanlee, Dec 16, 2014

I didn't know my jib was cut! :) - Daniela2041, Dec 16, 2014

I didn't know you only capitalized the first Word of a title of a book. Is it the same for a movie? What about the name of a law? Thanks, Dani. - sanlee, Dec 16, 2014

Estoy completamente de acuerdo contigo, Daniella :) - FELIZ77, Dec 17, 2014

Answer 3

This sounds like "Elvis is alive, working in a junk-food store" and "The US government orchestrated the 911 terrorist attacks".

Your findings are absolute nonsense.

Answer 4

Hello RmarsChance,

Welcome to the SpanishDict forum

I would also be very interested to know when, where, and how you learnt this in Spain.

I have received tuition from many native speakers , many who also happened to be Spanish teachers who came from various parts of Spain ranging from Barcelona in the north to Sevilla in the south and not once did any of them ever teach me to capitalise the days of the week or the months of the year! Infact,quite the contrary: I was corrected both verbally and in writing when I first used capitals for days of the week or months of the year; and on any subsequent occasions if I happened to forget to do this!

What you have written contradicts everything I have ever been taught by native Spanish teachers and speakers and I really cannot believe that any self-respecting Spaniard who knew his/her language well would teach such rubbish...I agree with Julian

This is how the words are/should be correctly written:

Los días de la semana: lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo

Los meses del año: enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio, agosto, septiembre, octubre, noviembre, diciembre.

Las estaciones del año: la primavera, el verano, el otoño, el invierno

Names of languages are written in lower case but the country is written in capitals. español (language) but España (country); francés (language) but Francia, (country); italiano (language) but Italia (country) etc...I think you get the idea.

Of course, people's names and the names of countries are written in capitals.

On a final note about the superiority of languages, I have never ever come across any evidence that certain rules can make a globally recognised language such as Spanish either superior or inferior to other languages simply on the arbitary basis of some grammatical rule! (How could any grammar rule posssibly make a language superior/inferior? ...Rhetorical!) Languages are by their very nature, impersonal or objective ...it is human beings, who use them to communicate with each other, who are sometimes concerned with feelings of superiority or inferiorty!

I hope this helps clarify things

Nativos, corrijan mi español, por favor

Nothing wrong with the Spanish, but in the 5th _line_ from the bottom, you have messed up country and language. Just a helpful pointer. - Helado_eclectico, Sep 17, 2014

"francés (language)" instead of "francés (country)" on the 5th line from the bottom, now. - Helado_eclectico, Sep 17, 2014

Thank you, Helado, :) My browser pages froze ;( so I was not able to make any corrections during which time you posted your correction! Thank you :) - FELIZ77, Sep 17, 2014

By the way, I usually double check and sometimes triple check (edit) my posts after completion so I usually pick up most mistakes :) - FELIZ77, Sep 17, 2014

Not being a perfect human being I still make mistakes from time to time lol :) - FELIZ77, Sep 17, 2014

Cheers, Feliz. To err is human, and no man is pefect! Maybe you could make a perfect ice-cream though. - Helado_eclectico, Sep 17, 2014

Someone would have to patiently teach me to make a n icecream lol but not right now hahaha - FELIZ77, Sep 17, 2014

To err is human, but if you really want to mess things up, use a computer! - Daniela2041, Dec 12, 2014

That is so true, Dani! - sanlee, Dec 16, 2014

For me as well. - sanlee, Dec 16, 2014

Answer 5

Bumping it up in the Q&A for all the excellent responses.

Good on you mate , I did also. Merry Christmas to you and your family mate , stay well and happy. - ray76, Dec 13, 2014

Answer 6

Well Spanish being a Latin language and having learned it for 6 years AND being a born and educated French person, I can attest to the fact that week days, months and seasons are NOT capitalized! When I came to the US, I had a difficult time capitalizing those same words in English.

Welcome to SpanishDict. - rac1, Dec 12, 2014

Bienvenue a SpaniishDict/Bienvenido a SpanishDict :) - FELIZ77, Dec 17, 2014

Answer 7

Yes, RMarsChance, I am also very curious to hear what you base this on. So please respond with more info!