Spanish Literature, Art And Culture

One real advantage to learning a foreign language is the wealth of cultural bonuses that it delivers to the learner. It would be almost meaningless to master French, for example, without using your gift to discover the poetry of Baudelaire, the majestic writings of Albert Camus or the films of Truffaut. By learning Spanish, you will be unlocking a similarly rich treasure trove of cultural wonders. A nation with Spain’s rich and varied (and often troubled) past cannot help but provide great art. For good reason it is said that great artists are formed in troubled times, times of change and uncertainty.

Perhaps one of the founding classics not only of Spanish literature but of Western literature as a whole is Cervantes’ Don Quixote. The phrase “tilting at windmills”, commonly used in English to describe the act of taking on an imaginary enemy, comes from a scene in this book – as do a great many phrases used as modern Spanish idioms. As an influential piece of literature, Cervantes’ masterwork is difficult to gainsay. From Franco’s era in the early-to-mid 20th Century a number of renowned authors were forged, perhaps the most influential and popular being Federico Garcia Lorca, whose Bodas de Sangre (Blood Wedding) is particularly unforgettable.

The influence of Spanish on great works of art and literature is not limited to Spain itself. From the past century alone, there has been the Magical Realist movement, most famously embodied by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s incredible novels Cien años de Soledad (100 Years of Solitude) and El Coronel no tiene quién le escriba (No-one Writes To The Colonel). Marquez, now 81, is still viewed as a massively influential voice in the world of literature in his native Colombia and beyond. Also worth reading are Jorge Luis Borges and, more recently, the Mexican Carlos Fuentes.

This is to say nothing of the wonderful paintings of artists such as Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, nor the internationally renowned films of Pedro Almodovar (at present, every new Almodovar film is awaited like the Second Coming), all of which have informed and been informed by the Spanish language. Explore for yourself and remember that, although all of the above works have either been translated into English or are non-verbal, there is always something lost in translation.

The Internet As A Tool For Learning Spanish

The best way to learn Spanish from scratch is by receiving some form of external tutoring – this is undeniable, as only by learning from a Spanish speaker can you gain the essential feedback that lets you know where and how you are going wrong, what your weaker areas are and how to address these weaknesses. A qualified tutor is invaluable, and there is an argument to be made that this tutor should be someone who speaks your first language as a mother tongue themselves – the reason for this is that they will have encountered many of the stumbling blocks you yourself have run up against and knows best how they can be overcome.

Alongside this external tutoring, however, there is a strong case to be made for the Internet as a language resource. This applies not only to Spanish, but to any modern language, as the wealth of information on the World Wide Web provides an excellent reinforcement for what you learn in tutoring sessions. Unless you have unlimited wealth, it is simply not practical to have a tutor at your beck and call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. By judicious use of the Internet you can address areas of weakness identified by your tutor.

Of the many resources available on the Internet, the most useful are tutoring sites. A particular favourite in this case is www.about.com, which contains a wealth of games for the beginner, enabling them to test themselves in real time with a positive system of feedback. There are also subject-specific vocabulary and grammar lists which aid you in pursuits such as writing short pieces about yourself, your family, your job and any number of other subjects.

Last but not least, the advent of Interactive content has seen most of the world’s media outlets going online, with newspapers putting most of their content on their websites (a handy grammar and vocab exercise is to read a world news story in English and then in Spanish), and radio stations streaming online (allowing you to hear the language spoken perfectly, with the correct stresses and intonations.