When Columbus “discovered” America on behalf of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492, he paved the way for Spanish to become the dominant language of Latin America. But Spanish is often called “Castilian” (in refernce to the central region Castile), to distinguish it from other languages spoken in Spain, like Catalan and Basque. The speakers in this program tell us what they think truly characterizes Spanish, a language that has given us masterpieces of world literature, like Don Quixote, and undyingly useful words like “macho”.
Produced and presented by Marijke van der Meer. Recorded November 13, 1991