español v. castellano, are they interchangeable?

Question

I had never heard "castellano" used for the Spanish language until I started speaking with some Spaniards... After that, I started noticing it being used by some Latin Americans as well. Is "castellano" used to avoid confusion between español, the language, and español, the Spaniard? Or in Spain is it to clarify that you're talking about Castilian, and not Catalan or Basque or Galician? Can I use them interchangeably? Up until now, I've used them interchangeably with my Spanish friends, and of course they understand what I mean when say "español." What's the distinction in the rest of the Spanish-speaking world? Just curious to know what y'all think.

Answer 1

Speakers of different dialects of Spanish have different names for the language they speak. People from Spain and Argentina call the langauge "castellano" and people from Mexico call it "español" for example. I don't think they really do it to avoid confusion; I think that's just what they call it.

These days when a person from Argentina says that they speak "castellano", it has a flavor that they think they speak more like Spain than other places in the Americas. In fact, throughout my interactions with Spanish speakers from different places in the Americas, I have noticed that many people express a desire for their language to be like the language of Spain. For example, before I went to a Spanish-speaking country to study Spanish, I would sometimes ask Spanish speakers where they thought I should go. With very few exceptions, people would tell me that I should go to their home country, and one of the reasons they would give me was, "Porque allí hablamos exactamente como hablan en España." I wasn't a well-educated linguist at the time, but even then I could tell that they did not sound like the people in Spain! But they WANTED to think that they did. I find it very telling that some people in the Americas would want to be like Spain, since there are so many more of them.

According to the study that I've done on the linguistics of the conquest of Mexico, the conquistadores who first arrived there said that the place they came from was "Castilla". It might be that "castellano" was originally, then, an identifier for the language of people in Castilla. However, I suspect that these days it has been reanalyzed as a name for the language that people in Spain really use, and how much a person or culture wants to identify with Spain might have a lot to do with whether or not they call their language "castellano".

My advice to you? If you've been using "español", you can probably stick with that. Your choice is one of which dialect of Spanish you want to identify yourself with. I, for example, having lived in Mexico, often use the vocabulary of Mexican Spanish when I speak Spanish, so I would say "español". (Also, my original teachers were from Mexico and Venezuela, so that was the word that they used.) If you desire to identify yourself with another dialect, such as Chilean Spanish or Argentinian Spanish, you might want to go with "castellano". I don't think they are often used in the same dialect.

I actually believe that Spanish teachers do their students a disservice when they gloss over the differences between the dialects of Spanish, which are pretty major.

Answer 2

At one time(before Spain's unification), there were several dialects(many of which you could call different languages) which were spoken in Spain- Castellian, Leonese, Arogonese, Catalan, Valencian, etc.

As Castille became the dominant kingdom in Spain(and Isabella the Castille monarch consolidated Spain), Castillian became the dominant dialect.

As the dominant language of the nation of Spain, Castillian is pretty interchangeable with Espanol. Sometimes those who speak another language might use Castellano in a derogatory way.

In Latin American, Castellano is often used to say Spain Spanish as opposed to the dialects spoken in the western hemisphere. I've also seen it used in an ethnic/racial sense- a Mexican might say he is Castellano meaning he doesn't think he has Mestizo/Indian blood, regardless of whether his ancestors might have spoken Castillian or another language.

From an ethnic sense in Spain, you might get people who speak only Castillian who use both interchangeably. Someone who speaks Galician (which is closer to Portuguese than Spanish) would never call themselves a Castellano. Someone who speaks Catalan (or Valencian- that is a disputed topic) would also make this distinction. Catalan speakers are quick to point out that their language is closer than French than Castillian. Basque speakers are the most independant of all, speaking a language which isn't related to any other language. Calling them Castillian would be fighting words.

Answer 3

Castilian ("castellano") is the dialect of Spanish that all modern dialects of Spanish are descended from. So, yes, it means the same as Spanish ("español").

Catalan or Basque or Galician are *different* languages, not dialects of Spanish. In fact, Basque is not even *related* to Spanish. And Galician is closer to Portuguese than Spanish, while Catalan is more similar to Italian than anything else.

Answer 4

It's kinda like quote un quote proper Spanish. It doesn't change were the espanol (which is a more dynamic language) is heading towards the predicted Spanglish that will be spoken most of the world by the end of the next century..not my prediction but I have heard it way to many times to discount it.
Another way to look at is the comparision Castellano is to espanol as english is to latin (again the espanol and english are dynamic and always changing the Castellano and latin do not)
wanderer

Answer 5

yeap, used it interchangeably , people would understand what are you refering to; and in the US I think people won't matter, but it's a nice thing that you really care about knowing that when saying spanish sometimes they are really refering to: castellano; wich is one of the many dialects of spanish ; There used to be many provinces of Spain before and that was the origin of each dialect: catalán, galicio, gallego, Vasco..well all that you already know, some of them are very different, I don't understand gallego on tv for example :/
Also in south america , even if most of the countries speak castellano, the accent is different in each country; I personally like the argentinian accent, when people use the: vos and they conjugate the verb for it, it's sort of old castellano but it really sounds cool; then is the peruvian accent, wich I have and I'm fine with it , I like it :), the uruguayan ..very similar to argentinian, and well chile , ecuador y Bolivia wich are ok...am I too biased in my opinions ? :P, well, you asked :), good luck,

Answer 6

yes , castellano is the correct word (in Peru)to say Spanish

Answer 7

I think Castilian (Castelliano, i think) is the spanish that is spoken in spain, espanol is spoken in south america.both are very similar, and going by what my frineds from south america say, it appears that castalian and espanol are interchangable. hope that helps in some way.