At the end of last night's class, two students stopped me and asked the oh so familiar question..."Why is Spanish backwards?" I knew what they meant, but I had to ask... "What do you mean?" I was pleased when they replied..."like when you asked our favorite color, you said..."¿Qué es su color favorito?...What is your color favorite...that's backwards." I was tickled, I knew what they meant, but any chance I have to get students to speak Spanish...I take it!
Here's the example I like to share with my students. I don't want to offend anyone, but it seems that this explanation tends to always satisfy thier needs.
If you ask a person from the US... "What's their favorite car? Or, what's their dream car?" You are more than likely get an answer like..."1967, red, Mustang convertible." (That's my dream car.) What do you know about my dream car, you know it's color, it's year, it's model and make. Is all of that stuff important or is it just extra "fluff"? It's really just fluff. My dream car is a Mustang Convertible. Point blank. The fact that it's candy-apple red and a 1967, just makes it more exciting and more appealing. Does that make sense?
Now, if I ask that same question to a person from a Spanish-speaking country... I'll get...un carro convertible y rojo del ño 1967" or something similar. The point that I'm trying to make is that Spanish say what's important first...the car. The adjectives, the fact that it's red or that is a convertible, are extra...they're "fluff."
Hope that helps...
4 comments:
I've got to admit, that actually makes a lot of sense. In fact I hardly think it's backwards-- kinda makes a lot more sense than in our own way really.
-Amanda Avery
wow i never thought of it that way i was wondering why it was backward to but now i ge it
Swest@mcc
Good! I'm glad you ladies understand it that way. I'm no language scholar, but I think more languages do it that way than not. :)
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