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 reference to the central region Castile), to distinguish it from other languages spoken in Spain, like Catalan and Basque. The speakers in this programme tell us what they think truly characterises Spanish, a language that has given us masterpieces of world literature, like Don Quixote, and undyingly useful words like “macho”.
Producer: Marijke van der Meer
Broadcast: November 13, 1991