BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE SPANISH LANGUAGE
Spanish is the fourth most-spoken language in the world. Originating in Spain, and spoken by most residents there, it is also spoken in Mexico and all of Central and South America except Brazil, Guyana and Surinam. Spanish is also spoken in Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean islands. Spanish is a first language for many people in the United States, especially in California, Texas, South Florida, and the Southwest. A romance language, Spanish is closely related to particularly Portuguese, to Italian, and to some extent to French. English and Spanish share approximately one third of the same words, although the pronunciation tends to be very different. A BIT ABOUT GRAMMAR BEFORE YOU BEGIN Spanish nouns have genders . Most words applied to persons have natural gender: masculine like hombre ("male person") or feminine, like mujer ("female person"). The gender of some animals, things, and some words applied to persons doe