The Spanish Numerical System By Dinah Leabeau At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Whatever perspective you will look at it, the Spanish language is a very powerful one. Newscasts, television shows, movies and music, in addition to the books of Paulo Coelho and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, are available almost anywhere. The numbers, Spanish being the second most widely-spoken language in the world with more than 350 million speakers, must provide you with an idea of just how alive and colorful this Romance language is.

Spanish Number Booboos

Unfortunately, some people have taken it upon themselves to desecrate the language. It’s a common sight to observe men displaying wrong interpretation of Spanish numbers. Spanish as a language warrants better treatment!

Chad Johnson, of the National Football League, is among those who is guilty of number blunders. His jersey contains the numeral 85 and above that “Ocho Cinco”. Had he known his numbers, he’ll realize that the Spanish for 85 is “ochenta y cinco”. It’s either that he changes his name or his number.

Another common mistake of people who attempt to use the Spanish language is in writing dates. It’s important to note the difference in the way it’s written: US dates are written as month-date-year while Spanish dates are written as date/month/year. If Spanish dates are spelled out using months and numbers, they should appear as follows: 14 de augusto 2008. One significant thing to remember is that in Spanish, the first letters of the months aren’t capitalized.

How to Refrain from Committing These Blunders

Since practice makes perfect, it is best that you test your knowledge on the Spanish number system. If you do manage to commit to memory these numbers, you would have no issues calling them out in the correct order.

Benefits of Knowing

Spanish-speaking corporations are prevalent and this shall give you enough reason to know the correct formatting of Spanish numbers. If you work in a multi-national corporation, you’ll agree that often, you will find some Spanish details in certain documents such as shipping and emails. Because effective communication is essential in any workplace, it’s important that you know the Spanish number system by heart.

Another example when the need for proper information on Spanish numbers becomes evident is when ordering out. In the US, Mexican food is popular and the fact is, most of the diners that offer this kind of food speak very little or no English at all. You do not want to end up ordering more or paying more simply because of your erroneous Spanish numbers. In this scenario, it’s certainly better to learn how to count from one to one hundred (in Spanish, that is) than to pay one hundred dollars more.

If you live in a huge city with a Hispanic community, like Miami and Los Angeles, you’ll inevitably come across Spanish-speaking individuals who possess little knowledge of the English language. Or if they do speak English, they are more comfortable using their mother tongue. At least, if you know Spanish, you can wander around town easily with no fear of communication breakdowns as a result of misunderstandings about the fare and distance, si?

Ultimately, knowing your Spanish language lets you learn the language altogether faster. As you will later learn, Spanish numbers can also be used as pronouns. However, this is onlyapplicable cardinal and ordinal numbers which stand for a number and a noun that is omitted or implied. At the outset, this concept seems perplexing but as you go further with your Spanish lessons, you’ll find out that this makes perfect sense.

Así pues, ahora comience sus lecciones españolas y aumente su número de amigos y de negocio.

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