New York organization provides Spanish language tips, advice for North Americans

Posted by Elena del Valle on April 2, 2010

The Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española (North American Academy of the Spanish Language) wants Spanish speakers in North America to maintain good Spanish language standards. Toward that goal the New York based nonprofit organization published, Hablando bien se entiende la gente consejos idiomáticos de la Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española (Santillana USA Publishing Company, $14.99), a 188-page softcover book with Spanish language tips and advice.

“Hablando bien se entiende la gente has been very well received. I think that a plus of the book is its tone. We tried to avoid a professorial, academic tone, in favor of a lighter approach,” said Gerardo Piña-Rosales, president of ANLE, by email. “ANLE does not condemn any variety of Spanish spoken in the U.S.; we merely wish to remind people that, like any other language, Spanish has its own rules, and they should be followed. An additional problem is the influence of English on Spanish.”

The book, published in Spanish this year, was edited by Piña-Rosales, Jorge I. Covarrubias, Joaquín Segura who are members of the organization’s board of directors; and Daniel Fernández. It includes 45 illustrations by Héctor Cuenca. Eight men: Joaquín Badajoz, Emilio Bernal Labrada, Antonio Culebras, Fernando A. Navarro, Antonio Pamies, Luis Pérez Botero, Luis Ríos, and Mordecai Rubín; and one woman, Vanessa Lago Barros are listed as contributors.

The book is divided into the following six sections: Las apariencias engañan, Las cosas claras y el chocolate espeso, A nadie le viene mal aprender a conjugar verbos como el verbo amar, ¡Aplique bien las reglas de la gramática!, ¡Escríbalo y pronunciélo bien!, y ¡Conozca su idioma!

Gerardo Piña-Rosales, president, ANLE

“Our goal is not to police language usage but to help language users use Spanish so that it can be understood by all our Spanish-speakers,” said Piña-Rosales in a press release. “We hope that these ‘language capsules’ will help people who have doubts and want to use Spanish correctly. No one can dictate how people speak, but we can help those who write or work in communications fields use Spanish in ways that reflect universal usage.”

Founded in 1973, the Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española (ANLE) is the youngest of 22 national academies that make up the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española, an association of Spanish language academies across international borders.