Spanish, like most modern languages, is suffering from a lack of care and a candid disregard for the correct use of grammar, punctuation, spelling and tense.
Indeed, it is particularly concerning when members of the press, media and communications also fail to possess a clear understanding of how the language is correctly constructed. Fortunately, Fundéu (Fundación del Español Urgente) and RAE (Real Academia Española) are two sites that can be relied on.
As the world becomes more focused on technology, as we continue to send text messages that read, “Toy en el trabajo” or “Q hacés dp?,” and as we grow to accept the use of anglicized terms or “Spanglish” phrases such as marketing, pen drive and marketa, it doesn’t seem so important to know what the correct version should be. Understanding Spanish grammar, placing the tilde in the right place and knowing the difference between “a ver” and “haber” is growing out of fashion fast.
The rising issue today is that even amongst journalists, a group of professionals which, by nature, should be devoted to the delivery of flawless written material, also contribute to the production of grammatically correct written documents. As journalists tweet and post about their press releases all over the Internet, there is little concern for grammar and for the enrichment of the Spanish language.
This is why the work undertaken at both Fundéu and RAE is so important. Individually, both Fundéu and RAE act as guardian angels, working to promote, maintain and support the constant production of grammatically-correct Spanish across all spectrums of society.
A brief overview of RAE
The primary mission, the backbone off of which everything hangs, at RAE relates directly to the common union of all Spanish speaking societies through the correct use of the Spanish language. Even though Spanish is a language which changes, sometimes radically, from place to place, the roots of the language are fundamentally the same.
RAE aims to promote and maintain the use of these common traits in order to encourage Spanish speakers to pay more attention to the correct production of texts, for whatever purpose, in their native language.
One of the most impressive elements of the work done at RAE is the language guide, accessible via its website www.rae.es. This incredibly complete digital guide / dictionary covers all kinds of doubts and queries that the Spanish speaker might have about how to correctly construct a text in his or her native language. What’s more, the team at RAE is on hand to respond to these inquiries whenever possible.
RAE is also responsible for the publication of two texts. The first is entitled La Nueva Gramática de la Lengua and the second is an update of Spanish orthography. At 700 pages long, the text is particularly dense, but this is why RAE has also produced a reduced version, which covers the most important elements and a pocket book version to always have easily to hand.
A quick peek at Fundéu
Fundéu is a non-profit organization and was created by Efe and BBVA. Its prime objective is to ensure that the media and other forms of communication contribute to the correct use of the Spanish language. Indeed, the foundation believes that the media, the Internet and journalists in particular have a responsibility to produce quality, well-written texts at all times.
Thanks to the development of its website www.fundeu.es, Fundéu has been able to spread its work all over the world and it has been able to make a positive impact in a very short space of time. In fact, Fundéu, with a Twitter following of 126.321 (at the time of going to print) shows just how helpful technology can be in the repairing of language rules that have been lost in time.
Add to that number by following its tweets @Fundeu when you get the chance.
The use of correct Spanish, Spanish which obeys a common code of grammatical rules, does not have to continue down the road of destruction and indifference. The work of RAE and Fundéu provides two clear examples of institutions who still care about and value native language structures.
Fundéu’s channel in Youtube:
