The freedom of speaking Spanish./ La independencia de hablar español.´5 minutes of Spanish (English version) + Podcast

 Good morning, good afternoon or good evening, depending on where you are or what time you’re listening to us.

Welcome to podcast 284. Thank you for joining us, ready to practise your Spanish.

Spanish Version

What’s our topic today?

In September, several countries in the Americas celebrated their independence. In Mexico, on 16 September, and in Brazil, on 7 September, with the famous Cry of Ipiranga.

Audio

But… we’re not going to talk about history. We’re going to talk about one word: independence.

What does that word mean to you?

We think first of all of a country. An independent country is not politically dependent on another.

But we also talk about economic, political or personal independence.

For example:

“Quiero tener independencia económica.” / “I want to be financially independent.”

También podemos hablar de una persona independiente:

“Mi hija ya es muy independiente; hace muchas cosas sin ayuda.” / “My daughter is very independent; she does many things without help.”

Y tenemos un verbo muy interesante: independizarse./ And here we have a very interesting verb: to become independent

Significa hacerse independiente o dejar de depender de alguien o de algo.It means becoming independent or ceasing to depend on someone or something.

Por ejemplo:For example:

“Después de terminar la universidad, se independizó de sus padres.” / “After finishing university, he became independent from his parents.”

También podemos decir: We can also say:

“México se independizó de España.” / “Mexico became independent from Spain.”

And here’s an interesting bit of history about the Spanish language.

For a long time, ‘independizar’ was considered an ‘Americanism’. Even the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) went so far as to deem it incorrect because another verb already existed:

‘emancipar’ – to emancipate

But American speakers continued to use ‘independizar’.

And it makes sense, because they don’t always mean exactly the same thing.

We can talk about the emancipation of a person, but when we’re talking about a country ceasing to be politically dependent on another, ‘independizarse’ clearly conveys that idea.

Finally, in 1929, the word was accepted, and today ‘independizar’ and ‘independizarse’ are perfectly normal verbs in Spanish.

But independence is also part of our everyday lives.

For a young person, it might mean living away from their parents’ home. For another, it might mean financial independence. For an older person, it might mean being able to make their own decisions, go out, travel and organise their own life.

There is also emotional independence: learning to make our own decisions without always relying on the approval of others.

So, what are we talking about when we talk about independence?

We’re talking about countries, families, money, decisions, emotions and, of course, our everyday lives.

And we’d like to finish with an idea that’s particularly important for those of us who are learning a language:

Learning Spanish can also give us independence.

It can give us the freedom to communicate, travel, ask questions, make friends and experience a country more deeply.

Because when you can communicate in Spanish, you can do lots of things for yourself, meet people, sort things out and travel with greater freedom.

Speaking Spanish is also a way of becoming more independent.

Thank you for listening to the podcast up to this point.

See you at the online workshops or here in Los Cabos.

Or we’ll catch up next Wednesday.

See you soon.

Bye, bye!