Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomisimo
In my opinion, you can you either one to mean language. It's very similar to the English language and tongue. I would say idioma is the most 'normal' and generic way of saying language.  |
I think David is right. Some examples:
- mother tongue : lengua materna
- How many languages do you speak? : ¿Cuántos idiomas hablas?
- Language acquisition: Aprendizaje de un idioma
- Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR): Marco Europeo de las Lenguas (although I guess my Spanish translation is what we use in boring meetings to abbreviate
).
- Language economy: economía del lenguaje(a very interesting topic by the way)
- English as a Foreign Language (ELF)/ Español como lengua extranjera (ELE)
And something else I have just realized. In Spanish we use Lengua or Lenguaje (with a capital) to refer to the subject, which is more or less the equivalent to English in the UK. The main difference here being that in Spain there are usually two different subjects (Lengua y Literatura) and in the UK, English covers both areas.