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Capitals with school and university subjects

 

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  #1  
Old March 24, 2021, 12:29 AM
fglorca fglorca is offline
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Capitals with school and university subjects

Are school and university subjects normally capitalized? I would tend not to, but it can sometimes be a little confusing as some natives tell me that they are capitaised, while others advise me to keep them as lower case.

Estudio Matemáticas, Alemán, e Inglés.
Estudio matemáticas, alemán, e inglés.

Aquel es Andrés, el profesor de Historia.
Aquel es Andrés, el profesor de historia.

¿Dónde enseñas Matemáticas?
¿Dónde enseñas matemáticas?

¿Has aprobado la Historia?
¿Has aprobado la historia?

I also wondered if would make a difference if we were referring to a language:
El Español es un idioma universal.
El español es un idioma universal.


Many thanks in advance.
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Old March 24, 2021, 06:15 PM
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AngelicaDeAlquezar AngelicaDeAlquezar is offline
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The RAE says the names of scientific disciplines and academic subjects must be capitalised:

- Estudio Matemáticas, Alemán e Inglés.
- Aquel es Andrés, el profesor de Historia.
- ¿Dónde enseñas Matemáticas?
- ¿Has aprobado Historia? ("La historia" is all the history in the world, not a mere school subject.)
- Juan es licenciado en Derecho.
- Estudio Relaciones Internacionales.
- No aprobé ni Biología ni Francés.
- Ya me voy; tengo clase de Economía.
- El maestro de Cálculo me odia.


But when they're used in wider contexts, they are written in lower case:

- Las matemáticas para construir puentes son complicadas.
- La medicina no ha logrado darnos una solución al problema del COVID-19.
- Los libros de historia me aburren mucho.
- Para no deprimirse hay que seguir algunos consejos de la psicología.
- No soporto a Laura; siempre está hablando de astronomía.


The names of languages or demonyms are not capitalised:

- El español es un idioma universal.
- ¿Hablas catalán?
- No entiendo el artículo porque está escrito en portugués.
- Manuel es brasileño.
- Compré un vino chileno muy bueno.
- Los canguros sólo son australianos.
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Old March 25, 2021, 12:11 AM
fglorca fglorca is offline
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Thanks so much for clarifying that so well, AngelicaDeAlquezar. This has always been an area of concern for me.

¿Has aprobado la Historia?
This sentence came directly from a textbook written by a Spanish author, and when I read it, regardless of my doubt about the capital, I did think it was off with the definite article. Thanks for clarifying that, too.
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Old March 25, 2021, 08:39 PM
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AngelicaDeAlquezar AngelicaDeAlquezar is offline
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If the sentence comes from a book, it's probably some regional usage, but it still sounds strange to me.
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