Spanish 343 | Heritage Language | Spanish and Portuguese

Course Description

Spanish 343 is the last course in the Spanish for heritage learners program: 103-203-253-323-333-343. It introduces learners to descriptive linguistics, specifically in the area of phonology and phonetics. Students learn about the differences between spoken and written language and use their new knowledge as the basis to improve their orthography. A main focus in this course is to expose students to the different dialects of the Spanish-speaking world. They particularly enjoy learning to identify similarities and differences between the speech of people from Spanish-speaking countries such as Cuba, Mexico, Spain, or Argentina, to name a few.

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What are the specific objectives of the course?

By the end of the semester, the student will:

Identify and describe Spanish sounds
Identify and describe prosodic features of Spanish
Identify and analyze basic phonological processes in Spanish
Identify phonetic and phonological variation among Spanish varieties
Learn to do phonetic transcriptions
Utilize their new knowledge to strengthen their spelling skills

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Are Spanish 340 and 343 the same?

No! Spanish 340 is for foreign language learners (students who have learned Spanish in the classroom). Spanish 343 is for heritage language learners (students who have had contact with Spanish outside the classroom) or native speakers (students who grew up in a Spanish-speaking country. Spanish 340 and 343 are academic equivalents in the sense that they both fulfill the same requirement but they have different curricula. Heritage language learners are much better off taking a class that has been especially designed with their needs in mind and contains content that is of great interest to them. Spanish 340, for example, focuses on teaching students how to pronounce Spanish sounds. Heritage learners or native speakers have already mastered Spanish pronunciation.

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How do I know if Spanish 343 is right for me?

This course is a requirement for Spanish majors and an elective for Spanish minors. Students are encouraged to take this class after completing Spanish 323 or 333, not before. When in doubt, please make an appointment with the program director to clarify all your questions. The program director's contact information is provided below:

SPANISH PHONETICS FOR THE HERITAGE SPEAKER