Referring to the unity of the Spanish language, the Spanish historian Ramón Menéndez Pidal said, "One can say that there are two types of educated Spanish, just as there are American and British versions of English, primarily distinguished by peculiarities of pronunciation." Latin Americans received much more than their language from Spain, but language indicates the special way in which the Iberian heritage was transmitted. But although this Spanish influence should not be exaggerated, it should neither be minimized nor dismissed. It is obvious that much of Latin American culture comes from Spain. Emphasis has been put on the indigenous Amerindian and African heritage, while the differences or, as some would have it, the affinities which characterize Latin America's relationship with the West have been pointed up.īut there is another heritage, which one might call "intermediate", neither indigenous nor strictly speaking Western: the Iberian heritage. In recent years, the debate about Latin American culture has become increasingly lively.
IITE - Institute for Information Technologies in Education.IICBA - International Institute for Capacity-Building in Africa.IBE - International Bureau of Education.ICTP - International Centre for Theoretical Physics.