Los signos de interrogación y admiración

When I started this Blog, I originally thought it would be called ¿I speak Spanish?, but since that URL was already taken I decided on ¿I speak Español?. As I went through the whole motion of learning how to type the inverted punctuation points (ALT+0191 ¿, ALT+0161 ¡, ALT+0241 ñ) to write the title, I began to wonder what the true orthographic rules to their use was and when exactly they came about.

-History-
Being my Spanish as it is, I read the Spanish Wikipedia Article on the subject located here, and I got the gist but I didn't feel confident enough to attempt explaining it in this post. I read the English, and it was a little bit better but the article was still chronologically confusing. Finally I read the Hebrew version and it was much more simplified and clearer than the other two. Here is the excerpt with my translation:

השימוש בסימן ההפוך בתחילת המשפט החל במאה ה-18. בשנת 1754 האקדמיה המלכותית הספרדית  פרסמה את המהדורה השנייה של (כללי הכתיב בשפה הספרדית), ובו קבעה כי בנוסף לסימן בסופו של המשפט יש לשים סימן הפוך בתחילתו. קבלת הסימן על ידי הציבור הייתה איטית, ובספרים שהוצאו לאור בסוף המאה ה-19 לעתים לא נעשה שימוש בסימנים אלה. כיום הוספת סימנים הפוכים 

בתחילת המשפט נחשבת לכלל מחייב, והשמטתם מהווה שגיאת כתיב.

The use of an inverted punctuation point at the beginning of a sentence began in the 18th century. In the year 1754 The Spanish Royal Academy printed the second edition of the Ortografía which established that in addition to the final punctuation point an initial punctuation point should be added to the beginning. The symbol was accepted by the community slowly, and in books which were printed even in the 19th Century at times did not utilize these symbols. As of today the use of the inverted symbols is considered compulsory, with its exclusion being considered a typographical error.
<Source: http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%9F_%D7%94%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%9A>
In summary, despite the initial call for inverted punctuation in 1754, it wasn't until the mid 1800's that it actually became common practice!


-Usage-
In general from what I've learned and read, the inverted punctuation goes at the beginning of the question - not necessarily the beginning of the sentence. Example: Pablo, ¿me quieres? and ¿Me quieres, Pablo?. Also, something that seems to be in debate between different places I've looked is the use of different marks at the sentence's beginning and ending, i.e. ¡Cómo lo hace? From the gist of it, it seems as though using both symbols, i.e. ¿¡Cómo lo hace!? in symmetrical order is the most preferred way to go.

The English Wikipedia article goes on to mention that today in chat rooms where the initial-inverted punctuation would prove tedious, their use is commonly either ignored or replaced by their duplication at the sentence's end, i.e. Por qué dices eso??, much to the chagrin of teachers, seeing the practice popping up in school settings. 


¡Hasta Pronto! 

Introduction

Hey everyone and welcome to my blog,

Growing up in South Florida, I was always surrounded by Spanish and Spanish speakers (even my own father,) but I adamantly refused to learn the language - preferring other less useful and more difficult tongues such as Russian and French. After high school I began taking Chinese (which is now my major in University) and started getting more involved in my true mother tongue - Hebrew.

You're probably wondering then if I'm majoring in Chinese why should I be spending my time making a blog all about my adventure learning the Spanish language, shouldn't I be concentrating on my Chinese?! The answer is yes - of course I need to be focusing on my Chinese, and I try to. It's just that living in Texas with my wife (and her South American parents!) I find myself constantly communicating with Spanish speakers and I'm unsatisfied with my barely comprehensible attempt at speaking the language. Being here in Florida for the summer I also find Spanish speakers around, though they all can at least speak a little English, and I want to be able to speak to them in the language in which they feel more comfortable.

I feel also that writing about my experiences will set a basis for my trying to master the language and could also prove interesting and/or amusing for anyone who would like to follow me doing so. I am thankful that I already have a fairly basic understanding of the language to go with and that Spanish-speaking people are generally so friendly and willing to lend a helping hand to learners of their language. With the help of G-d let my progression of the language be successful and only lead to good things!

¡Hasta luego!