Mr. Roberto Gorbeรฑa, one of the guest lecturers of USeP-Institute of Languages and Creative Arts, successfully held his first lecture on Spanish language and culture to the second year Bachelor of Arts in English Language major in Applied Linguistics students last April 20, 2023.
The discussion centered on history, food, and politics in Spain. He then described the Spanish language by focusing on gender in Spanish.
“As the second most important language in the world, if you learn the Spanish language, you can speak to half of the world. Learning Spanish is a great advantage for the Filipino students not only in terms of employment but also in other areas,” Gorbeรฑa emphasized.
Students from the BAELAL program gave their cents on the recently concluded event.
“I have learned that Spain is just like any other country: their culture, language, and history are rich. While the Spaniards may have had imperialistic history, which made us, Filipinos, antagonize them in some way, they had also been victims of colonization, and are now trying to promote peace and order in the world,” said Henli Harvey Asueros.
“Spanish is a gendered language. Thus, all nouns have a gender. It depends on whether a particular noun falls under the feminine language or masculine language,” stated Julianne Lomarda.
Gorbeรฑa is from Bilbao, Spain where he finished his bachelor’s degree in Economics and his master’s degree in actuarial and financial services at the University of the Basque Country.
Later on, he started teaching the language in Davao City as part of promoting the Spanish language and culture as stipulated in the Memorandum of Agreement with the University of Southeastern Philippines.
Words by: Lovely B. Carin
Photos by: Jessa Joy C. Odog
