It’s true! English does have more words than Spanish. How many more depends on who you ask. In fact, how many words either language has depends on who you ask. And of course the numbers keep changing because languages are organic - that is, they are living, breathing entities that grow over time.
The general consensus seems to be that, not counting archaic words and Latin prefixes and things like that, English has about a quarter million words and Spanish has about half of that. In fact, English may have more words than any other language. May. Depends on who you ask.
Does that mean that English is more expressive? Well, maybe it can be more precise. Having so many words may be a factor in having so many lawyers. But expressive? I’ve heard many a Spanish speaker (both native and non-native) say that for Passion, he or she prefers Spanish. And, although English might have more words for things, Spanish can mean different things by using the same words and rearranging them. Gerald Erichsen says calls it a flexible word order.
On About.com, he writes “Thus the distinction that is made in English between “dark night” and “gloomy night” might be made in Spanish by saying noche oscura and oscura noche, respectively. Spanish also has two verbs that are the rough equivalent of the English “to be,” and the choice of verb can change the meaning (as perceived by English speakers) of other words in the sentence. Thus estoy enferma (”I am sick”) is not the same as soy enferma (”I am sickly”). Spanish also has verb forms, including a much-used subjunctive mood, that can provide nuances of meaning sometimes absent in English. Finally, Spanish speakers frequently use suffixes to provide shades of meaning.” -ito comes to mind.
So how did English come to have so many more words than Spanish? It’s because of the history of the languages. English was originally Germanic. That’s easy to tell because it has so many German related words in common use (think Kindergarten). BUT in 1066 something happened that changed the course of English — The Norman Conquest (Norman being French). French was the language of the aristocracy and Latin was the language of their church. Both had a powerful influence on the language of the region. With German, French and Latin all being used it the same area, it was only logical that they should meld. And meld they did.
Spanish, on the other hand, was primarily a product of Latin. As the Romans invaded what is now Spain, they brought Latin with them. It fused with the languages of the local tribes. The only major outside influence on the language came when the Moors came a knockin’ (okay, not knocking exactly). The Arabic influence is still very much present in Spanish today. But, all in all, there have not been as many major outside influences on Spanish.
So there you have it. English - 250,000. Spanish - pasión.
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