Cultural Differences In Spanglish

Mainstream Americans exposed to similar hybrids of German, Chinese, or Hindi might be mystified. But even Anglos who speak little or no Spanish are somewhat familiar with Spanglish. Living among them, for one thing, are 19 million Hispanics. In addition, more American high school and university students sign up for Spanish than of any other foreign language.

Only in the past ten years, though, has Spanglish begun to turn into a national slang. Its popularity has grown with the explosive increases in U.S. immigration from Latin American countries. English has increasingly collided with Spanish in retail stores, offices and classrooms, in pop music and on street corners. Anglos whose ancestors picked up such Spanish words as rancho, bronco, tornado, and incommunicado, for instance, now freely use such Spanish word as gracias, bueno, amigo, and por favour.

“It is done unconsciously,” explains Carmen Silva-Corvalan, a Chilean-born associate professor of linguistic at the University of Southern California, who speaks Spanglish with relatives and neighbors. “I couldn’t even tell you minutes later if I said something in Spanish or in English.”

Spanglish is a sort of code for Latinos: the speakers know Spanish, but their hybrid language reflects the American culture in which they live. Many learn shorter, clipped phrases in a place of the longer, more graceful expressions their parent used. Says Leonel de la Cuesta, an assistant professor of modern languages at Florida International University in Miami: “In the U.S., time is money, and that is showing up in Spanglish as an economy of language.” Conversational examples: taipiar (type) and winshi-wiper (windshield wiper) replace escribir a maquina and