In defensa of Espanglish.

A few weeks after my arrival in Mexico I was asking a friend if a certain restaurant was worth going to. He replied in the affirmative and added “está nice” (it’s nice). In that moment I knew these people spoke my language or at least something  resembling it.

Spanglish or inglañol is hybrid dialect that is spoken principalmente in los united estaites but can also be heard in Gibraltar, Belize, Puerto Rico and some areas in Northen Mexico. My own interest in Spanglish began when I was learning Spanish because it reminded me of my own bilingual childhood speaking Welsh and English and the many creative constructions that I would hear “Dwi’n stopio gweithio ar y sixteenth of June” (I stop working on the 16th of June). I might write an article on Wenglish in the future but for now I will give you my passionate defense of Spanglish, how to speak it and its many advantages.

In Spain and to a lesser extent here in Mexico, many people look down their nose at Spanglish. In their view it poor Spanish, the language of the uneducated.

I sometimes think these people can’t hear themselves.

If you were to spend any time in Spain you will often hear things described as “super…guay” (cool), ect or a sentence such as “tengo que aparcar el coche” (I have to park the car). Aparcar here is modified from the English verb ‘to park’. Well-educated Mexicans will use verbs such as “checar” (to check) or “catchar” (to catch as in ‘to catch a ball’ not to catch a bus). In Mexico you could hear “voy a checar si hay un sandwitch de bistek en el referi para mi lonche” (I’m going to check if there is a beef sandwitch in the refidgerator for my lunch). I often ask myself “where do they think these words come from originalmente“?

Listen guys, language is a living, breathing organism. It lives not in universities and dusty dictionaries but on the streets in the mouths of the people. It cannot be contained as it is constantly evolving. Rarely used words become extinct (anybody use “thus” or “thou” in English anymore?) or words take on different meanings through the ages. “Gay” being a good example of a word that has changed meaning in the last 50 years. Language is creative and not set in stone. Just listen to the ‘cute’ sentences of toddlers or people who “have a way with a words” if you want to hear some interesting constructions that will make you smile. Language may be the last bastion of democracy, ruled completamente by the proletariat and not the bourgeoisie. Language has no respect for authority or tradition, its only concern is efficiency and communicating meaning.

Languages have been in contact and mixing for centuries. English itself is a mongrel language, with roots in Old German, French and other tongues. If you want proof then look for all of the Latin borrowings in English. The bastardized Spanish which is frowned upon in Spain may become the standard in a few generations time.

Looking down on Spanglish is usually jealously hidden within intellectual superiority. Usually the most violent supporters are monolinguals who only speak either English or Spanish and secretly envy those who have a natural, creative and bilingual command of both.

Outside an Auto-Shop in San Luis Potosí, Mexico

Here are a few tips on speaking the lingo:

False Cognates.

English           Spanish                 Spanglish
pallet               timbra                      paleta         (paleta in Spanish actually means lollipop)
carpet             alfombra                  carpeta        (carpeta in Spanish means folder)
library              biblioteca                libreria         (libreria in Spanish means bookstore)
groceries         provisiones             grocerias     (grocerias in Spanish means profanities)
injury               daño                        injuria          (injuria in Spanish means offense)
fabric               tela                          fabrica         (fabrica in Spanish means factory)
affluent            adinerado                afluente       (afluente in Spanish means current)
college            universidad              colegio        (colegio in Spanish means kindergarten)

How to make a Spanglish verb

Simply take an English verb, add -ear to the stem and voila you have an Espanglish verbo

English verb             Spanish verb               Spanglish verb
to clik                          hacer un clic                 clikear                                                                            to hunt                        cazar                             huntear                                                                          to punch                     pegar                            ponchear

Training wheels for beginners of Spanish.

For beginners of Spanish, spending time with bilingual speakers of English and Spanish can give you much needed confidence. When learning to speak a second language, there is something I like to call ‘drop out rate’ meaning how long you can speak in the L2 before you have to stop because of limited vocabulary or lacking in grammar. But if I’m talking to bilingual people, when I reach a dead end in my Spanish, I can throw in the English word, be understood, switch back to Spanish and keep right on going. “no se puede pasar por el…..uh…uh….road porque esta bloqueado” (One cannot enter this road because it is blocked).

Makes Spanish more accessible for English speakers.

Many people have a fear of learning a new language, believing it to be a difficult and complicated process. However, this process could be made a lot easier if they already recognize many of the words because they resembled familiar words from their mother tongue. For example, a new learner will feel much more confident reading or hearing a sentence such as ‘voy a rentar un carro porque tengo que pick up mi hija del bus stop’ rather than the ‘purists’ version: “voy a alquilar un choche porque tengo que recoger my hija de la parada del camion”. Once a learner has a basic command of the structure of Spanish then they can start to clean up their grammar and vocabulary a bit. However, in those crucial early stages where most people lose heart and give up, Spanglish could help in keeping them engaged.

They can try to stem the tide but it’s no use. Spanglish will take over.

Let the ‘Real Academia Española’ shoot me.

Further Reading.

Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language

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