Comments on: Espanglish No Existe Says a National Humanities Medalist

By: Bren Herrera

Bren Herrera — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:43:33 +0000

The more and more I speak Spanglish, the more I feel like I’m doing myself a disservice. For me, it’s a matter of being lazy when a Spanish word escapes me and it’s easy to throw an English word in there! I can appreciate however, their acknowledgement of the culture and quasi-langauge

By: Eva Smith

Eva Smith — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 23:10:32 +0000

Wonderful interview. I am a Spanglish master! My mother only spoke Spanish to us growing up and as adults she speaks Spanish, Spanglish and English. I take pride in my multilingual background.

By: Carla @ All of Me Now

Carla @ All of Me Now — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 02:48:50 +0000

LOL I laughed out loud because I had no idea that “te voy a llamar patras” (pardon my spelling) wasn’t legit Spanish. I always think of Spanglish being Spanish and English words being combined in speech – but still being used in it’s native language not as an infiltration of either language. Fascinating.

I think Spanglish exists as an evolution of our language. I compare it to slang. Certain words in the English language exist today but were at one time frowned upon and thought to be just slang. But as we move forward, culture naturally adopts the words which accurately represents the story of what’s happening. So Spanglish to me is very much the same – our culture has morphed into something we’ve never seen before, something so vastly diverse that the languages which existed before weren’t suffice to capture our story.

I speak Spanish, English and Spanglish. Depending on what I’m saying, the message I’m communicating – each finds it’s place to really convey what I’m trying to get across.

Wonderful and thought provoking piece!

By: Eliana Tardío

Eliana Tardío — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 02:28:44 +0000

Of course I speak spanish because is my first language and I learned english at school as my second language. I like spanglish, I think is cool but being realistic it doesn´t help neither english or spanish, because many confussions comes from it. I know many people who actually speak spanglish because they have been raised in Miami o r New York and the sad part of it, is that they haven´t mastered any of the two languages and have lot of confussion when writing or even expressing themselves. I have nothing against spanglish, I think it may be even cultural now, but again,I think it may be dangerous

By: Rubydw

Rubydw — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 22:55:37 +0000

What an awesome interview! In cali we say “parqueate aya” (park over there) The youth now has evolved with the spanglish even saying “yo le voy a los laguneros” (I go for the Lakers) It’s become pretty crazy…Spanglish does exist!

By: Lisa ~ AutismWonderland

Lisa ~ AutismWonderland — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 21:48:33 +0000

As always a powerful, thought provoking post. I do not speak Spanish but really wish I did.

By: Unknown Mami

Unknown Mami — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 19:41:19 +0000

Excuse the missing “is” in my second to last sentence in the previous comment.

By: Unknown Mami

Unknown Mami — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 19:39:54 +0000

Oh boy. This post and interview got me a little stirred up. I’m not sure that I can express all of what I’m feeling in a comment. I speak Spanish, I’m glad I do, and I’m raising my children to speak it as well. My families roots are in Mexico and I do not see Spanish as what connects me to my Mexican roots. Spanish is a language that was imposed on Mexico and it could be argued that although what is spoken in Mexico is definitely Spanish that it is also a product of Spanhuatl OR Spamaya or any such combination. Language evolves and you have to give people a little credit and trust that they will indeed find a way to understand each other. I speak English, but there are parts of the U.S. where people use colloquialisms that are completely foreign to me, but there is enough commonality in the language that I can open my mouth and ask for an explanation. Anyway that a little of what this post and interview stirred up in me. Definitely a compelling topic.