Spanglish: It’s everywhere!

Hola, how are you?

Where are you vacacioning this summer?  Mucho bein seeing you again, ciao amigo!  Does that sound like a typical conversation?  Well, in some cases it might be.  One word: Spanglish.

Walking around the local college campus, or even the local grocery store, one is sure to hear someone speaking in both Spanish and English at the same time.  This linguistic phenomenon is known as Spanglish.

What is Spanglish?  A language?  A dialect?

Spanglish is a syntaxical language structure consisting of a mixture between English and Spanish words and/or expressions; either borrowing words or switching between the two languages.  It is becoming a fast growing phenomena affecting today’s Hispanic youth society and is most prevalent and used among second and third generation Latinos as well as much of the youth generation.

Spanglish also sometimes consists of made up words.  Words such as parque for park, chaqueta for jacket, have become so common, they are now considered just plain Spanish.

The oral language has become so prevalent in our multicultural society that even Hollywood and the media have picked up on this trend.  Phrases from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s: “Hasta la vista baby” and Taco Bell’s: “Yo quiero Taco Bell” have become iconic in our society.

Though this trend is growing fast, some say that speaking Spanglish can negatively affect people who are learning either Spanish or English.

Those advocates say Spanglish reflects laziness; when a word is unknown in one language, the speaker automatically reverts to the other language and continues talking without correcting themselves.

Others call it bad grammar saying that it is purely a colloquial form of speech that is best suited only for pop culture.

However, enthusiasts of Spanglish say it’s the language of the future created from being a part of two diverse cultures. Promoters of Spanglish believe it allows the Spanish speaking community to acculturate without assimilating into society, enabling them to preserve their own culture.

What is the future of Spanglish?

Some educadores say that Spanglish could just be a fad among the younger generacion as a result of growing up in a bilingual and multicultural sociedad.  While others say that it has the potential to become a nuevo lenguage in itself.  Either way this popular trend is here to stay.  Don’t shun it, embrace it.