Learn the meaning of Spanglish
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Intro |
|---|
| Michael: What is Spanglish? |
| Cesar: And is it commonly used? |
| Michael: At SpanishPod101.com, we hear these questions often. To help address these questions, let's listen to a conversation. Mark Lee asks his neighbor Gustavo Gonzalez Brito about Mexico's population. |
| "What is the current population of Mexico?" |
| Mark Lee: ¿Cuál es la población actual de México? |
| Dialogue |
| Mark Lee: ¿Cuál es la población actual de México? |
| Gustavo González Brito: Tengo que googlearlo. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Mark Lee: ¿Cuál es la población actual de México? |
| Michael: "What is the current population of Mexico?" |
| Gustavo González Brito: Tengo que googlearlo. |
| Michael: "I have to Google it. " |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: You might have noticed a strange word in this conversation. To be precise, a word that didn't sound very Spanish: |
| Cesar: googlearlo. |
| Michael: Just like in English, where we have created a verb, "to google," which means to search |
| something on Google, Spanish has adapted the same word to the Spanish rules: |
| Cesar: googlear. |
| Michael: This is one example of many words that have been adapted from English to Spanish. This is a very common phenomenon especially between Spanish speakers in the United States, but also in some of the countries in Latin America that are most influenced by English. It even has a name, which is |
| Spanglish. We call these direct influences "linguistic transferences" or |
| Cesar: transferencias lingüísticas |
| Michael: and they can happen to nouns, verbs, and also sounds and structures. Just like in English, "Google" was first introduced in the English language as a proper noun to describe the search engine company. Over time, as native and non-native English speakers can tell you, "Google" is now used as a verb, which speakers have also begun to conjugate. "I Googled yesterday," or "I was Googling the recipe for tonight's dinner when the phone rang." |
| Michael: These same language modifications occur in Spanish. This is a non-standard variety of Spanish based on what we call code-switching that has been known as Spanglish for the last 80 years, so it's not a new phenomenon. While this example has been adapted to Spanish, sometimes Spanglish just includes non-changed English words in a Spanish sentence. Sometimes, a sentence might be completely in Spanish but using a literal translation from English. For example, it is common to hear a literal translation of the expression "Have a good time!," |
| Cesar: ¡Que tengas un buen tiempo! |
| Michael: instead of the usual |
| Cesar: ¡Que te diviertas! |
| Michael: Other times, sentences might be half in English and half in Spanish. For example: |
| Cesar: ¿Me das un 'ride' al gimnasio? |
| Michael: Meaning, "Can you give me a ride to the gym?" |
| Michael: It's also possible that you may hear the word 'Spanglish' used to describe native English speakers who try to incorporate and modify English words based on general word patterns in Spanish. These are often incorrect over-generalizations that native speakers may make based on some similarities between the Spanish and English languages, although there are also many differences as well. |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review the dialogue from this lesson. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after Cesar focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how Mark Lee says "What is the current population of Mexico?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Cesar: ¿Cuál es la población actual de México? |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Cesar: ¿Cuál es la población actual de México? |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Cesar: ¿Cuál es la población actual de México? |
| Michael: And do you remember how Gustavo Gonzalez Brito says "I have to Google it. " |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Cesar: Tengo que googlearlo. |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Cesar: Tengo que googlearlo. |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Cesar: Tengo que googlearlo. |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: Because of the internet and easy access to sites with English content, there have been many Spanglish technology terms used recently, especially by young adults and teenagers. Even in business situations, it is common to hear |
| Cesar: Chequear el correo. |
| Michael: "To check the email." or |
| Cesar: Mandar un inbox. |
| Michael: "To send a direct message." Instead of what would be considered proper Spanish |
| Cesar: Revisar el correo electrónico. and Mandar un mensaje directo. |
| Michael: There are other Spanish terms used in social media that have surged recently, for example |
| Cesar: postear |
| Michael: "to post." The correct Spanish word for this would be |
| Cesar: publicar. |
| Michael: Another example is |
| Cesar: chatear, |
| Michael: "to chat" The Spanish word for this would be |
| Cesar: charlar. |
| Michael: In some cases, such as in this last one, the Spanglish word is now even found in dictionaries. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Cesar: ¡Hasta la próxima! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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