An interesting article on Spanglish
Ramana Juvvadi (rjuvvadi@quartz)
Fri, 28 Mar 1997 14:26:34 GMT
I found this interesting as I could see so many parallels between
us and Hispanics
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By ERTO GONZALEZ ECHEVARRIA
Spanglish, the composite language of Spanish and English that has
crossed over from the street to Hispanic talk shows and advertising
campaigns, poses a grave danger to Hispanic culture and to the
advancement of Hispanics in mainstream America. Those who condone and
even promote it as a harmless commingling do not realize that this is
hardly a relationship based on equality. Spanglish is an invasion of
Spanish by English.
The sad reality is that Spanglish is primarily the language of poor
Hispanics, many barely literate in either language. They incorporate
English words and constructions into their daily speech because they
they lack the vocabulary and education in Spanish to adapt to the
changing culture around them.
Educated Hispanics who do likewise have a different motivation: Some
are embarrassed by their background and feel empowered by using
English words and directly translated English idioms. Doing so, they
think, is to claim membership in the mainstream. Politically, however,
Spanglish is a capitulation; it indicates marginalization, not
enfranchisement.
Spanglish treats Spanish as if the language of Cervantes, Lorca,
García Márquez, Borges and Paz does not have an essence and
dignity of its own.
It is not possible to speak of physics or metaphysics in Spanglish,
whereas Spanish has a more than adequate vocabulary for both. Yes,
because of the pre-eminence of English in fields like technology, some
terms, like "biper" for beeper, have to be incorporated into
Spanish. But why give in when there are perfectly good Spanish words
and phrases?
If, as with so many of the trends of American Hispanics, Spanglish
were to spread to Latin America, it would constitute the ultimate
imperialistic takeover, the final imposition of a way of life that is
economically dominant but not culturally superior in any sense. Latin
America is rich in many ways not measurable by calculators.
Yet I worry every time I hear broadcasts by American-based TV stations
that are beamed out across the hemisphere. The newscasts sound like
Spanish, but if one listens closely, it is English transposed, not
even translated, into Spanish. Are they listening or laughing in
Mexico City and San Juan?
The same kind of surrender occurs with American companies hoping to
cash in on the Hispanic market. I cringe when I hear a clerk ask,
"Cómo puedo ayudarlo?" (a literal transposition of the English "How
can I help you?"), rather than the proper "Qué desea?" On a recent
flight to Mexico, a Hispanic flight attendant read a statement that
would not have been comprehensible to a Mexican, a Spaniard or an
American Hispanic from any region other than his. Ads on
Spanish-language TV and on the New York streets are full of howlers. I
wonder if recent Latin American immigrants even can understand them.
I suppose my Medievalist colleagues will say that without the
contamination of Latin by local languages, there would be no Spanish
(or French or Italian). We are no longer in the Middle Ages, however,
and it is naïve to think that we could create a new language that
would be functional and culturally rich. Literature in Spanglish can
only aspire to a sort of wit based on a rebellious gesture, which
wears thin quickly. Those who practice it are doomed to writing not a
minority literature but a minor literature.
I do not apologize for my professorial biases: I think that people
should learn languages well and that learning English should be the
first priority for Hispanics if they aspire, as they should, to
influential positions.
But we must remember that we are a special immigrant group. Whereas
the mother cultures of other ethnicities are far away in geography or
time, ours are very near. Immigration from Latin America keeps our
community in a state of continuous renewal. The last thing we need is
to have each group carve out its own Spanglish, creating a Babel of
hybrid tongues. Spanish is our strongest bond, and it is vital that we
preserve it.
Roberto González Echevarría is a professor of Hispanic and comparative literatures at Yale.