Spanglish, a portmanteau of the words Spanish and English, is a name used to refer to a range of language-contact phenomena, primarily in the speech of the Hispanic population of the United States, which is exposed to both Spanish and English.

A short Spanglish conversation:

• Anita: “Hola, good morning, cómo estás?”
• Mark: “Well, y tú?”
• Anita: “Todo bien. Pero tuve problemas parqueando mi carro this morning.”
• Mark: “Sí, I know. Siempre hay problemas parqueando in el area at this time”.

Translation to English:

• Anita: “Hello, good morning, how are you?”
• Mark: “Well, and you?”
• Anita: “Everything’s fine, but I had problems parking my car this morning.”
• Mark: “Yeah, I know. There are always problems parking in this area at this time”.

Translation to Spanish:

• Anita: “Hola, buenos días, ¿cómo estás?”
• Mark: “Bien, ¿y tú?”
• Anita: “Todo bien. Pero tuve problemas estacionando//aparcando mi coche esta mañana.”
• Mark: “Sí, ya lo sé. Siempre hay problemas de estacionamiento//para aparcar en esta zona a esta hora“.

Spanglish is proof that Latinos have a culture that is made up of two parts. It’s not that you are Latino or American, as sometime said Ilan Stavans *Professor of Latin American and Latino culture who translated Miguel de Cervantes masterpiece.

Apparently there are certain words or sayings that are just better in spanish, like “Hey Dad, I remember sitting in Abuelita’s cocina when we were little, and we were drinking a taza of cafe.

At Mun2, a cable network, the language was swiching from spanish to english and Spanglish in order to achieve viewers preferences.

On the other hand, spanglish is also in music. Ricky Martin with “Living la vida loca”, or Paulina Rubio who sings almost all her songs in Spanglish.

Prof. Stavans translated “Don Quixote” into Spanglish, in response to a Spanish language purist who asserted that the linguistic mix would never be taken seriously until it produced a classic. “In un placete de La Mancha, vivia uno de esos gentlemen who always tienen skinny caballo y un grayhound para el chase” his translation begins.

Some people find offensive Prof. Stavans translation, and they say that Spanglish has no future. The truth is that the Spanglish is between us and it doesn’t seems to be fading out.

Juan Manuel Damia