When two languages bump into each other, they borrow stuff.<\/p>\n
English: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hey, Espa\u00c3\u00b1ol! I need a word for these flying pests. Can I borrow \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcmosquito\u00e2\u20ac\u2122?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Espa\u00c3\u00b1ol: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No problemo. While we are on the topic, I could use \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcboycott\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 (though I might spell it \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcboicot\u00e2\u20ac\u2122).\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Ahora voy a typiar mi column. Come on now! You had no trouble getting el gisto of that sentence. And in the near future, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re likely to be seeing much more of this kind of linguistic m\u00c3\u00a9lange.<\/p>\n
At issue is a recent conference of Royal Spanish Academy, one outcome of which was the fear of English (or slightly modified) words that make it into Spanish. That was one concern of attendees of the parley in Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n
Simply, many of the planet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s half-billion speakers of Spanish have noticed a tendency to Spanishize many English words.<\/p>\n
A Los Angeles Times article by Caroline A. Miranda provides words like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153drone,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which becomes \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dron\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and even \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Botox\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153selfie\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as among the newcomers. The tug-of-words over \u00e2\u20ac\u0153selfie\u00e2\u20ac\u009d could result in a compromise, in which we call it an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153auto-foto\u00e2\u20ac\u009d instead.<\/p>\n
Back in my youth, I recall hearing and using \u00e2\u20ac\u0153troca\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153carro,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d whose meanings are obvious. For centuries, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve found it convenient to claim adoptable words as our own. Miranda\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s article makes it clear that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153when two languages meet, they borrow stuff.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Begun in 1997, the academy meets every three years in various Spanish-speaking venues. Since the start of the academy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s conferences, Spanish has ceased being what the author calls a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153marginalized language,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and predictions are that by 2050, the United States could become the largest Spanish-speaking country on earth. And current estimates are that only 10 percent of the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Spanish speakers live in Spain.<\/p>\n
My dad, J.D., has been gone 18 years, and with his last breath, he probably expressed unfailing support of Spanish, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153which must remain pure.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dad\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lament was what he called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the corruption (he used a stronger noun, not printable here) of Spanish.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And at no time did he find humor in our taking liberties with Spanish.<\/p>\n
If Dad were still with us, he would probably be leading the trumpet section to maintain the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153purity\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of his first language. He never tolerated\u00c2\u00a0any<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0use of Spanish slang, even in jest.<\/p>\n Sometimes, trying to be cute, my brother Severino or sister Evangeline or I tried to do some gymnastics with Spanish, such as turning \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mucho\u00e2\u20ac\u009d into \u00e2\u20ac\u0153muncho,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for effect. Dad set us straight. And he was critical of those who were unable to think of the correct Spanish word and opted for the English equivalent.<\/p>\n We owned a portable manual Underwood when I was in high school. Once, I made the mistake of asking Dad if I could borrow \u00e2\u20ac\u0153el typewriter\u00e2\u20ac\u009d so I could \u00e2\u20ac\u0153typiar un papel.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The last part of the request was to show off my verbal flexibility. And cuteness.<\/p>\n Well, I received a rapid lesson on how, with my help, Spanish was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153becoming adulterated.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He added that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153papel\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is only paper, whereas \u00e2\u20ac\u0153composici\u00c3\u00b3n\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was the finished product.<\/p>\n Many of us have sat through a class lecture whose ending words are, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153For tomorrow, I want you to write a\u00c2\u00a0paper<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0on Shakespeare\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s debt to Hemingway.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Never once does the professor call it a composition. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why we say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153papel\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in Spanish.<\/p>\n I deserved being corrected by my dad, but calling it \u00e2\u20ac\u0153una maquina de escribir,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with its seven syllables just to identify a piece of equipment made me wish Spanish had evolved enough to accommodate \u00e2\u20ac\u0153typewriter,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which contains just three syllables.<\/p>\n So if your \u00e2\u20ac\u0153troquita\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or your \u00e2\u20ac\u0153carrito\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is on the fritz, it helps to have a dictionary handy to provide words like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cami\u00c3\u00b3n\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for truck and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153auto\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153coche\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for car.<\/p>\n Whether rightly or wrongly, English was mainly what we spoke at home. The smatterings of Spanish we picked up \u00e2\u20ac\u201d very conveniently \u00e2\u20ac\u201d came from conversations between our parents but about us. How is it possible to hear our parents speaking Spanish with not much rubbing off on us?<\/p>\n Our eavesdropping, by the way, taught us words some of us kids thought of as praise, words like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153atascado,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153embustero,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mentiroso,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153malcriado.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The meanings of the words in our newly acquired lexicon range from slothfulness to brattiness to dishonesty.<\/p>\n Many times during my 32 years as a teacher, I heard the story: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our parents spoke Spanish to each other, but English to us. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why our Spanish is limited.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n But there are other factors as well. In elementary school,\u00c2\u00a0almost every word<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0we heard on the playground at Immaculate Conception School was in Spanish. If we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know the Spanish equivalent of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153basketball\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153bat,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dame el bateh\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153tira el basquetbol.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d try to make the mystery word at least\u00c2\u00a0sound<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0like Spanish.<\/p>\n One of our elementary school teachers, Sister Mary Kay L\u00c3\u00a1stima, once told my friend, Alfred, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You are not to speak in Mexico.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She meant \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mexican,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but really, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Spanish.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d My friend\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reply was, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not speaking in Mexico; I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m speaking in the U.S.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n That earned him an hour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth of whacking erasers after school.<\/p>\n I seldom saw Dad become as animated as when we misused a Spanish word. Dad overlooked some language misdemeanors in English, freeing us to say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cuz\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153nothin,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but a butchered Spanish word (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153muchas Garcias\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153yo quiero jando (pronounced hando),\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was a felony that earned us a lecture but no spare change.<\/p>\n David Pharies, a dean at the University of Florida, and the author of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A Brief History of the Spanish Language,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says he fears that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153efforts to preserve language can be futile.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He adds, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sooner or later, language guardians are forced to abandon conservative positions in the face of relentless changes in usage.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Although common, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nuyorican,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which describes a New Yorker of Puerto Rican roots, has not made it into official dictionaries. The author fears, however, that it \u00e2\u20ac\u0153may just be a matter of time.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When two languages bump into each other, they borrow stuff. English: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hey, Espa\u00c3\u00b1ol! I need a word for these flying pests. Can I borrow \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcmosquito\u00e2\u20ac\u2122?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Espa\u00c3\u00b1ol: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No problemo. While we are on the topic, I could use \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcboycott\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 (though I might spell it \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcboicot\u00e2\u20ac\u2122).\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Ahora voy a typiar mi column. Come on now! You had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1492,"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491\/revisions\/1492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}