Spanglish (language)

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Spanglish is a hybrid American language that mixes words and other ways of saying things from Spanish and English.[1] It is mostly spoken in the United States.

Speech[change | change source]

Spanglish is spoken in American towns and cities that have large numbers of Latino people, for example Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Santa Fe, Newark, and New York.[2] Spanglish is spoken by Spanish-speaking people who have moved to the United States from other countries and immigrants who are are still learning English.[3] Many people born in the United States whose parents came from Spanish-speaking countries also speak Spanglish. An estimated that 40 million people in the United States speak Spanglish.[4]

Spanglish is a source of pride in Latino identity. In Living in Spanglish, Ed Morales wrote, "Spanglish is what we speak, but it is also who we Latinos are, and how we act, and how we perceive the world."[2]

Spanglish literature[change | change source]

Latino literature in the United States has things written in Spanglish. Chicano, Nuyorican, and Puerto Rican poets, playwrights, and novelists use Spanglish. Here are some of them:

Spanglish music[change | change source]

Many Latino and Latin American musicians use Spanglish in the words to their songs.

  • Reik released a song titled "Spanglish" that is sung half in English and half in Spanish.[8]
  • Ricky Martin, a Puerto Rican pop singer uses Spanglish in the songs "Come with Me" and "Maria."
  • Pitbull, a Latin Grammy Award-winning artist from Miami, sings rap songs in Spanglish.
  • Enrique Iglesias, a Spanish reggaeton singer uses Spanglish in his lyrics.[9]

Spanglish duets[change | change source]

Spanglish duets are songs with Spanish and English lyrics. They are a growing trend in the American and Latin American music industry.[10] These duets are sung by a native Spanish speaker and a native English speaker. Shakira and Beyonce, Romeo Santos and Usher, Justin Bieber and Daddy Yankee (in Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito”) have made the Billboard Hot 100 charts with Spanglish duets.[10]

Related pages[change | change source]

References[change | change source]

  1. "Oxford Languages and Google - English | Oxford Languages". languages.oup.com. Retrieved 2020-11-12. Spanglish is a hybrid language combining words and idioms from both Spanish and English, especially Spanish speech that uses many English words and expressions.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Babbel.com; GmbH, Lesson Nine. "How Many People Speak Spanglish, And Where Is It Spoken?". Babbel Magazine. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  3. "Spanglish: The Validity of Spanglish as a Language". Panoramas. 2019-05-02. Archived from the original on 2020-11-20. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  4. ub. "Ilan Stavans: "Every language that is taking shape goes through a phase similar to Spanglish" - Universitat de Barcelona". www.ub.edu (in Catalan). Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  5. Poets, Academy of American. "About Giannina Braschi | Academy of American Poets". poets.org. Retrieved 2020-11-12. Yo-Yo Boing!, credited with being the first novel to be written in Spanglish.
  6. "Intersections: When Languages Collide". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  7. Torres, Lourdes (2007). "In the Contact Zone: Code-Switching Strategies by Latino/a Writers". MELUS. 32 (1): 75–96. doi:10.1093/melus/32.1.75. ISSN 0163-755X. JSTOR 30029707.
  8. "Listen to Reik's New Song 'Spanglish'". Billboard. 6 June 2016. Retrieved 2020-11-12. Reik released their new song "Spanglish."
  9. copy, Copied to clipboardClick to (15 September 2020). "Hispanic Heritage Month: The 50 Best Latin Songs of All Time". Billboard. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  10. 10.0 10.1 "Rosalia & Travis Scott, Jonas Brothers & Karol G, Plus More Spanglish 2020 Collabs". Billboard. 2020-12-27. Retrieved 2020-11-12. Spanglish duets -- a song with Spanish and English lyrics -- have become a growing trend in the music industry in recent years.

Further reading[change | change source]

Stavans, Ilan, Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language. (2004)