I think this is taking it a bit 2 far....spanglish is something that just happens when u speak, and you can't really start looking for words....2 farfetched.
eg. instead of 2 thousand say 2 mill pts, as in dos mil pts (this got used a lot in madrid)
One of the main problems is that the people who talk this way do not speak/read/write either language very well. The usage becomes part of their main lexicon and is used not only in the home and neighborhood, but in business, school, etc.
As with "Ebonics", the proponents of such speach do not understand that in dealing with educated business/professional people from other nations who speak their language (Mexico, Spain, etc.), such use of language in that setting is seen as a lack of respect.
"An honest man is always a child" - Socrates ...no wonder I'm so immature!
"Ebonics" could best be described as an "African-American slang (idiom) dialect", that a few years ago was promoted by some people to be taught in school, not as an example of an interesting facet of African-American culture (history, even literature, etc. classes), but as a "real" language (grammar and composition, linguistics, etc.). I don't have time right now to explain the for/against arguments for this, but could at a later time.
"An honest man is always a child" - Socrates ...no wonder I'm so immature!
I have just spent the afternoon with an English friend who is married to a Canarian. Her four year old speaks both English and Spanish with ease and seems to know just which language he should be speaking, depending on whoever is in the house! I remember my children doing exactly the same in Saudi, except that was speaking American english and UK english. They knew exactly who to ask for cookies and candy, instead of biscuits and sweets! They knew not to ask my American friends for a biscuit
________________________________________ Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional
Because it was another language... but if it�s any comfort, he didn�t sit next to the two women speaking Spanish when he moved
quote:
I have just spent the afternoon with an English friend who is married to a Canarian. Her four year old speaks both English and Spanish with ease and seems to know just which language he should be speaking, depending on whoever is in the house!
My comadre�s children in Los Angeles are the same. They speak a mix of English and Spanish in the house because her family came to the US from Nicaragua 20 years ago. Well, now pretty much completely Spanish because her husband doesn�t speak English, Spanish is preferred by her parents and my friend has passed away. At the beginning her older son did have a few mixing up problems. He�d say, "Mira! Es un dog!" and I�d say, "No, Euler, es un perro." And he�d say, "NO. ES UN DOG." Um okay... es un dog... That was when he was 3. Now he�s 4 and knows exactly which language is which. If I speak to him in English, he�ll speak to me in English. If I speak to him in Spanish he looks at me funny cause I�m not supposed to be speaking to him in Spanish but then he�ll respond in Spanish.
However the kids of my friends in Catalu�a do not understand the difference between castillano and catalan. It gets a bit annoying because they speak a mixture of the two when they think they�re speaking Spanish and besides being difficul to understand, I think it really destroys both languages the same way Spanglish destroys English and Spanish.
Melinda
Posts: 292 | Location: Miami | Registered: 26 January 2003
Hey Melinda, I think madsue meant that the kids speak in EITHER Spanish or English, depending on who they are speaking to.
This is very different from speaking that mix of Spanish & English that you metioned.
madsue, truly bilingual kids are super good at what they do. They speak later (takes them longer to begin to speak) but when they do, they have a "dominio" (control) of the languages that leaves many adults perplexed.
I keep on mixing Spanish words in my posts in English just because I�m too lazy to look up the appropriate expression in a dictionary, and because I assume that most if not all the board members are familiar with them.
I know, I know; it doesn�t help me much to make any progress :cry:
Cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare
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