Abrzándose of Two Languages

Spanglish can be described as the hugging of two languages. Spanglish is a beautiful way that Spanish speakers are able to hold onto their native language yet also bring English into their dialect.  

Some people feel that Spanglish is the product of being raised bilingually. This is true that if a person is raised bilingually then they are able to switch back and forth between two languages also known as code-switching. Yet a person is capable of code-switching even if they are not bilingual. For example, when at a restaurant people are code-switching every day, yet they do not realize it. If a person orders a taco at a restaurant they are actually saying the Spanish word taco. This could be seen as code-switching. Thomas Moore Devlin in his article, “How Many People Speak Spanglish, Where Is It Spoken?” saw Spanglish as code-switching and nothing else. Although Spanglish may fall under the title of code-switching it can also be seen as more than that. Spanglish can instead be seen as translanguaging. Translanguaging is the practice of using multiple languages by bilinguals. Henderson and Ingram in their article, "Mister, you're writing in Spanglish" discusses that Spanglish is not actually code-switching but is instead translanguaging since it is spoken by mostly bilinguals. Since the United States is heavily populated with Spanish speakers it would make sense for most Spanglish speakers to be bilingual, which would then move Spanglish into the translanguaging category instead of just code-switching.

Since Spanglish is spoken by bilinguals it is usually the way that some native Spanish speakers hold onto their Latino identity. In the website Aula Hispánica in the article, “What is Spanglish” it is said that there are 35 million Latin Americans in the United States which makes it one of the most important regions of Hispanic origin. With so many Latin Americans in the United States, it is no surprise that Spanglish occurs. In Matínez’s article, “Spanglish as Literacy Tool” he noticed that Spanglish is actually mostly spoken when communicating with family or peers. 

There is a stereotype that people who speak Spanglish are just native Spanish speakers who cannot pick up the English dialect. These people feel that Spanglish speakers are uneducated however, they are wrong. Since Spanglish is often spoken when communicating with family or peers it shows that Spanglish has a bigger meaning. Spanglish is instead a way that Latin Americans hold onto their native culture and embrace a new one. Sánchez-Muñoz in her article, “Who Soy Yo?” discusses that Spanglish speakers are people who do not identify with the Ango-American cultural values and also do not identify with the Mexican cultural values. It is important that society embraces Spanglish speakers because although it is not a known language it is important to the people who speak it.

Although Spanglish is not a classified language, people are beginning to accept it more and more every day. There are books, poems, and songs written in Spanglish. Justin Bieber’s hit song “Despacito” is written in Spanglish. In his songs, he goes back and forth from singing English and Spanish. The chorus is always in Spanish while the rest of the song is in English. There is even a children's book written by Susan Hood, called, Spike The Mixed Up Monster which is written in Spanglish about a monster who speaks in Spanglish. This little monster in the book is constantly talking in both English and Spanglish. The monster is code-switching throughout the novel. In Tato Laviera’s poem, “Spanglish” he is not only writing in Spanglish but allows the reader to feel the emotions that a Spanglish speaker feels. Laviera’s poem is great because in one line he will write in all Spanish and then in the next line he will write in all English. However, in some lines, he writes in both English and Spanish by code-switching. It seems that society is slowly beginning to accept Spanglish into the world. 

It is important that as a society people begin to accept Spanglish. America started as a melting pot people came from all different parts of the world. It is important that we do not take away one's culture. America is supposed to be a melting pot therefore, we need to accept everyone's culture. Spanglish is a way that native Spanish speakers hold on to their culture and embrace the new culture they learn in America. We do not want to whitewash people but instead accept everyone.