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You really need to start hanging out with people who did not drop out of school in the 8th grade. I don't think I have met a person who thought Spanish came from Mexico and not Spain who was not a very young child.
Some people are dumb in my state, but the big difference is I don't live in a border state with Mexico, I live in a border state with Canada. There's not a whole lot of Mexicans up here, so people here assume that Spanish = latinos. The young people aren't any different, they can tell you the different kinds of liquor you can buy and the alcohol content and what to mix drinks with, but they couldn't tell you which Canadian province borders PA and which state borders PA
I have been in USA twice and I was surprised most of the time about the same thing, the real meaning for people about the term Spanish person my question it is always from this kind of conversations:
Are you Spanish? Yes I am.
From where? The central area next to the capital
No, I meant from what country? Spain...
And also I have a friend who told me he has a Spanish workmate, I asked him from where and he told me from Guayaquil (Equator)
My question and my surprise is: why some people don't make difference and call Spanish to all people who is native Spanish speaker? Does this happen in many places? Does it have something to do with language or terminology?
It is a mess as Latin America is quite big.
Thanks guys.
Some people simply aren't educated about terminology; the difference between "Spanish" vs. "Hispanic".
Spanish means only one thing: you are a citizen of Spain.
I had a snarky encounter in Barcelona which soured me on the Catalans. I was at the viewpoint over the harbor taking pictures and lapsed into a conversation with a presumably retired couple taking in the view. Having taken the language in college, I spoke to them without a hitch. The woman said that I spoke well, and asked me where I learned it. I responded "Yo tome' un ano de Espanol en la universidad." (I took a year of Spanish in college). She muttered "Espanol ... hmmm ... Espanol." I thought "Please save your separatist mentality for some local on a balcony across from yours and just be appreciative that someone learned your national language, stupid b itch. I don't control what college classes are labeled." In the US, it's Spanish and NOT Castilian.
In Seville, I got a positive spin on the same issue. A guy I was talking to said "Usted habla un Espanol correcto, que no es el Castiliano." ("You speak a correct Spanish, which is not Castilian.") It makes one feel good about having studied the language.
You call Hispanics by their country of origin. Simple: Venezuelan, Argentine, Chilean, Cuban, and YES, even Mexican ... it seems no one uses the word Mexican anymore.
You hear it in the Northeast a lot, usually referring to Puerto Ricans & Dominicans. You might also hear "Latin"
I think it the rest of the country you'll mostly hear "Hispanic" and "Latino" I never hear anyone use "Spanish" in that way here in the South
Quote:
Originally Posted by ABQConvict
In New Mexico, many people make a distinction between 'Spanish', being reserved for the descendants of Spanish settlers, and 'Mexican' for people from Mexico or with Mexican heritage. Obviously those who call themselves 'Spanish' are from the United States but have cultural ties closer to Spain than Mexico. We have been visited by the king of Spain more times in the last 20 years than the president of Mexico :-)
Other places I have lived such as New York tend to use 'Hispanic' or 'Latino', reserving the word 'Spanish' for a language, not a culture.
I think maybe in some parts of the world with few Spanish speakers, European or Latin American, 'Spanish' may be a catchall term.
In Northeast and particularly in the NYC area, people use Hispanic to mean anyone from Latin/South America or the Caribbean Islands that speak Spanish. Otherwise the term "Spanish" either means the language itself or a person who actually comes from Spain. The only exception is that I did meet a woman several years ago from Barcelona who said she was Catalan not Spanish.
Spanish means only one thing: you are a citizen of Spain.
I had a snarky encounter in Barcelona which soured me on the Catalans. I was at the viewpoint over the harbor taking pictures and lapsed into a conversation with a presumably retired couple taking in the view. Having taken the language in college, I spoke to them without a hitch. The woman said that I spoke well, and asked me where I learned it. I responded "Yo tome' un ano de Espanol en la universidad." (I took a year of Spanish in college).
FYI In Spain they attend (asistir a) rather than tomar (take) clases.
"Ho dato un esame" (I gave an exam) rather than "Ho preso un esame" (I took an exam) but, as for the Espanol, not bad for a gringo, eh?
Absolutely. It's probably correct usage in other countries anyway - Spanish can be quite different in Spain. In Spain you coger un autobus, but in latin america coger means screw. Go figure.
Spanish means only one thing: you are a citizen of Spain.
I had a snarky encounter in Barcelona which soured me on the Catalans. I was at the viewpoint over the harbor taking pictures and lapsed into a conversation with a presumably retired couple taking in the view. Having taken the language in college, I spoke to them without a hitch. The woman said that I spoke well, and asked me where I learned it. I responded "Yo tome' un ano de Espanol en la universidad." (I took a year of Spanish in college). She muttered "Espanol ... hmmm ... Espanol." I thought "Please save your separatist mentality for some local on a balcony across from yours and just be appreciative that someone learned your national language, stupid b itch. I don't control what college classes are labeled." In the US, it's Spanish and NOT Castilian.
Yeah, I don't know why but in Catalonia they HATE to say "Spanish" maybe for the separatism, they use a lot the word "Castellano" altough it sounds more local, from Castilia for example, in my area we can all it in the both ways but most of people say "español" because it sounds more general, it is the language of the whole country...
Another stupid thing: I studied education degree, and if we want to work in a public school we have to do an exam for the government, in that exam we can use Spanish/Castilian but whatever we use we have to explain the judges and examinators WHY do we use the term, completely stupid in my opinion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chava61
In Northeast and particularly in the NYC area, people use Hispanic to mean anyone from Latin/South America or the Caribbean Islands that speak Spanish. Otherwise the term "Spanish" either means the language itself or a person who actually comes from Spain. The only exception is that I did meet a woman several years ago from Barcelona who said she was Catalan not Spanish.
Yeah very usual there too lol, next time tell her to show you the identity card, to see if it is writen SPAIN or CATALONIA lol
I imagine had Norway not separated from the union with Sweden in 1905, they would still bristle at being referred to as Swedes or as speakers of Swedish.
For years when I was young, I was called "Little Tommy" by many people in my community. Tommy is my older brother's name. Pissed me off, my name is Convict!!!
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