What is it like to be Latino in LA?

[damba]

Originally Posted by sean1the1

It pretty much stems from geography the further you are away from Italy the less similar to Latin the languages are. Portuguese is even further from it. By that Latin metric I suppose Quebec would have to be Latin America as well. Lol

Except that metric is not used.

French (not Portuguese) is considered to be the most innovative of the romance languages, meaning the number of changes/differences.

My Quebec-born friends at work about fell off a chair when I mentioned some crazy Americans would consider them to be Latino or Latin American.

[quique07]

Well to throw a wrench to this topic.

I would think being Latino in LA is different than being Latino in NYC, simply because the biggest Latino group in LA is Mexican, HOWEVER, for whatever reason.. most Mexicans do not use the word Latino. If you ask the common Mexican, if they are Latino, they will probably say no because for Mexicans, Latino means someone from Central/South America or the Caribbean.

This topic has risen many times that for whatever reason, Mexicans don't like being labeled Latino. To add to this, the term "Latino" in Mexico is basically non existent.
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I always find that other groups such as Dominicans, Boricuas, Central Americans, etc embrace the "Latino" label with pride. Mexicans, not so much.


P.S. I'm one of the exception, where I'm Mexican, and I don't have no issue being called a Latino.

[kttam186290]

Originally Posted by damba

Except that metric is not used.

French (not Portuguese) is considered to be the most innovative of the romance languages, meaning the number of changes/differences.

My Quebec-born friends at work about fell off a chair when I mentioned some crazy Americans would consider them to be Latino or Latin American.

I was under the impression that French was not as innovative as the other Latin-based languages because it was highly regulated by Le Academie francaise, and that the Academie is very controlling of what is allowed into the French language. This is why the creole and patoise languages are not considered "real" French.

If you ever have the chance to take a linguistics course at university, it's interesting and I would recommend it. French is the closest to Latin of all of the romance languages. It's even closer to Latin than Spanish and Portuguese are.

The newest theories from the experts are now suggesting that the Celtic languages (Gaelic, Manx, Cornish) probably have Roman/Latin roots as well. This would also explain why the Catholic Church was so successful in converting the Celts to Catholicism, and why the Celts resisted Germanic and Protestant influences so much.

[80skeys]

I don't think anybody would consider any french-speaking descendents to be "Latino." My understanding of the term was that it was actually coined in the 1800s by the French to refer to non-French speaking people in the New World. In other words to describe Spanish-speaking South Americans in a "brotherly" way as part of a campaign to rope them in as allies against Anglo and northern European countries who France was fighting at the time. The idea, as conceived by the French, was referring to them as Latin Americans would encourage them to think of the French as being more similar to them (common Latin roots) compared to those other countries.

[TripleSec]

Originally Posted by kttam186290

My brother in Palmdale has three kids. Two have red hair and light eyes, one looks more traditionally mestizo. His two red-headed kids have a Spanish surname. When he and my sister-in-law signed them up for school, they were asked if the kids qualified as "ESL" (English as Second Language) to which they both laughed.

Their kids go to school with little Nordic-looking kids with last names like "Rodriguez" and "Bermudez". My sister in law works with a full-blooded Latina/mestiza woman who's last name is "Walker" due to her marriage to an Anglo man. People where they work joke that my blonde/blue eyed sister-in-law has a Spanish surname and her very Latina co-worker has "Walker" as her surname.

In San Diego, my Latino cousins are all married to Anglo whites. This is all considered "normal" to most people who don't live inside isolated barrios.

It's crazy sometimes that people here cannot imagine a Spanish speaking white person w/light hair or light eyes. These features are not strictly "Anglo".

They need to take a trip to Spain, Argentina or Uruguay.

[damba]

Originally Posted by kttam186290

I was under the impression that French was not as innovative as the other Latin-based languages because it was highly regulated by Le Academie francaise, and that the Academie is very controlling of what is allowed into the French language. This is why the creole and patoise languages are not considered "real" French.

You are conflating two different things. My comments/corrections were regarding how innovative or conservative the various romance languages are, conservative implying they still retain qualities of Latin. What l’Académie does is attempt to preserve the French language, not maintain how close it ended up being to Latin as compared to other romance languages. They would like to minimize external influence as much as possible, given the more global environment.

Keep in mind that the Academie did not arrive until the early part of the 17th century

If you ever have the chance to take a linguistics course at university, it's interesting and I would recommend it. French is the closest to Latin of all of the romance languages. It's even closer to Latin than Spanish and Portuguese are.

You are preaching to the choir (and more). In a previous career I used to teach after extensive coursework in Spanish and Portuguese, along with some linguistics. Most of my colleagues at that time spoke French so I was forced to sit through a lot of related French language content ‘at the water cooler’ LOL

You can look up Mario Pei’s phonology survey from the 1940s to see how French language sounds (along with other romance languages) have been measured as differing from Latin. On the grammar side, I believe an eastern romance language (Moldavian?) still shares all of the declensions of Latin to this day.

The newest theories from the experts are now suggesting that the Celtic languages (Gaelic, Manx, Cornish) probably have Roman/Latin roots as well. This would also explain why the Catholic Church was so successful in converting the Celts to Catholicism, and why the Celts resisted Germanic and Protestant influences so much.

Well, they are on the same side of the Indo-European tree
If you have a link I would be interested in reading more.

When you have time grab a copy of ‘Story of Latin and the Romance Languages’, by Mario Pei. I think you would like it.

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by homenj

I am a Latino from NYC and I would like to know how it is like to be a Latino from LA.

What do you think of police brutality? Do you think it is a big issue among the Latino community?

Do you see Latinos as being like other immigrant groups like the Italians and Irish who assimilated and have become fully American or like African Americans who have been here for hundreds of years and are labeled as the "others?"

Do you feel like Latinos would want to be like the Italians and Irish who had to assimilate even if that means having to lose their culture?

Latinos might be the majority in LA in years to come. What impact do you think this will have on the city, in politics, the culture?

Do you feel discrimination is a big issue among Latinos in LA? in housing, education, jobs, etc.

If you have any other comments on what it is like being Latino in LA, please be free to share.

Thank you.

This is like asking what’s it like to be a Chinese moving to Chinatown?

You’re not going to get the look because you’re Latino. You could choose to hide in the “Latino ghetto”, or you could choose to reach out and be assimilated into this big melting pot we called “America”.