What is it like to be Latino in LA? (San Diego: university, law)

[ABQConvict]

In New Mexico, historically, Anglo meant a person who speaks English regardless of race, analogous with the concept of Hispanic referring to a person who speaks Spanish, regardless of race. I suspect this was the usage across the Hispanic West from Texas to California.

Since the ethno-cultural and racial dynamic in the US has become more complex, the term Anglo, at least in common usage, has simply come to mean 'white person'. Working in the tourism industry, I have even heard my Hispanic and Native American coworkers refer to groups of Germans and Russians as Anglos, which discombobulates me.

I have little significant English ancestry, and despite being the child of immigrants from non-English background, I speak English, was raised in an Anglocentric culture: English language, British nursery rhymes, British authors, British music, British television, British History, etc.

I consider myself a Norwegian-American. I grew up in a house where Norwegian was spoken and read as much, if not more, than English. Most of my domestic cultural customs are Norwegian and I do not consider myself English or British, but I'd be a fool to disclaim being an "Anglo" any more than a Black Dominican would disclaim being Hispanic.

[kttam186290]

Originally Posted by sean1the1

You don't have to say anything your initial p[point was accurate. A Latino is anyone from Latin America that means Haitians as well. They may not identify as such as we associate Latinos with Spanish speaking, but technically they are.

To throw a "wrench" into this topic, I've always wondered if Quebec could be considered "Latin America"?

Nobody, of course, thinks of it that way.

But French is actually much closer to original Latin than Spanish is. The Latin base of French is less eroded because the French are very guarded about protecting their language.

Whereas, Spanish has had lots of Arabic, Hebrew and Germanic influences.

[iron_stick]

Originally Posted by sean1the1

You don't have to say anything your initial p[point was accurate. A Latino is anyone from Latin America that means Haitians as well. They may not identify as such as we associate Latinos with Spanish speaking, but technically they are.

In that case, California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Florida and righteous members of Latin America.

[sean1the1]

Originally Posted by kttam186290

To throw a "wrench" into this topic, I've always wondered if Quebec could be considered "Latin America"?

Nobody, of course, thinks of it that way.

But French is actually much closer to original Latin than Spanish is. The Latin base of French is less eroded because the French are very guarded about protecting their language.

Whereas, Spanish has had lots of Arabic, Hebrew and Germanic influences.

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

[Count David]

The US census only considers Hispanic/Latino people to be from/descended from Spanish-speaking areas/countries.

[damba]

Originally Posted by kttam186290

To throw a "wrench" into this topic, I've always wondered if Quebec could be considered "Latin America"?

Nobody, of course, thinks of it that way.

But French is actually much closer to original Latin than Spanish is. The Latin base of French is less eroded because the French are very guarded about protecting their language.

Whereas, Spanish has had lots of Arabic, Hebrew and Germanic influences.

No, just no. You are mistaken regarding the French language being closer to Latin. In fact, historically, it was in Gaul (part of where France is currently) that you first saw Vulgar latin diverge far enough from Latin that clerics were unable to read classical Latin texts. That was probably around the 8th century.

French actually has *more* influence from Germanic languages because of the Franks, a Germanic tribe that invaded Gaul in the 5th or 6th century (if memory serves). You see a less syllables in French words along with less parts of grammar that no longer exist vs Spanish or Italian.

Although the Iberian peninsula was controlled by a Germanic tribe, the Visigoths, they already spoke a vulgar latin dialect, so a lot less influencial vs the Franks in Gaul. Hebrew did not have a significant influence on Spanish but Arabic (mozarabic) did.

[damba]

Originally Posted by Hiruko

I don't know what to say. Haiti is considered part of Latin America in every source I have ever encountered. The country is part of the Latin American Council. Everything that I have ever read about Haiti and Americans of Haitian descent left me with the impression that significantly more than 10% of Haitians spoke French. I have spoken French with two Haitians in the States, and they were facile à comprendre. No, I have not been around many Haitians, and I have never traveled to Haiti. I still don't see why Haitians shouldn't be considered Latino even if their mother tongue is a creolized French. Anyway, none of this has to do with the OP.

Your definition goes against the one most commonly used. Any LatinX literature does not change that common usage.

Regarding your encounter ‘speaking French’ with a couple of Haitians, they were more likely of the elite more educated variety. If they were speaking creole you might pick up a few phrases but the two are not mutually intelligible.

[80skeys]

Mexicans in California definitely don't want to lose their culture as part of assimilating. There's an element of "us vs others", by that I mean that not only among Mexicans but among us Chicanos, 2nd-, 3rd- generation, there's us and then there's "white people" and the two are regarded as different groups. I imagine it's much the same in NYC, isn't it? Years ago when I lived on the East Coast I worked on a couple occasions with Puerto Ricans from NY and we had a bond being common hispanics, a sort of "us" as being different from the "Anglos" sort of thing, similar to what I experienced growing in in the southwest.

[iron_stick]

Originally Posted by damba

No, just no. You are mistaken regarding the French language being closer to Latin. In fact, historically, it was in Gaul (part of where France is currently) that you first saw Vulgar latin diverge far enough from Latin that clerics were unable to read classical Latin texts. That was probably around the 8th century.

French actually has *more* influence from Germanic languages because of the Franks, a Germanic tribe that invaded Gaul in the 5th or 6th century (if memory serves). You see a less syllables in French words along with less parts of grammar that no longer exist vs Spanish or Italian.

Although the Iberian peninsula was controlled by a Germanic tribe, the Visigoths, they already spoke a vulgar latin dialect, so a lot less influencial vs the Franks in Gaul. Hebrew did not have a significant influence on Spanish but Arabic (mozarabic) did.

French and German are mutually completely unintelligible languages. All romance language are about equally different from Latin. Hand a text written in Latin to a French, a Romanian, a Portuguese, an Italian, and a Spaniard. They'll be able to pick up a few words here and there, but they won't be able to actually grasp the full meaning if their lives depended on it.

[damba]

Originally Posted by iron_stick

French and German are mutually completely unintelligible languages. All romance language are about equally different from Latin. Hand a text written in Latin to a French, a Romanian, a Portuguese, an Italian, and a Spaniard. They'll be able to pick up a few words here and there, but they won't be able to actually grasp the full meaning if their lives depended on it.

We are definitely speaking the same language here, no pun intended