I call it Our American English rather than United States English. Has anyone else noticed the emergence of more and more Spanish into our American English language? I think this is beneficial with our close liaison with Mexico and so many immigrants from other South and Central America. Just as in Europe, French creeps into the British English also. Perhaps the Spanish influence is more frequent here in the southwest through the cuisine, although Tacos and Burritos are popular almost all across the United States.
Even within the United States, different words have slightly different meanings as I mentioned in my blog about the word “soda”. You will have to read my blog on moving to Ohio from Connecticut when I was just a youngster. So hearing the Spanish word “casa” in an American ad for Tequilla is just another example of how recognizable these words are becoming. I once made a door hanger for my small short-term rental home that said “Mi Casa es tu Casa”. When my visiting in-laws from Argentina stayed in that house, they wanted to keep the sign.
When I traveled briefly in Mexico, I was surprised at how easily I was able to translate or understand signs that I saw. The first one was a red octagonal sign on the side of the road with the word “alto”. There was no doubt in my mind that “alto” meant “stop”. However, I had a bit of uncertainty about a sign that I saw that said “auto bano” which according to my translation book meant “automobile (or car) bathroom”. This had me scratching my head a bit until I realized it was a “car wash”!! How fun learning that new phase.
American English with a Foreign Accent
Being able to recognize words and translate them, however, is much easier than trying to understand someone speaking another language. Unfortunately, we are experiencing more and more non-Americans speaking American English with a foreign accent. It seems that more and more people who are doing Customer Service types of jobs are people with these accents. I am very hard of hearing and have trouble sometimes understanding other Americans, so understanding them is extremely difficult for me.
But, to be honest, even people from different regions of the United States can have difficulty communicating. People from Massachusetts, particularly around Boston, have an accent with “A’s”. And people from the south have drawls that make words less recognizable.
Here in the West, words such as “mesa” are commonplace. We may or may not know that “mesa” in Spanish means “table”. We have so many tablelands at the base of the mountains. It is also common for most signs to be displayed in both English and Spanish. Doors marked “Enter” and “Ingresar” or “push” “presionar” or “pull” “tirar”. I’ve also noticed packages for products are marked in both languages. Of course, our ballots are also printed in both languages.
So many, non-American people are bi-lingual, but we Americans are far behind in that talent. I’ve tried to take Spanish lessons, but other than a spattering of words, my ability is very lacking. However, during my Spanish classes, I did see an alarming resurfacing of French which I took way back in high school. I didn’t have a lot of ability to learn that language then either. Therefore, I am really enjoying adding these new Spanish words to my American vocabulary.
Conclusion
I highly respect everyone who is able to communicate well in any language. And I encourage you to add a few new words to your vocabulary when you can.
#language #english #spanish
