Spanish Words Disguised as English
Long before the hybrid Spanglish came on the scene, the two languages—Spanish and English—were mixing it up in dusty border towns and far-flung tropical locales. Over the years, English has been enriched by the addition of numerous Spanish loan words, some borrowed with virtually no changes while others have been anglicized to a certain extent, […]
The Fate of the Spanish Language in the United States
The Spanish language is putting up a valiant fight. With 52 million Hispanics in the U.S. and the number of Spanish speakers on the rise, it looks as though Spanish is here to stay; however, historically speaking, the United States has earned a reputation as the place where good languages go to die. In the […]
Does Language Shape Our Thought?
The idea that different languages may bestow different cognitive abilities has existed for hundreds of years, but only recently have cognitive researchers gradually uncovered evidence that the language we speak may have an impact on the way we think and process events that take place in the world around us. According to scientists, our understanding […]
Spanglish Spoken Here
Spanglish, the love child born of the relationship between Spanish and English, features a rather inventive mix of the two languages. English words frequently get a “makeover” before being adopted by Spanglish users, with spelling often changed to loosely fit the rules of Spanish. Check out these examples of Spanglish at its finest. Breakfast might […]
English Words that Take on Alter Egos in Spanish
As a non-native speaker of Spanish, it’s a given that certain words will occasionally throw me for a loop during the course of a conversation. What I don’t generally expect is that those words will be from my own language! A number of words such as chequear (to check) and frizar (to freeze) have passed […]
The Meaning of ‘Piola’
Argentine Spanish is strewn with words and colorful phrases from Lunfardo, a rich vocabulary born on the streets ofBuenos Aires in the second half of the 19th century. Now considered a fixture of the Spanish language inArgentina (especially in and aroundBuenos Aires) andUruguay, linguists cite the use of Lunfardo as a defining characteristic of the Rioplatense […]
The Ethics of Translation
Just as professionals such as doctors and lawyers occasionally grapple with ethics, translators and interpreters will likely face a range of ethical dilemmas in the practice of their profession. Certain countries have established codes of conduct that set out guidelines for issues such as quality standards, impartiality, and confidentiality; however, the truly difficult decisions arise […]
Notes on Back-translation
What is back-translation? The process of back-translation consists of translating a previously translated text back into the original language. Ideally, a back-translation should be performed by an independent translator who did not participate in the original translation. The back-translation may then be compared to the original text to check the accuracy of the initial translation. […]
Latinos Spend More Time on Social Media than Other Groups
According to a market research study conducted by BIGinsight in February 2012, U.S. Hispanics spend significantly more time on social media than the average American Internet user. On any given day, 26.8% of Latino users are active on social media sites for upwards of six hours, while just 8.5% of all Internet users spend that […]
Is Spanish a Sexist Language?
It seems that political correctness knows no bounds. With feminist groups and a handful of linguistic scholars leading the charge, so-called “inclusive language” has slowly crept into Spanish in the last few years. In other words, what once passed for perfectly acceptable and grammatically correct Spanish is now labeled machista or sexist, with some academics […]
