2.Definition and the real meaning of Spanglish

When hearing the term “Spanglish”, most people would guess it is a kind of “faulty English” (like “Czenglish”, “Franglais” etc.) – a term to specify common mistakes Spanish natives make when speaking/writing English (either because of the lack of knowledge or because of “projecting” Spanish grammar into English). However, mistakes made by Spanish-speaking natives are not the major meaning Spanglish has.

According to many Hispanic people living in the USA, for example the author of the book “Living in Spanglish” Ed Morales, Spanglish is a wide term including not only the mingling of Spanish with English. It also includes Spanish culture (or better said Hispanic or Latino culture) brought to the “Unaited Esteits” (as the Spanglish speaker would say) by immigrants, which is no longer “pure” and “clear” as it was at the time they first came to their new home country. It has absorbed many characteristic features of the culture of their new homeland and so in the present time it is neither entirely a Spanish, nor American way of life they are living. They are living Spanglish lives. (Morales 2002: 25)

It means, Spanglish includes language, music, the way people dress, cuisine etc. It is obvious that the most important and the most significant feature is language. However, in my opinion, Spanglish should be viewed as a complex, as a life style, which cannot be divided “into pieces”.

In my point of view, Spanglish could be characterized as “the life on the borders” or “the life between two worlds”. People living in a Spanglish atmosphere do not really belong to either of the two worlds, or to the two countries they are connected with.

As Ed Morales in his book suggests, Spanglish is “something birthed out of necessity.” (Morales 2002: 25). He adds “There is a need for Latinos to assimilate in the U.S., but we have always searched for a way to do that without losing what we are.” (Morales 2002: 25). I think this is the exact definition of what Spanglish really is. The Latino immigrants are forced to assimilate (to speak English at schools, to live according to the American tradition etc.), on the other hand they are excluded from it – they usually get low-paid jobs, they are taken as lower class and so they obviously cannot feel comfortable being in such a position. As a result of this, they try to bring at least a bit of their “Latino-ness” to their current lives.

Spanglish is usually used by the second (and higher) generation of immigrants, because they do not feel such a strong tie to the country of their origin (as their parents do), still they do not feel entirely American (because of the racism, law restrictions and living in Latino communities etc.). Ed Morales defines a term “Spanglish syndrome” which means that those people are “too foreign for America and too American for the folks at home.” (Morales 2002: 41). Those are the conditions which led to the creation of Spanglish – the sense of discomfort, of not belonging anywhere and the need to create their own world and a culture which would fit the description of their bipolarity.

A nice definition of Spanglish as a language is given by Morales when he states that Spanglish is actually “Spanish adopting the crazy rhythms of English.” (Morales 2002: 6).