Latinos and English

I'm not Latin, but I speak Spanish. I probably speak it better than many güeros, but not as well as I should considering the amount of Spanish-language instruction I've had. Whatever the case, I know enough to admire the language and the various cultures in which it's used.

That being said, I am firmly of the opinion that anyone coming to this country ought to use English as the language for all official transactions. Anything involving government -- whether it be voting, getting a driver's license or buying real property -- should be done in English. Catering to every language group is not only senseless, it's expensive.

Many immigrants have arrived in America and struggled to learn English. Heavy accents and fractured syntax were to be expected, but it allowed the new citizens to blend in.

Nowadays, Latinos complain that by forcing them to learn English, whites are robbing them of their heritage. Nothing could be further from the truth. Latinos are ruining their own linguistic heritage in this country.

Neologismos or anglicismos are Spanish words that are made to look like and sound like English words. These are often words that are rooted in English and made to look or sound Spanish by putting different endings on them. One false neologismo is problemo; the correct word that already exists is the cognate problema. But this is a word that Americans make up to try to sound Spanish; Latins make up words that sound more sophisticated but in fact are just as ridiculous.

For example, the verb to park is, correctly in Spanish, estacionarse. Latins now parquear. To lunch is, properly, almorzar; now, it's lonchear. To apply for a job or a position is solicitar, not aplicar (which means, correctly to apply something to another thing, such as apply paste to wallpaper. To sweep is barrer, not brumar, which was laughably taken from broom. There are countless other examples of how Latins are ruining their own language without any help from Americans.

What makes the argument even more ludicrous is that Latin American countries do not do likewise for Americans, putting everything in English simply because the American has chosen to live there. Yet, were these Americans asked whether having to learn Spanish meant that they were being robbed of their culture, few if any would agree that by having to learn the language of the country in which they had chosen to live were they losing their American identity. If anything, they would admit that they were gaining another culture to add to their own.

Other ethnic groups have survived the imposition of English. Latins will do the same. It's time for them to quit being sissies and learn English.

(c) 2012 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles