Today, I came across a very interesting article in SunSentinel.com about the quality of the Spanish spoken in Florida. I agree with the article and I am concerned about the consequences.
As a Spaniard and educator who came to Florida four years ago, I have experienced first hand the deterioration of the Spanish language. One of the reasons may be the great influence English has over Spanish, specially in the U.S. Spanish speakers have become a little "lazy" when using the language correctly and continously introduce English words in their Spanish speech.
The term Spanglish, which refers to a blend of Spanish and English in the speech of people who speak parts of two languages, has become very popular. The consequences of its practice are very worrying and the issue must be addressed if we want the language to be respected and used correctly at home, in business, culture and politics.
Words like "parquear" (=to park), "actualmente" (= actually), "introducir" (=to introduce), "carpeta" (= carpet), "puchar" (= to push) are a few examples that show the destruction of the language.
Spanish is a very rich langauge. Let's use it, let's be original, let's not imitate!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Mistakes everywhere...
The world is full of grammar mistakes...in any language.
Recently, a few middle school students in Spain came up with a brilliant idea:
They have created a blog where they post all the Spanish grammar mistakes they find anywhere. Anyone can participate and add content to the blog.
As an example, take a look at this movie cover from the film: "Eternal Sunshine" . It was translated into Spanish as "Olvídate de mí", but someone forgot that "mi" has an accent and it is spelled correctly "mí".
Recently, a few middle school students in Spain came up with a brilliant idea:
They have created a blog where they post all the Spanish grammar mistakes they find anywhere. Anyone can participate and add content to the blog.
As an example, take a look at this movie cover from the film: "Eternal Sunshine" . It was translated into Spanish as "Olvídate de mí", but someone forgot that "mi" has an accent and it is spelled correctly "mí".
Teachers, marketers and anyone who uses the language as a tool to teach, convince or influence people should be careful to use it carefully and correctly without overlooking any details. The content is as important as the way in which we communicate.
This student's initiative is a way to teach and encourage people to be more rigorous with the use of any language, since it is a treasure we should take care of instead of undermine or destroy.
Take a look at some of these mistakes:
http://ladiacritica.blogspot.com/
http://ladiacritica.blogspot.com/
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