The Spanish Language in the US- Taboos and Complexes.

I remember when back in the 80ies I was fascinated by foreign languages
so I decided to learn a few. Spanish was my first choice as it was
spoken all around me. So, I bought a book titled "Spanish in 22 easy
lessons" or something like that.

Spanish to me was the language of Cervantes , Garcia Lorca and Julio
Iglesias. It is the language of 300,000,000 plus people around the
world.

The introduction in the book promised something of this sort: "An
American who speaks Spanish will have an exciting future, and will be
able to choose from many lucrative jobs".

I took many classes and then tried to practice my Spanish on the
streets of New York. The problem was this, though: I would begin
speaking Spanish, and the people would answer in English. With a
sarcastic smile and a sulk. Again, I would speak Spanish, and the
people would again answer in English. Once I decided to go to a Spanish
language movie theater, but as I was buying a ticket at the booth, the
cashier looked at me strangely and warned me: "This movie is in
Spanish!" (probably meaning: "What are you doing here?"). I
said," That is why I am here". Once inside of the movie theater, I
tried to buy some popcorn, and ordered in Spanish again, and the lady
at the counter avoided all eye contact with me and kept sulking as she
was filling the tall popcorn cup. I felt like I was intruding. The
message seemed to be: "This is our territory. Why are you here?"

It was not until I went to Puerto Rico to study where most people began
speaking Spanish to me, expected me to learn it and become fluent in
it. However, the New York experience taught me something valuable: some
people in the US feel offended if you try to speak "their" language
as they see it as an affront to their culture and an infringement on
something that is sacred to them. It was a bit of a shock for me.

However, after some two years of extensive study and having read a
great deal of books in Spanish, I was becoming a virtually native
Spanish speaker. It was a pity, though that I had to be in Puerto Rico
to become fluent in it while there were so many Spanish speakers in the
continental US. Too bad they were not too friendly.

But even in Puerto Rico I had some strange encounters. Once I was
standing in line at a local supermarket when a middle aged man began
talking to me. He was speaking to me in English and then, he pointed to
a small TV magazine near the cash register. "You can't read
this!" he said proudly in English. Never mind that I was finishing my
courses in Educational Philosophy and Political Science at the
University of Puerto Rico with Spanish being the medium of instruction.
To him, I was just another Gringo who could not even read a small TV
guide in Spanish. Again, I did not look Latino, so how could I read in
Spanish?

My next language was French, but since I was not in the financial shape
to go to France, I went to Quebec to study it. In the French part of
Canada I was in for a big surprise- when people learned that I could
speak Spanish, they would tell me that I was lucky and look upon me
like I was a member of the educated classes. French Canadians think of
the Spanish language as a status symbol, and many try to learn it to
improve their social standing. It was there where I would have college
graduates sit with me and talk to me in Spanish to show off how
'refined' they were.

Not only that. While watching Quebecois soap operas, I became aware of
the fact that whenever there was a "romantic foreigner" in them
(soap operas around the world love to have one), it would invariably be
a handsome Spaniard who was speaking French with a Spanish accent. The
Quebec ladies would sit in front of the screen saying: "Aaah" and
"Oooh" while telling me how good-looking and sophisticated that
Spaniard was.

However, back in the US, the status of Spanish was not quite as
glamorous. When I told people about how romantic the French speakers up
north thought the Spanish language was, the answer I received was:
"There is nothing romantic about standing in welfare lines".

In other words, in many parts of the US, the Spanish language is
associated not with Cervantes or Garcia Lorca, not with the great
European country- Spain, but with poverty, welfare, and illegal
"non-white" immigration. Outside of Antonio Banderas, virtually no
Spanish speaking person would be seen as "romantic" in America.

While I was trying to learn Spanish, many Spanish speakers in the US
were either trying to learn English or only speak Spanish discreetly to
other people who looked like them- meaning, like Latin American
"mestizo" types. On the East Coast, when people said, "He is
Spanish"; they would often add the words: "He looks dark". And
it was seen by quite a few people as a bit of a taboo to learn Spanish
as one would be associated with the poor classes of "dark" Hispanic
workers.

When I finally graduated from college, I did manage to get bilingual
jobs, but they were not as glamorous as the book promised. Mostly, they
were social service jobs or receptionist jobs and I was only making
some $1600 a month. Within the working environment, people did speak
Spanish to me, finally. However, I was now on the West Coast, and most
people I was working with were recent immigrants from Mexico who still
had not acquired the "wounded pride" syndrome that the Spanish
speakers on the East Coast so often develop.

However, in the eyes of the general population, Spanish was the
language of 'brown" (often illegal) people, while English was the
language of white and black people. Socially, there continued to be a
cautious and often mocking reaction when I tried to speak Spanish to
many US-born Hispanics. And again, they would answer to me in English
as if meaning to say: "Do not infringe! This is 'our'
language!"

There are very few Spaniards living in the US, so the association of
Spanish (and illegal status) with the "brown" ethnicity is very
strong. One Spanish lady (who was from Spain and was in the country
illegally) has told me an interesting story:

She was riding on a train in California when the Immigration agents
stormed her car looking for illegals. She was sitting next to three
Mexicans. The Mexicans were approached by the "Migra" operatives,
arrested and pulled off the train. The INS people, however, gave the
lady a friendly look, and did not even check her documents. They did
not try to check whether she spoke English or Spanish or had an accent.
She was an "American" in their eyes even though she was also
another illegal Spanish speaker. Why? Well, she looked European, just
like most Spaniards do. How could she be an illegal Hispanic immigrant?


No wonder that members of the "mestizo" ethnicities in the US as
well as non-Spanish US persons would see a person like myself as
another non-Spanish speaker, and consider the fact that I speak Spanish
as something strange and even an affront to their "national
dignity". Spanish is the language of Latinos, not people like me.


On a recent trip to Argentina and Uruguay I saw something very
refreshing: These were two immigrant countries where a similar to the
US melting pot was brewing. Every possible race and nationality could
be found in Montevideo and Buenos Aires. I saw Poles, Ghanaians,
Germans, Italians, Ukrainians, Chinese, Japanese, and of course,
Spaniards. There was no question about what was uniting all these
diverse races and ethnicities into the Argentinean or Uruguayan
nationality: it was the Spanish language. Everybody talked to me in
Spanish (of course!) and everybody talked Spanish to each other. There
was no how-dare-you!-you-are-not-a- Latino type attitude. I saw
Spanish-speaking Scandinavians, Spanish-speaking people with names like
Norman Tracey and even Spanish-speaking Rastafarians. How about Spanish
speaking Hassidic Jews? That was a sight to behold. I was finally able
to be my Spanish-speaking self without having to cringe in the
expectation of another sulky look with pouted lips and an answer back
in English.

The Spanish language in the US definitely has a strange status and even
a stigma attached to it. It is usually not seen as a language that will
give one a truly good future and a lot of money. It is also not
associated with Spain which is its true motherland or the Spaniards of
whom there are very few in the US, but is instead seen as a tongue of
poor non-white immigrant classes from the Third World.

Many Hispanic groups in the US adopt the Spanish language as a symbol
of their "national"/ethnic identity" in opposition to what they
see as an imperialistic oppression of their culture by "white"
people. Never mind that Spaniards are also "white people" - there
are not enough of them in the US to make a valid point that they are
the ones to whom this language truly belongs, so the cultural conflict
involves two groups- white "John Smiths" ( the Anglos), and
"brown" "mestizo" Jose Rodriguezes ( the Latinos). If someone
is "white", he is presumed to be an Anglo and often "denied"
the right to speak Spanish by the Latino nationalistic types who quite
often start smirking and looking down their noses at him/her whenever
he/she speaks Spanish.

During recent demonstrations in California, there were groups that were
asserting their right to be in the US by referring back to the fact
that their Aztec ancestors had been there before the arrival of the
Gringos but also, using the Spanish language as a source of pride in
that heritage. However, Spanish is a European colonial tongue, just
like English is. If the emphasis was on the Indian heritage, maybe they
should have revived the Aztec language and use that as something to
unite them. However, it is Spanish again that is being used as a
unifying force for the Mestizo population in the US.

Facing all these problems, there are quite a few people who simply like
the Spanish language, want to learn it and speak it. However, there are
so many complexes attached to it that they sometimes make speaking it a
very difficult undertaking.

It is a pity. Therefore, if I really want to speak Spanish and be in a
friendly, Spanish speaking environment, I have to do so outside of the
US. I could do it in the US, but I really do not feel like seeing
another suspicious flash of the eyes, a puffed up chest, or a chin
raised in defiance followed by a curt answer in English. All I am
trying to do is speak the language of Cervantes, for Heaven's sake!
Why don't you guys give me a break?

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