The Spanish language term latino (’Latino‘) has been used and abused for quite a while. Words like these can become widely popular and used very frequently, in most cases without the users making a little effort to find out about the true nature of such terms.
The word latino is used in Spanish as a short form of latinoamericano - a Latin American - i.e. a person from a Latin American country. Thus, in Spanish the term is used in a correct manner. However, the usage of this term in English is incorrect as there is a proper translation for the word latino into this language: Latin. In any case whenever there is a need to refer to the people from Latin America is more appropriate to name them by their own nationalities: Mexican, Brazilian, Chilean, Costa Rican, etc, or collectively as Latin Americans.
The term Latin American is appropriately used for distinguishing the people from the New World as not coming from Anglo America. The term is properly used to relate to this cultural aspect. Latin American is a term that has come to mean someone who is non Anglo American, and is therefore quite appropriately used to cover anyone who comes from a Latin American country independently of what language they speak.
Referring to Spanish speaking people from Spanish speaking countries of Latin America as ‘Hispanics’ is not only wrong and inappropriate - it hardly means anything at all - it’s better to use always the term Latin American as it’s more meaningful and culturally appropriate.
The term Latino - as used quite often in English and applied to language or people - is wrong, inappropriate and lacking in real meaning and because of this, its usage should be avoided.
Labeling any perceived type of language as ‘Latino Spanish’ or even Latin Spanish doesn’t mean anything, as the name for the Spanish from the New World is American Spanish. Misleading labels lack academic validity. Thus the name American Spanish must be used when referring to the varieties of this language as coming from the American continent.
Filed under: Culture, Education, Language, Spanish, Spanish Language Learning, etymology
This is a very interesting topic and controversial at that.
The word Hispanic, widely used in the USA to label the people of Latin American descent, is wrongly used. Strictly speaking, Hispanic means Spanish and it should only be applied to people from Spain.
So, to call our language “Hispanic American Spanish” is redundant. I prefer the term Latin American Spanish. Hispanic= Spanish
The use of the term ¨Hispanic Americans¨ to refer to the speakers of Spanish in the American continent is also controversial, as is the term ¨Latin Americans¨ Both terms completely ignore the original cultures of the continent. They are terms that perpetuate the dominance of the conquering culture: Spanish or Hispanic.
We are not all purely “Hispanic”, we are also African, Inca, Maya, European, etc. Let’s remember that America is a term invented by Europeans, an as such it does not represent the original cultures. Pre-Hispanic people called this continent, the Avia Yala.
So, if we are looking for a term to refer to Latin American Spanish, it should be Avia Yalan Spanish.
I agree, rather than using “latino” or “hispano” we should use Mexican, Peruvian, or what ever nationality we are from. We should also become more aware of the terms used by original cultures to refer to their nations or ethnic groups: Quiche, Mizteca, Tehuelche, Mapuche, Aymara and NEVER indio or indigena or aborigen.
As a Filipino my perception of the word Latino Americano has something to do with ‘Hispanic’ which is also associated with Roman Catholicism that is based in Rome.
The Philippine was more than 400 years under Spanish rule. The “only Christian country in Asia”. Culture is rich in Hispanic. (but malayan-Filipinos were called indios)