Spanish should be the second official language of USA

<<Today, in case you have never been to the occupied parts of Mexico in the USA, these Mexicans, of partly Native American and Spanish blood, are despised and treated like shit.>>

Oh bullshit, J.

Take it from somebody who LIVES in the US Southwest.

And I don't see what you think you're proving by personally insulting Sergio. Did your mother teach you no manners?

450 million Castilian language speakers*

Una pequeña corrección en España son aproximadamente 45 millones de hablantes nativos de Español, no 450.
En el mundo son en total aproximadamente 800 millones de hablantes (nativos y como lengua optativa) del Español

" The Europeans on this board and the American Anglos don't seem to understand why I don't identify with the "white Spanish people", but with Mexicans. "

I would have no difficulties to understand that, since the part of the cultural herency you're proud (such as behaviours or food) of is Mexican but not Spanish.
On the contrary, what I didn't understood is that, in the past weeks, you were claiming to refer yourself as a spanish. Maybe you changed your mind and discoverd that you didn't have much in common with spanish people oputside of the physical appearance.



" its clear that argentinians think they are somewhat european "

For having been there I can confirm that Argentinean are as much (if not more) of European origin than Canadians or USAns.
I personally find that their links to modern Europe are much stronger than with the USA. In Argentina you can find most of European store chains such as carrefour, or European cars such as Fiat, Renault, Seat, Peugeat, Wolkswagen.
A lot of egrentineans still have families in Europe, and a lot of Argentinean live or study in Spain, Italy or France.

"I would have no difficulties to understand that, since the part of the cultural herency you're proud (such as behaviours or food) of is Mexican but not Spanish.
On the contrary, what I didn't understood is that, in the past weeks, you were claiming to refer yourself as a spanish. Maybe you changed your mind and discoverd that you didn't have much in common with spanish people oputside of the physical appearance. "

I said I was "Spanish", in the sense that that is my ethnic origin. I am of Spanish descent. In that sense, I identify with the Spaniards. But my family is from Mexico, and we are part of that culture, with ties to that land. And I consider criollos to be just as Mexican as the indios of Chiapas or Oaxaca. Criollos helped shape the culture of Mexico, and it was the Criollos, who pushed for independence from Spanish tyrrany. I identify with the Spaniards in terms of my ancestry, and as the cradle of Hispano-American culture and language, but I'm still a Mexican. As a young child, my mother told me stories of the "weeping woman". We grind in the molcajete. We eat mole, beans, salsa, tacos, enchiladas, tostadas, calabazas, etc. These are aspects of our native cultural heritage which we do not share with Spain. Our cultures' are very similar in many respects, yes. But they are also different. One country is in the Western Hemisphere, and the other is in Europe. It is similar to the difference between the U.S. or Canada, and Britain, or the difference between Quebec and France.

One country is in the Western Hemisphere, and the other is in Europe. It is similar to the difference between the U.S. or Canada, and Britain, or the difference between Quebec and France.

Ojala y Québec logre su independencia pronto. Seria genial ver un pais totalmente Francófono en Norteamérica.

<<Ojala y Québec logre su independencia pronto. Seria genial ver un pais totalmente Francófono en Norteamérica>>

La verdad Sigma no le veo mucho sentido separar un pais unido desde hace tanto tiempo solo por un lenguaje.

im canadian and seriously if quebec becomes independent canadas economy and wealth is going to go down, where talking about the second largest province, the major electric power province in canada.

I've seen Mexican-Americans use "Spanish" and "Mexican" interchangeably before. It's pretty common around here. It's more like "Spanish" becomes a vague term that doesn't specifically mean the European country of Spain, but more the language. People will say that they're going to the "Spanish" bar to hear "Spanish" music and "dance Spanish", when they're really going to the bar that happens to cater to a specifically hispanic clientele to listen to tejano and ranchera and dance cumbias all night.

Uriel wrote:

<< I've seen Mexican-Americans use "Spanish" and "Mexican" interchangeably before.>>

I used to work with a woman with Mexican and Nicaraguan ancestry (2nd generation US-American) who was born in Hawaii and grew up in San Francisco. She could understand Spanish a bit but didn't speak it at all. When talking about Mexican or Latino culture and food, she usually called it "Spanish".

this misunderstanding is also present in latin america were we consider ourselves LATIN, WERE THE ITALIANS ARE AGAINST WITH BECAUSE THEY ARE THE LATIN

This is very common, to call anything related to hispanic culture "Spanish". Americans are definiltely not the only perpetrators here. I believe this arose from many hispanic people saying it themselves. In Miami among the Cubans it is the same.

Maybe it's a little like the way other countries use "anglo-saxon".

" I've seen Mexican-Americans use "Spanish" and "Mexican" interchangeably before. It's pretty common around here. It's more like "Spanish" becomes a vague term that doesn't specifically mean the European country of Spain, but more the language. "

Yes, I think it tend to spread a wrong image of Spain around the world. I've met a few years ago a group of tailandese people, we were with a Spanish guy speaking about the musics we love; The thai girls were saying "We love the music and dance of your country". The Spanish guy was surprised they would know spanish music but rapidely discover that they were thinking about things such as Salsa or Hispano-American pop music and not about spanish music.



" Maybe it's a little like the way other countries use "anglo-saxon". "

Yes, but a bit different; The equivalent of "Anglos-saxon" would be hispanic, but not "Spanish". As hispanic is a broad term to speak about Spanish-based countries, "Anglo-saxon" is a broad term to include all english-based societies, but it is used to describe only what is common between all these anglophone countries. It is different to use the word "spanish" to describes things (caribean dances and musics or Mexican foods) which are things absolutely not related with Spain, but with African or Amerindian origins. Calling Salsa "Spanish music" or tacos "spanish food" is as a nonsence as calling jazz "English music".

Well, fab, people aren't always strictly accurate in their use of various terms. I'm just explaining how "Spanish" gets used sometimes. It doesn't always actually refer to the country of Spain.

It's a bit like all these discussions we've had about the use and misuse of Anglo-Saxon -- after a while, you're just like, Okay, so that's what it means to THEM -- let's move on, now.

< Calling Salsa "Spanish music" or tacos "spanish food" is as a nonsence as calling jazz "English music". >

In India, a lot of people refer to American movies as "English" movies, to differentiate from Hindi movies. Sometimes it all just depends on the context.

Also -- regarding Costa Rica being mostly white Spanish -- when my wife and I visited there, we went into small town areas and saw a lot of brown, indigenous-looking people; in fact most people looked "Indian" to some degree. Of course they all had Spanish names and they all seemed to prefer to claim full Spanish ancestry -- even as they are sitting there selling you a traditional indigenous ceramic pot that they made by hand, using methods passed down through generations... Whatever their background, it's just more desirable for them to consider themselves Spanish.

So in America (the Americas), "Spanish" can mean a lot of things.