Is it okay for someone to speak in spanish alot if they aren’t of hispanic descent?
July 8, 2010 - 12:11 pm
I learned spanish and I want to actually use it, not as like a it’s my first language or anything, but just a bit. I don’t want my family or people I know to be like "Don’t talk in spanish, your not hispanic, your white. I don’t want to seem like a wannabe because I’m not ,it’s just that I think that other languages are fun to learn and speak. What do you guys think?
As long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, do what you want.
July 8th, 2010 at 5:41 pm
As long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, do what you want.
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July 8th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
1st you can speak in any language you want regardless of race. I know many Caucasians who actually were born and raised in MX and speak spanish as a first language just as I know many black people who speak spanish as a 1st language due to dominican/puerto rican descent etc…I know many Caucasians who were raised in the US and then moved to MX and speak spanish on a daily basis. Ppl may think it is strange here in the US that you’d rather speak in spanish or they may think your pronunciation is funny but they wouldn’t really put emphasis on it.
2nd hispanic is not a race, there are white and black hispanics so white ppl do speak spanish everyday!
I am a caucasian and I have been in many situations in TX where I was the one caucasian out of 100 native spanish speakers speaking spanish and they didn’t look at me weird when I chose to speak to my bf in spanish over english. Not even a glance!!Who cares what ppl think anyways? If ppl ever ask you why you prefer to say some things in spanish just tell them that you like to learn languages and practice them when you can.
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July 8th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
I was a kid who wanted to speak Spanish. I’m now a translator/teacher/bilingual therapist. The one other kid in Spanish class who was "really into speaking Spanish" married an Italian (from Italy) and is a bilingual immigration lawyer. Everybody else pretty much stayed home and monolingual. Most people in the world are bilingual or trilingual. Some people in the US still don’t get that they are the exception, and–you’re probably right about it–hearing people speak other languages makes them feel nervous. Perhaps it’s because "wannabe" implies that you are molding your identity or going someplace where they can’t follow. When you get criticized, it will usually be by people who feel antagonist toward hispanics, jealous toward you, or fearful of being excluded. Most of the really worthwhile things we do in life, we do not "thanks to" but "in spite of." I hope that you feel encouraged whether the Spanish you want for yourself is "a lot" or "just a bit."
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