• Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen

latinopia.com

Latino arts, history and culture

  • Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen
You are here: Home / Blogs / THINKING LATINA with SARA INÉS CALDERÓN 10.27.12

THINKING LATINA with SARA INÉS CALDERÓN 10.27.12

October 27, 2012 by Tia Tenopia

Why Speaking Spanglish Is Important To Me.

I find it very difficult in my personal life to complete a conversation without wanting to switch to Spanish, or to English, depending on which language I happen to be speaking at the time. I have run into people either from Latin America or the U.S., who have very strong beliefs that only one language or another should be spoken at any given time to preserve some sort of dignity or formality of the languages themselves. The problem I have with that thought is that it doesn’t really mirror the way that language functions in our daily life.
I feel that the way I use language reflects the way I live my life: in a constant state of transition between worlds. For me, speaking just one language at a time limits how I can express my human experience, censors the manner in which I can share with others the feeling of never fully having footing in either world.
The truth is, although I do speak Spanish with some fluency, I am English dominant. What ends up happening, though, is that when speaking in English I come up against the barriers this language has in for describing culturally relevant emotions and occurrences that I experience— despite my language preference.
So what do you get when you throw a Mexican American woman into an English dominant world that often flusters her cultural expectations for life? An avid Spanglish speaker.
As far as I’m concerned, Spanglish is an art form. You simply do not mix words together willy nilly and then call yourself a Spanglish aficionado. No. It is much more complex than that. There’s always a rhyme or a reason, whether it’s for logical purposes — like the word “chiflado” not existing in English, emotional ones — “mamita” is so much more tender than “babe,” or practical ones — there’s no word for “tamales” in English. Which is to say, if you live a bicultural life, it make sense this would be reflected by the way you use words, or language.
So, despite confusion or the admonishment of language purists, I’m proud to be a Spanglish speaker. I hope that, as time goes on, I continue to explore the worlds of Spanglish and the emotional and experiential journeys it takes me on. But, I would never hope to be fluent in Spanglish — since that would defeat the point.

 

Copyright 2012 by Sara Inés Calderón. This blog weas previously published on May 25, 2012.

Filed Under: Blogs, Sara Ines Calderon

BURUNDANGA BORICUA 8.01.25 DAY OF THE INVASION AND OF THE CONSTITUTION

August 1, 2025 By wpengine

July 25: Day of the Invasion and of the Constitution July 25 is an important date for Puerto Ricans who pay some attention to political and ideological matters. I don’t pretend to be all of them and I even wonder if there are really so many. This coincidence gives us the extraordinary uniqueness of being […]

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 8.01.25 MARGARET GARCIA PORTRAIT ARTIST AND MURALIST

August 1, 2025 By wpengine

Latina Portrait Artist and Muralist Margaret Garcia: Visual Narrator of Los Angeles History I returned to the fabulous art studio of Margaret Garcia in late July of 2025, joined by famed Chicano film producer Jesús Salvador Treviño and my Substack editor Dr. Harriett Romo, for an exclusive interview with the prominent and talented Chicana artist. […]

BURUNDANGA BORICUA 8.01.25 EL DIA DE LA INVASIÓN Y CONSTITUCIÓN

August 1, 2025 By wpengine

Burundanga de Zocotroco José M. Umpierre 25 de julio: El Dia de la Invasión y Constitución El 25 de julio es una  fecha importante para los puertorriqueños que prestan alguna atención a los asunto politicos e ideológicos, no pretendo sean todos y hasta me pregunto si somos muchos. La coincidencia nos otorga la extraordinaria singularidad […]

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 7.17.25 ART “QUINCEANERA” AT THE BORDERLANDS

July 17, 2025 By wpengine

An Art “Quinceanera” in the Borderlands. An exhibition featuring large prints by a talented cohort of borderland artists opened last week  [July 12, 2025] at the Centro Cultural Aztlan in San Antonio, Texas.  The Centro press release described the exhibit as a prime example of community artists engaging “in the deeply rooted democratic art form of […]

More Posts from this Category

New On Latinopia

LATINOPIA ART SONIA ROMERO 2

By Tia Tenopia on October 20, 2013

Sonia Romero is a graphic artist,muralist and print maker. In this second profile on Sonia and her work, Latinopia explores Sonia’s public murals, in particular the “Urban Oasis” mural at the MacArthur Park Metro Station in Los Angeles, California.

Category: Art, LATINOPIA ART

LATINOPIA WORD JOSÉ MONTOYA “PACHUCO PORTFOLIO”

By Tia Tenopia on June 12, 2011

José Montoya is a renowned poet, artist and activist who has been in the forefront of the Chicano art movement. One of his most celebrated poems is titled “Pachuco Portfolio” which pays homage to the iconic and enduring character of El Pachuco, the 1940s  Mexican American youth who dressed in the stylish Zoot Suit.

Category: LATINOPIA WORD, Literature

LATINOPIA WORD XOCHITL JULISA BERMEJO “OUR LADY OF THE WATER GALLONS”

By Tia Tenopia on May 26, 2013

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is a poet and teacher from Asuza, California. She volunteered with No More Deaths, a humanitarian organization providing water bottles in the Arizona desert where immigrants crossing from Mexico often die of exposure. She read her poem, “Our Lady of the Water Gallons” at a Mental Cocido (Mental Stew) gathering of Latino authors […]

Category: LATINOPIA WORD, Literature

© 2025 latinopia.com · Pin It - Genesis - WordPress · Admin