Spanglish in Spain = Ingañol en España

The words Spanglish and Ingañol do not appear in the dictionary of the Real Academia Española (The Royal Academy of Spanish or R.A.E.) Neither do espanglish, espanglés, espangleis or espanglis. However, the phenomenon is alive and well in Spain. A good example here in Barcelona is the name of the local bike sharing program: 'Bicing,' a merger of the Spanish word 'bicicleta' with the English suffix -ing. In fact, several -ing words have been integrated into everyday Spanish.

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For example, it is common to see “Se alquila plaza de parking” (Parking Space for rent) on signs outside apartment complexes and garages. I've often heard people say something like, “He dejado el coche en el parking.” (I left the car in the parking lot.) The verb 'to park' has even been adapted as 'aparcar,' as in, “Voy a aparcar el coche.” (I'm going to park the car.) I also hear Latin Americans who live here use the verb 'parquear'.

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Then there's jogging – not the word, but the action – which is referred to as 'hacer footing,' sometimes spelled 'futin'. Other exercise related words one can hear at the local gym include 'spinning,' 'stretching' and 'stepping.' As for outdoor activities, white water rafting is shortened to 'rafting,' while windsurfing remains, 'windsurfing.' Interestingly, bungee jumping is 'puenting' in Spanish, because it usually involves jumping off a bridge (puente). Ping-pong, or table-tennis, is 'pimpón' and platform tennis, or paddle tennis, is simply 'pádel.' A campground is 'un camping.' When it comes to staying in shape through cosmetics or plastic surgery, one hears Spaniards speak of 'liftin' for face lift, and 'peeling' for, a facial peeling.

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These last two words illustrate an interesting phenomenon with -ing endings: sometimes the 'g' is dropped in the Spanish spelling, with the resulting pronunciation rhyming with Halloween. Therefore, the Spanish word 'liftin' is pronounced 'lift-een.' Two other examples of this difference are the words feeling and meeting. The other day I read an article in El País about two politicians who had a lot of 'feeling' at a recent 'metin.' In Spanish the word feeling means something like, “positive regard, mutual admiration, affinity, appreciation,” whereas 'metin' means a political meeting or gathering.

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Words for social problems are sometimes taken directly from English, as in mobbing and bullying. The meanings of these two words are exactly the same in Spanish as in English.

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When it comes to automobiles one hears words like 'tuning,' which we call car tuning – personalizing or customizing a car to improve its performance, handling and look –, and 'Airbag' for, guess what – airbag!

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Then there is Cyber-Spanglish: cookie, software and hardware are the same in English and Spanish; 'un mail' is much more common than 'un electrocorreo'; surf and access have resulted in the new Spanish verbs, 'surfear' and 'accesar' – although you are just as likely to see navegar instead of 'surfear' and acceder rather than 'accesar'. I also occasionally hear 'chequear' which comes from “to check”, and is a synonym for 'verificar' (to verify) and 'revisar' (to revise or to check).

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Many new Internet related words have not been accepted by the R.A.E., but one that has is “chatear” for chat, even though there was already a perfectly good Spanish word meaning the same thing: charlar. Other examples of Cyber-Spanglish are:

• nick – a username or nickname
• blog or blogillo – blog
• escáner – scanner
• hacker – hacker
• hackear – hack
• phising – phishing
• clic – click, as in 'haga click aqui' = click here

Another area with contributions to Spanglish is advertising: words like 'un spot' for a TV commercial or 'eslogan' for slogan, as well as whole phrases like, “just do it” and “think different,” are familiar to Spaniards. Then there is Vueling, the low-cost airline with a Spanglish name meaning 'flying' and publicity campaigns that are mitad English, half Español. Here are only a few of the many phrases Vueling has used in its advertising:

• La no problem airline
• Por only €25
• Principales airports
• Vuela from €10 todo included
• Very new aviones
• Compring en www.vueling.com

Of course, advertising and the Internet are only two segments of the larger realm of media – entertainment, cinema, books, music, etc. – and today's globalized media plays an important role in the development and use of Spanglish, whether it's through magazine adverts, or movies that are filmed in Spanish and English (e.g., Traffic, Babel), or material generated for fans of movies stars and singers around the world. Which reminds me, fan clubs are known as 'clubs de fans' in Spanish. A few other Spanglish words that fall under the giant “media” umbrella are:

• standars – 'standards' in the sense of certain vintage American pop or jazz songs
• flash – paparazzi
• reality, or reality show – reality show
• gogó – dancer in a club
• chillout – chillout
• rocanrol – rock and roll
• road movie – road movie
• casting - casting
• best-seller – yep, you guessed it: best-seller!

Spanglish words in the areas of clothing and fashion include:

• esmoquin or smoking – a tuxedo or dinner jacket
• jersey (the 'j' is pronounced as a 'y') – a sweater or pullover
• slip (pronounced 'sleep') – mens briefs
• piercing – a body piercing
• top, or top-model, or supermodelo – supermodel
• fashión – fashionable (although the truly Spanish de moda seems more common)

From business and finance we find:

• bum – boom (pronounced the same as the English word)
• consulting – consultancy
• holding – holding company

And here are a few miscellaneous Spanglish-isms:

• fliparse – flip out, go crazy, go wild
• flirtear – flirt
• gai, or gay – gay
• ranquín – ranking
• zum – zoom
• alto standing – upscale, luxurious, top quality
• medio standing – mid-scale, or mid-level, in terms of price and quality
• vip – a V.I.P. (pronounced as one word that sounds like “beep”)
• pudín – a type of rice pudding
• water or vater or wc – toilet
• baipas – by-pass
• yonqui – junkie
• friki – offbeat person, or geek

How far will it all go? Well, the Madrid based website Cuadernos Cervantes has translated the first chapter of Don Quijote into Spanglish! Haga clic on the previous link to chequear it out.

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Hasta later amig@s,

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Carloz

R.A.E. -- The Royal Academy of English?

No, there is no such thing. But there is a Real Academia Española, or as it is more commonly referred to, the R.A.E. Aside from publishing dictionaries and engaging in academic work, the R.A.E. functions as the official regulator of the Spanish language worldwide. It does much of this work in collaboration with the other 20 national academies that belong to the Association of Spanish Language Academies.
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It may come as a surprise to many native English speakers that such an organization exists and some may not see the need for it. On the other hand, judging from my students reactions when I tell them there is no similar organization regulating the English language, many Spanish speakers find the lack of a regulatory body for the English language hard to believe.
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Indeed, some students have told me that they had assumed that Cambridge is the regulator of the English Language. (Sorry Oxford.) This is obviously because Cambridge ESOL, a non-profit department of the University of Cambridge, produces what are probably the most popular English level examinations in Europe, if not the world: First Certificate, Advanced Certificate, BULATS, etc. (Sorry, TOEFL and TOEIC.)
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After learning that English has no final arbiter, some of my students say that this lack of regulation must explain many of the inconsistencies of the language. Maybe, maybe not... I usually counter with my view that one of the reasons English is so dynamic a language is that it is not regulated by an Academy. I also suggest to them that perhaps the absence of an official regulating body has actually contributed to the development of English into the lingua franca of our time.
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Regardless of all that, the fact is that most other major languages have an official organization that sets the rules, arbitrates disputes, etc. Indeed, the R.A.E. was modelled after two older entities: the Italian Accademia della Crusca, created in 1582, and the French Académie française, which dates from 1635. (For what seems like a pretty extensive list of official bodies that regulate languages around the world, click here.)
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I've heard that part of the mission of the R.A.E. is to assure that Spanish speakers will always be able to read Cervantes. I don't know if that's true, and if it is, whether or not the R.A.E. has been successful at that, but a visit to the R.A.E. web-site's "Brief History" page sheds some light on the organization's origins and aims. Here is my translation of what I found there:
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"The Royal Spanish Academy was founded in 1713 by Juan Manuel Fernández Pacheco, marquis of Villena. King Phillip V approved its constitution on October 3, 1714 and placed it under his 'shelter and royal protection.'
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"Its purpose was 'to establish the sounds and vocabulary of the Spanish language with propriety, elegance, and purity.' This aim is symbolized by its emblem, which consists of a fiery crucible and the motto 'Cleanse, establish and give splendor,' which is faithful to the stated purpose of fighting against anything that changes the language's elegance and purity, and maintaining it in the state of fullness reached in the XVI century.
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"The institution has been adapting its functions to the times. According to the first article of its current statutes, the Academy presently 'has oversight as its main mission, so that the changes the Spanish language experiences in its constant adaptation to the needs of its speakers do not break with the essential unity maintained in the Hispanic world.' "
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As for the Association of Spanish Language Academies, below is my translation of information from its web-site:
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"In 1951 the 1st Congress of Academies of the Spanish Language was convened in Mexico by the then president of Mexico, Miguel Aleman, and a constitution of the Association of Academies agreed to. Its fundamental aim is to work assiduously for the defense, unity and integrity of the common language, and to provide oversight so that its natural development conforms to the tradition and intrinsic nature of Spanish.
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"The Association of Spanish Language Academies is composed of the twenty-two [national] Academies of Spanish that exist in the world: the Royal Spanish Academy (1713), the Colombian Language Academy (1871), the Ecuadorian Language Academy (1874), the Mexican Language Academy (1875), the Salvadorian Language Academy (1876), the Venezuelan Language Academy (1883), the Chilean Language Academy (1885), the Peruvian Language Academy (1887), the Guatemalan Language Academy (1887), the Costa Rican Language Academy (1923), the Philippine Spanish Language Academy (1924), the Panamanian Language Academy (1926), the Cuban Language Academy (1926), the Paraguayan Language Academy (1927), the Bolivian Language Academy (1927), the Dominican Language Academy (1927), the Nicaraguan Language Academy (1928), The Argentine Academy of Letters (1931), the Uruguayan National Academy of Letters (1943), the Honduran Language Academy (1948), the Puerto Rican Academy of Spanish (1955) and the North American Academy of Spanish (1973)."
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Language -- regulated or not, what a complicated business it all is, ain't it? ;-)
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Chao amig@s,
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Carloz