{"id":12,"date":"2007-11-12T12:49:39","date_gmt":"2007-11-12T16:49:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/?p=12"},"modified":"2007-11-12T12:49:39","modified_gmt":"2007-11-12T16:49:39","slug":"the-word-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/the-word-america\/","title":{"rendered":"The Word Am\u00e9rica"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p2\">In skimming through TL\u00b4s <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/TLBlog\/Portuguese\/\">Portuguese Blog<\/a> I came across Christopher O\u2019Donnell\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/TLBlog\/Portuguese\/2007\/11\/the-word-america.html\">excellent article on the word \u201cAmerica\u201d<\/a> and the controversy it can spark when used incorrectly in a foreign language.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>This is an important point for our Spanish-speaking audience as well, and a problem I personally faced on my first study abroad experience in Mexico. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Talking one day with my host father, I referred to my home country as \u201cAm\u00e9rica\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>His brow began to furrow, his face coloring, and asked \u201cAmerica?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Mexico is America, too!\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I quickly realized that I had fallen into an ethnocentric language trap.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Despite what we in the US might think, for Spanish-speakers, \u201cAm\u00e9rica\u201d refers to the land mass of North and South America and encompasses all territory from the northern tip of Canada to the southern-most point of Patagonia.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Likewise, all inhabitants of the land mass are referred to as \u201camericanos\u201d. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">So, what is a culturally sensitive traveler to say?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I have found that it depends on where you are.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>In Mexico, the second most common term for a United States citizen is \u201cnorteamericano\/a\u201d (the most popular term is \u201cgringo\/a\u201d, a slang word that all of my Mexican friends swear bears no negative connotation.)<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The use of \u201cnorteamericano\u201d is funny to me since it seems to be even more exclusionary, wiping out Canada and all of Central America (including Mexico!) in its reference to North America.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>But, well, that\u2019s the way it is.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Meanwhile, in Argentina the term is \u201cestadounidense\u201d although that country, like Mexico, uses its own dubiously inoffensive slang: yanqui (Yankee). <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Although some people can get offended when language learners use the wrong terminology, the general reaction is simply light-hearted ribbing or gentle correction.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>A smile and demonstrations of<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>genuine interest in the local culture and language are always enough to diffuse an awkward situation! <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In skimming through TL\u00b4s Portuguese Blog I came across Christopher O\u2019Donnell\u2019s excellent article on the word \u201cAmerica\u201d and the controversy it can spark when used incorrectly in a foreign language.\u00a0 This is an important point for our Spanish-speaking audience as well, and a problem I personally faced on my first study abroad experience in Mexico&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/the-word-america\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}