One of my characters is Hispanic, now living in California, and I'd like her speech to reflect that. Are there are word uses or turns of phrase which she might use occcasionally to flavour her speech without being too heavy handed?

She speaks perfectly good English so I don't want to use any Spanish words, but if there were the occasion phrase that a Hispanic woman would use, that would be very helpful.

Hi, Eileen G!

So, do you mean that you're looking for phrases that a Hispanic person might use in English that would be idiomatic to the Spanish dialectic?

Also, what do you mean by "character", please?

Thanks!

I'm writing a novel. One of the main characters in it is married to a Hispanic woman. I want her to have a distinct voice in dialogue, without going overboard. In fact, I haven't specifically mentioned that she is Hispanic, I'd like her speech pattern to hint at it, but keeping it subtle.

To my ear, she sounds too much like her husband when she talks.

Well, I'm Hispanic and I live in California. I wouldn't say that there's any specific English phrases me or any other Hispanic women that I can think of (or maybe I've just become oblivious to it?). Even Hispanic people with perfect american English will sometimes throw in Spanish. Maybe the most subtle way would be to have her use terms of endearment in Spanish. My family, and older Hispanic generations often will call me "mi hija", my cousin was always "nena" (I never did learn how to put the little ~ above letters on the computer... ). I know you said you don't want to use any Spanish words but I really can't think of any other way to show her culture.

Thanks. You are probably oblivious to it. I speak English all the time, but I occasionally use a turn of phrase that is extremely Irish, and only become aware of it when non-Irish readers go "Huh?"

Do Hispanic women swear much? Say if they are in labour?

Oh, and would many of them have home births?

I don't have children yet and I've never been in the delivery room either. But I would bet that like women of any other culture, there are some that do and some that don't.

Well, unless there is a cultural bias against it, my character is going to have a home birth. Delivery rooms being horrible places.

Hmmm I'm hispanic and I lived in California from the day I was born until I turned 19. And you know it is hard to described a chicana(cause that's what she is right) without mentioning spanish. I speak perfect english without any accent being it was my first language. I didn't learn spanish until I was 13. So I guess you should think about her background before you decide she won't speak spanish. Spanish has a lot of passion and emotion when spoken and it is what defines us when we do speak it. When I didn't understand spanish I felt out of place especially in California where are a lot of latinos. Sorry I'm rambling. Lol just thought I put in my say and let you know how I felt. Good luck with your book. And id love to read it when its done. Hope you can let us know its release date!

Hi, All!

So, are there any phrases in English that might be idiomatic to the Hispanic or Spanish language?

Thanks!

Hello,
One thing you might try is to get a Spanish conversation translated as literally as possible without being grammatically incorrect in English, one in which the characters are similar to yours.
I noticed in Crybaby9112001's post that she said, "being it was my first language," which is probably a reflexive equivalent of "siendo que era mi primer idioma." "Siendo que" is a common Spanish expression, kind of like "since..."
Anyway, if you find that kind of conversation, I'd be glad to do that kind of translation for free in the Languages section. This sounds interesting.

Yes, what I am really after is a couple of cases where she can use English in a way that makes the knowledgeable reader aware she's Spanish, without hitting anyone over the head with it. I haven't described the ethnicity of any other characters, the clues are there in the story.

I can't think of any case. Honestly. Have you ever been to California? I've lived here all my life. Most people don't even know that I'm half hispanic. I speak english. I can speak a little spanish. I can understand much more than I speak. I grew up around all of my hispanic relatives. I work with a number of hispanics. The only thing that I can think of is sometimes the way things are pronounced. But that's difficult to describe in writing. It's not so much the phrases used as the way things are pronounced.

I wish you could come to California. There's so many hispanic people here that you wouldn't even know were hispanic unless you asked. Or you would only know because of their skin and hair colors. You have to remember that California has always had hispanics. You can see it everywhere. Our cities: los angeles, san jose, san juan batista. Our street names, sooo many of them borrow spanish. Most everywhere I go has signs in english and in spanish. It's not like they're some tiny little minority. Even people who have absolutely no hispanic background here speak spanish, they use spanglish every day. It's not at all uncommon to meet people who can speak perfect spanish and perfect english. And you would never even know it, until you hear them speak each language.

If she didn't have to speak perfect english it would probably be easier.

I'd love to visit California, but that's not going to happen, so I've got to do it all long distance.

It's not a big deal, I'd just like to give her a slight Spanish accent, but no more.

Try adding a "yes" or "no" that begs agreement at the end of a question. That's very common in Spanish: "Son demasiado jòvenes, ¿no?" (They're too young, don't you think?) or, "Deja ese escandalo, ¿sì?" (Stop that racket, won't you?)

I know what you mean, I just don't have a very good recall for that kind of thing. There is even quite a difference between the good English of a Hispanic English student and the "chicano" English; I've noticed it but unfortunately can't think of some good examples at the moment.

Thanks, that's just the sort of thing I was looking for. And it's easy to add to the stuff I've already written. She's had her home birth!

So is she someone who just moved from a spanish speaking country?

No, she's lived in California all her life. Moved to San Diego when her husband got transferred there (he's a bank clerk). Has a young daughter, and just given birth to a son at home.

That's how Hispanics that have moved here more recently or grew up speaking mostly Spanish until they were older speak. Like, my aunts that can hardly speak English and my grandparents. The little bit of English they speak is like that. I don't know anyone that has grown up here and speaks perfect english that speaks like that. Fyi.

It depends sometimes on how strong the family influence was, doesn't it? Some people try right away to absorb and adopt everything they can from the new culture so they can blend in as much as possible; some have strong family ties and nationalism, and are less likely to care how much their background shows through.

Either way, the second generation of Hispanics, even those who have assimilated the American culture much more, is still marked by mannerisms in speaking, gestures, etc. Good thing, too! What a boring world we would live in with no heritage!

I have to ask younghyperlink, where are you from? What's your background?

I can't think of anyone I know who is second generation and still speaks like that. And I know a lot of second generation hispanics. The majority of my co-workers through out the years. A large percentage of my classmates. One entire side of my family.

Maybe I'm being a little biased here. The other day I was actually having a conversation with one of my co-workers. She's got less than perfect english. And someone had commented on the way she spoke. She was highly offended by it. I am a hispanic-american young woman and I don't like that it's being implied that me and other hispanic young-woman speak a certain way. My friend didn't like that someone implied she shouldn't be speaking a certain way. Everyone has their own way of speaking and I'm not understanding why you are so against her being able to use spanish to show her culture. If she's in touch with her culture shouldn't she be able to use a native language? If she's not in touch with her culture enough to use the language I don't understand why she would speak like someone who didn't grow up in america learning american english.

Whew! I'm afraid I take too much for granted when I write, and am not very clear. Sorry!

First, I agree with you, justcurious, that the particular example I gave is not a common one for Hispanic Americans; it's more common among people who have learned English as a second language. I may have missed something, but I'm not sure what the exact background of Eileen's character is; is Spanish her mother tongue, or not? Was she born in the US? What socio-economic level did she grow up in? Did she learn English from Anglos, from fellow Hispanics, or as a school subject?

Secondly, I'm IN NO WAY assuming either that all people from a Hispanic background speak bad English, or that it's laughable if they do show traces of their background. It's completely true that California is hugely Hispanic, and that makes it no less American or cultured, if that's what you think I was saying.

All I'm trying to say is that there are variants of English like what Eileen is looking for. There are even reporters in the top US news networks with very marked "chicano" mannerisms, and that's not a slur. I hope you don't think it is.

Would it be helpful to rent a movie with a Hispanic actress in it?

Thank you hyper link. I understand what you meant much more clearly now I think. And I agree. Without more details about the characters background it really is impossible. When I hear she lived in California her whole life and doesn't use any spanish words, well, someone could describe me that way. Lol

Hello Eileen:

I'm an English speaker who grew up with bi-lingual parents. The second language wasn't Spanish, but it DOES have certain words that are not translatable to English. I use those words all the time. I suppose if someone heard my usage of it, they could make certain assumptions about my heritage...

Justy, above, told you the same thing. There just ARE some Spanish words that convey a much different feeling than their English counterpart does, IF there is even a counterpart.. In fact, it's probably the words that DON'T have a counterpart that a person of Hispanic heritage might use, such as pasole or chorizo, or tio.. THOSE words might be clues.

excon

Bear in mind, I am writing for a mainstream readership, and I'll be looking first for Irish or English publishers. I don't want to have a lot of foreign words in the story, just to give a hint of an accent.

Are there any films that would be worth watching?

Where are you from eileen? I don't see that as a valid reason, being from California. Spanglish is very mainstream here. Throwing in a spanish phrase here or there would hint at an accent. I don't understand why you are really so against it. Having a hispanic character who isn't allowed to use spanish or be in touch with her culture just isn't making sense to me. It doesn't seem believable or real. Maybe you need to pick a character of a different background, one that you can actually observe?

I'm from Ireland, and I'm writing a book aimed at children/young adult, most of whom would not speak different languages. Notice that I'm not using any Irish words when I'm posting here, because I assume no-one would understand them, and they would be distracting. If I were posting on an Irish board, I might drop in some words. I reckon most people do the same in speech.

OK. Now you've definitely lost me. The character in your children's book just had a home birth? I'm dying to know how that fits in. and why would children care about the cultural backgrounds? And is it really children? Or young adult? There's a huge difference. I know plenty of young adults that are cultured enough that they could understand the occasional foreign word thrown in. part of reading is understanding words from context. If you walked into the room in a gorgeous dress and someone said "que bonita. you look great." you wouldn't be able to have an idea of what they were saying? Or if you came to a restaurant in California you wouldn't be able to guess that your hispanic waiter was saying "thank you" when he or she said "gracias senora." when they saw the tip you'd left? Heck, I hear people who don't have a drop of hispanic blood in them use those phrases. If you're writing a book that takes place in California you should know what it's like in California. If you don't want any spanish used at all, you probably shouldn't write a book that takes place in California. San diego. That's spanish. It's nearly impossible to avoid spanish in California.

Looks like you can get quite an idea of what kind of character you want right here. ;)

Maybe it would be a good idea to do a character observation by frequenting Latino neighborhoods and kind of eavesdropping on a few conversations here and there! There are many people descendant of Spanish speaking families who don't speak the language at all but they are still exposed to Latino culture and traditions thus using certain Spanish words to describe foods... arroz con gandules, pasteles; rituals such as religion, mass =misa and Sweet 15 instead of Sweet 16= Quinceañera, oh and terms of endearment such as lindo, papi, bebo,beba, chulo, negra,etc...
Listen for it and you'll find something!

Latino neighbourhoods are rather scarce in Ireland, I'm thinking. ;)

I agree that latino neighborhoods are probably scarce in ireland. But I also agree that it's really the only way to see the culture, to go and witness it. :)

Yeah, I don't think I'm going to make enough on this book to justify that. And it's not essential that my character is Hispanic, I just want a reasonable range of characters. I doubt that many of my readers speak Spanish, any more than you have the cupla focal, and there's a real danger of using words incorrectly.