This post is also available in: Spanish
Extra and Missing Accents
This idea came to me in the United States, where we speak Spanish with various accents, and sometimes write it without them. Where sometimes we have to think if what we’re saying in our way is correct for others and if they will understand it only partially, at best, or simply misinterpreted. That happens with our Spanish language in the United States.
My Experience with Spanish in the United States
My Experience is as a Cuban in a primary education environment, surrounded by children, families, and teachers from various parts of the Hispanic-American world and the United States. The accents and idioms of each one give me daily examples that appear here. At times, they have made us laugh, look astonished at the confusion, or become enraged with children who use their ‘bad words’ as a weapon to stand out in the group. There’s a bit of everything, like in a pharmacy!
Thus, quite frequently I find myself asking my coworkers if what I said is said that way in the country they come from, and right there I hear myself giving the explanation of how it’s said in Cuba. In reality, it’s not that they’ve asked me to, but I can’t help it, just as I can’t deny that sometimes I feel limited when speaking.
The Cuban Idioms That Have Made Me Reflect
This daily confrontation with what I say and how I should say it has made me wonder: Why in Cuba do we say ‘melón de agua’, ‘parquear’, and ‘cake de cumpleaños’ instead of sandía, estacionar, and pastel de cumpleaños? Could it be our geographic proximity to the United States? Are they vestiges from when the United States was in Cuba at the beginning of the century?
In reality, we are close, but the relations between the two countries haven’t been the best for a while, to put it mildly. English hasn’t had much influence, at least in the last sixty years. But then, where do ‘melón de agua’, ‘parqueo’, and ‘cake de cumpleaños’ come from? Because of these, I wonder if Spanish in Cuba has more influence from American English than we imagine. It could be. However, I’m not sure.
I still have many questions and I don’t know if I’ll be able to answer them all. I hope this blog helps me reflect, hear other experiences, and share ideas. That’s all.
This post is also available in: Spanish
