Quote:
Originally posted by ZTAMiami
As Leslie said it is personal preference. As a Cuban American I prefer Hispanic. To me Latino personifies someone from Latin America (Central and South America). Hispanics from the Carribean (Cuba, Domincan Rep, Puerto Rico)don't usually consider themselves Latin American.
Also, don't call a Spaniard (from Spain) Hispanic, becasue they're not. Don't call a Latino/Hispanic/Chicano Spanish, because we're not.
|
Hit it right on the button, ZTAMiami!
The Spanish spoken in Spain is much like the Queen's English, and very formal compared to the Spanish spoken in Central and South America and the Caribbean.
Even within Latin America, the regional accents and dialects vary. It doesn't take very long for me to pick up on the origin of a Spanish speaker just by listening to their accent.
My mother's family's from Venezuela and I learned my Spanish with a Venezuelan accent, though it's been corrupted with a little Cuban from living many years in Miami. Now that I live in Texas, most of the Spanish I hear is with a Mexican accent, and it took some time before I grew accustomed to Mexican slang. (Most of 'em confuse me for a Puerto Rican at first!
)
And say hi to my Alpha Sig brethren over at Gamma Theta chapter at U of M!