SPANGLISH

Espanglish, a blend of the English-language words for "Spanish" and "English" — is a name used to refer to a range of language-contact phenomena, primarily in the speech of the Hispanic population of the United States, which is exposed to both Spanish and English.

Spanglish is sometimes known by a regional name; for example, within Texas it may be called "Tex-Mex" (as distinct from the regional cuisine by the same name).

A short Spanglish conversation:

Anita: "Hola, good morning, cómo estás?"
Mark: "Well, y tú?"
Anita: "Todo bien. Pero tuve problemas parqueando mi carro this morning."
Mark: "Sí, I know. Siempre hay problemas parqueando in el área at this time".

Translation to English:

Anita: "Hello, good morning, how are you?"
Mark: "Well, and you?"
Anita: "Everything's fine, but I had problems parking my car this morning."
Mark: "Yeah, I know. There are always problems parking in this area at this time".

Translation to Spanish:

Anita: "Hola, buenos días, ¿cómo estás?"
Mark: "Bien, ¿y tú?"
Anita: "Todo bien. Pero tuve problemas estacionando//aparcando mi coche//carro//auto por la mañana."
Mark: "Sí, ya lo sé. Siempre hay problemas de estacionamiento//para aparcar en esta zona a esa hora".

Posted by Neide Silva.

Famous Latin Americans Immigrants

Distinguished first, second and third generation immigrants from Latin America have contributed to American cultural, scientific, and political life.
Famous immigrants include:

Luis Walter Alvarez (1910-1988) became the first U.S. born Latino to win the Nobel Prize for Physics.

José Angel Gutiérrez (1944-) and others founded La Raza Unida (The United Race) the first successful third party, which is also the first Mexican American political party in Texas.

Fernando Bujones (1955-) Cuban American classical dancer who was the first American to win the gold medal at the prestigious International Ballet Competition at Varna, Bulgaria.

Oscar Hijuelos (1951-) Cuban American writer who won the 1990 Pulitzer prize in fiction for The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love.

Rita Moreno (1931-) Puerto Rican actress, dancer, singer, comedian who is the only entertainer in the world that has won all four awards in the show business: Oscar (1962), Grammy (1972), Tony (1975) and two Emmy's awards (1977)

Celia Cruz (1920s-) Cuban American singer and entertainer, who contributed to the popularity of Salsa in the U.S. and worldwide, awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

Dr. Américo Paredes (1915-) Mexican American folklorist scholar awarded with the distinguished Charles Frankel Prize by the National Endowment for the Humanities for his long contribution to the Humanities.

César Chávez- (1927-1993) Mexican American Social Activist recognized worldwide for his commitment to workers in harvest agriculture, honored by President Bill Clinton with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award.

Mariah Carey (1970-) Venezuelan American recognized as a worldwide singer and lyricist of popular music, who won Grammies as Best New Artist and Best Female Pop vocalist.

Henry Cisneros (1947-) Mexican American political leader and business man who was Secretary of Housing and Urban development in President Clinton's cabinet advocating projects to reduce suburban public housing concentration of minorities.

Oscar de la Renta (1932-) Dominican American fashion designer who was the first American selected to direct the House of Balmain in Paris.

Tito Puente (1923-2000) Puerto Rican musician, composer, timbalist and one of the pioneers of Latin Jazz who won four Grammy awards and was honored by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers for his contributions to the music world.

Mario Molina ( 1943-) Native of Mexico, researcher and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, shares the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with two others.

Aida Alvarez- (1950-) First Latino woman, and the first person of Puerto Rican heritage, to serve as a member of the President's Cabinet. Head of the U.S. Small Businesses Administration (SBA) in Clinton's Government.

Posted by Neide Silva

A victory over discrimination

After almost hundred years of discrimination, finally, a woman is allowed to be gondolier in Venice.
Alexandra Hai, a Germany, have managed a license to conduct gondolas through the channels of the city after 10 years of judicial battle. The others 425 gondoliers, men and Italians, are quite angry with her.


Posted by Neide Silva.

The Baianos are good and active people!!!!

The 5th article of Brazilian Federal Constitution establishes that “everyone are equal before the law and still it has more in our country is not admitted nor a type of prejudice of color, race, religion, sex…”. Our law is clear!

However, the most time we don’t see the practical one of this act of equality in our society. There are discrimination of the race, the religion, sex, financial situation, region, among others.

So, I decided to write about region discrimination. I’ve two colleagues that claim all the time some discrimination because they are baianas. They borned in the Bahia, a estate of northeast of the Brazil, and there’s a wrong stereotype that baianos are sluggish and annoying.

In the past, not so distant, I remember a brazilian comedy program that Chico Anysio, a known brazilian comedian, he played the role of a lazy baiano. The called character Painho was lying all the time in a net.

In turn, my colleagues hear in many places, among new friends”, many joke about lazy baianos. It’s so bad! They work hard, they are motivated and active.

It seems stupid! Some people say to them that it is just a joke, they need to be flexible. But one of my baiana colleague had depression and she needed to go to the doctor.

Nowadays, they are very fine and "flexible". But the discrimination is a illness of the society that need to be eliminated for definite!




By Janaína Lima

Today, I’d like to talk to you about a place that is proud to be multicultural and don’t accept any kind of prejudice. It’s the University of Toronto. My son, Danilo, has been studying in there since September 2005, doing a doctorate in electronic engineering.

When he came to Toronto, he went to “the graduate house”, an apartment building in the campus, where the students live with roommates who are pos-graduate students like him.

There are students from many countries. Danilo never felt discriminate in there and has a lot of friends.

Now , he’s married and lives in another apartment with his wife, Amanda.

These are his former roommates:

Yue, a Chinese

Yan , a Canadian

And Hanif, an Iranian


My Son and my daughter-in-law

Posted by Neide Silva.

Colorism in the workplace

Matthew Harrison, a doctoral student at the University of Georgia, presented the first significant study of “colorism” in the American workplace.

For the first time, a study indicates that dark skinned African-Americans face a distinct disadvantage when applying for jobs, even if they have resumes better than the lighter-skinned black applicants.

In this study, they found that a light-skinned black male can have only a bachelor’s degree and typical work experience and still be preferred over a dark-skinned black male with a MBA and past managerial positions.

“Our results indicate that there appears to be skin tone preference in regards to job selection”, said Harrison. “This finding is possible due to the common belief that fair-skinned blacks probably have more similarities with whites than do dark-skinned blacks, which in turn makes whites feel more comfortable around them.”
“The only way we are going to begin to combat some of the inequities that result due to the beliefs and ideologies that are associated with colorism is by becoming more aware of the prejudices we have regarding skin tone, due to the images we are exposed to on a regular basis”
Society, he said, equates lighter skin with attractiveness, intelligence, competency and likeability, while we are often given a “much more dismal and bleak picture” of those who have darker skin.
“The more we challenge theses images and our own belief systems”, said Harrison, “the greater the likelihood we will judge an individual by his or her actual merit than skin tone”.

Posted by Neide Silva

History of the Amish

The Anabaptists was a group of reformers that rejected the popular concept of infant baptism. After these people became known as "Mennonites” (a tribute to a young Catholic priest from Holland named Menno Simons that joined the Anabaptist movement).
However, there were the followers of Jacob Amman (Anabaptists too) that had differences (they did not agree with all beliefs), led to Amman's split with the Mennonites in 1693. His followers were later called Amish.
Both were severely persecuted throughout Europe, so they migrated to the mountains of Switzerland and southern Germany. And began the Amish tradition of farming and holding their worship services in homes rather than churches.
Nowadays, they are in 23 states. Like their families are large the total Amish population has more than doubled since 1960 to over 85,000. And almost all children do not leave the church.

Posted by Mirella de Morais.