The United States is the second country in the world with the highest number of Spanish speakers! That means that wherever you live or visit in the United States, you have a pretty good chance of running into someone who speaks Spanish. As of 2021, 19 percent of the population in the United States was Latino (some prefer the term “Hispanic”), though Latin American culture can be found around every corner!
Language use among Latinos in the United States is widely varied. While some only speak Spanish and others barely speak it because they were born here, the vast majority are bilingual. Even within that bilingual population, the level of language proficiency depends on each person! Spanish-English bilinguals in the United States often speak a combination of their two languages, especially with family members and friends, and this is known as Spanglish.
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What is Spanglish?
Spanglish is a combination of Spanish and English. You may hear it in conversation or encounter it in written form—it’s prevalent in many contemporary novels and across social media channels.
The important distinction to remember with Spanglish is that it’s not its own language or even a dialect. It’s simply the name we give to the melding of Spanish and English—a clear switching between both languages within a sentence, paragraph, or line of speech. In some cases, this results in new vocabulary.
How Spanglish is spoken and when that happens depends on the background and personality of each person, so not everyone who speaks Spanglish will understand each other completely. The type of Spanglish spoken also depends on where that occurs.
Spanish in California is not the same as Spanish in Florida! The top five cities in the United States where Spanish is spoken the most are Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston, and Riverside, California–all places where you’ll hear mucho español spoken in these places. But pay attention the next time you go to the supermarket: most anywhere you go you’ll hear Spanish spoken with a smattering of English and vice versa.
Something called code-switching is one of the hallmarks of all language learners and bilinguals. Code-switching happens when speakers move between two languages in a single context—a conversation, a poem, or even within a phrase—and this is one of the identifying characteristics of Spanglish. People who code switch may do so because they know a certain word better in one language or find it doesn’t translate easily. Some concepts may be more anchored in one language as well. For example, Mexican presidents only have one six-year term called a sexenio (“six-year term”), a concept that doesn’t exist in the United States.
Most languages use loanwords (words that originate from other languages), but some of them become integrated into the dictionary, often with the pronunciation of the borrowing language. Other words are unassimilated and pronounced more like their original language. In the case of Spanglish, there may be a heavier use of both assimilated and unassimilated loanwords. In Spanglish, these words may be used in new ways previously considered incorrect.
The high use of calques is another defining element of Spanglish. Calques are direct translations from another language that are sometimes awkward in the new language. For example, Spanglish speakers might say escuela alta when they mean “high school,” but in their home countries (or those of their family) they would say escuela secundaria (at least if they’re from Mexico), which means “secondary school,” the school that follows elementary school. Likewise, Spanglish speakers might use calques from Spanish when they’re speaking English.
>> Get our guide on basic Spanish words and phrases that you’ll actually use.
How did Spanglish evolve?
Spanglish is a direct result of contact between Spanish and English. All languages represent culture and history, and in the case of Spanglish this contact occurred over time. Spanish came to the United States first, with the exploration, conquest, and settlements in parts of Florida and the Southwest.
The Southwest was heavily explored, and after significant conflict, settlements and cities were founded throughout the area. It should also be remembered that large swaths of the Southwest belonged to Mexico from the time of its independence to the end of the Mexican-American war. This means that in places like New Mexico and Texas, there are Spanish-speaking families who have lived there even before these territories officially became part of the United States. Once the Southwest belonged to the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, inhabitants were urged to speak English.
As a result of the Spanish-American War at the end of the same century, the former Spanish territory of Puerto Rico became an unincorporated territory of the United States, true to this day, and English was imposed there. Indeed, a Puerto Rican is attributed with coining the word “Spanglish.”
These political changes are somewhat responsible for the rise of Spanglish, but we can also credit the ongoing migration of Spanish speakers from Latin American countries. From thriving Mexican communities in California to Cuban enclaves in Florida, Spanglish continues to shift and evolve with the demographic landscape of many US regions.
Common Spanglish words and phrases
Given the fluidity and flexibility of Spanglish, it is not easy to nail down specific words and phrases. That said, Ilan Stavans’s important book on the topic includes over 600 entries! You might not find these terms in a regular dictionary, but we include some of the most interesting ones here. The terms marked with an asterisk will be further explained below.
| Spanglish | Common Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| adrés | dirección | address |
| aguakiar | despertarse | to awake |
| alrandom | al azar | randomly |
| analfayuka | analfabeto | illiterate |
| antibaby | anticonceptivo | contraceptive |
| aparcar | estacionarse | to park |
| aplicar | meter una solicitud | to apply |
| balance | estado de cuentas | bank statement |
| banquiar | ir al banco | to bank |
| baybay | adiós | bye-bye |
| bloque | manzana | (city) block |
| bonche | racimo | bunch |
| caliente | calefacción | heating system |
| chance* | oportunidad, permiso | chance, opportunity, permission |
| chilear | relajarse | to chill out |
| deservear | merecer | to deserve |
| espich | discurso | speech |
| fasfú | comida chatarra/rápida | fast food |
| fiftififti | más o menos | unsure (from 50-50) |
| gasetería | gasolinera | gas station |
| guachimán | policia, guardia | watchman |
| hipiteca* | hippy mexicano | Mexican hippy |
| javear | tener | to have |
| junkería | tienda de artículos de segunda mano | junk store |
| leyofear | suspender del trabajo | to lay off |
| lipistiquiar | ponerse lápiz labial | to put on lipstick |
| Loisaida* | Lower East Side | Lower East Side |
| lonchear* | comer, comer el lonche | to eat lunch |
| maikear | tener éxito | to succeed |
| mailear | mandar por correo | to mail |
| Ni quechea ni pitcha ni deja batear.* | Ni quechea ni pitcha ni deja batear. | S/he doesn’t catch or pitch or let anyone go to bat. |
| Nuyorriqueño | Puertorriqueño en Nueva York | Puerto Rican who lives in New York |
| overbukear | aceptar demasiadas reservas | to overbook |
| pachuco* | pachuco | person from the Southwest of Mexican descent… |
| resignación | renuncia | resignation |
| sangüichería* | restaurante de sánwiches | sandwich shop |
| slango | jerga | slang |
| troca | camioneta | truck |
| yaestufas | Ya estuvo. | It’s done. (informal) |
Chance
Chance in Spanglish, pronounced CHAN-say, can have a similar sense to the English “chance,” but it’s also used in the sense of “permission.” For example:
- Dame chance. = Let me pass. / Excuse me.
Hipiteca
Hipiteca is the combination of “hippy” and “Azteca.” We wouldn’t refer to Mexicans as Aztecs nowadays, but the playful word has come to mean Mexican hippies. If you travel to Mexico even today you might see some hipitecas in big cities or at the beach.
Loisaida
Loisaida is a word based on the English name for the New York City neighborhood called the Lower East Side, a self-explanatory name.
Lonchear
In Spain and most Latin American countries, the main meal is in the middle of the afternoon around 2:00 p.m. The word lonche (“lunch”) exists in Spanish, but lonchear is not in the standard dictionary. Lonche mostly refers to the lighter lunch of Americans, but it can sometimes refer to a meal taken from home to be eaten at work.
Nuyorriqueño
A nuyorriqueño is a Puerto Rican who lives in New York City. Alternative spellings for the word include neorican and nuyorican.
Pachuco
Pachucos and pachucas were people of Mexican descent who often dressed and spoke in a particular way and lived in the Southwest, especially in California, New Mexico, and parts of Texas from around 1939-1945. They dressed in elegant suits and hats, and influenced the ways people spoke in Mexico City.
That said, some Chicanos of today are inspired by the pachuco way of life, and to say that one is dressed like a pachuco, a word that’s in the English dictionary but not the official Spanish one, may simply imply extravagant dress.
Sangüichería
Sangüichería comes from the combination of the English word “sandwich” and the Spanish suffix that essentially means “shop,” as in sandwich shop.
Spanglish in movies and music
With so many Spanglish speakers in the United States, of course there are movies, songs, and even literature that use this language variety for creative ends. Let’s take a look at a few fun examples below.
Spanglish in movies
Encanto
In this film of 2021, an enchanted house in Colombia can do things like adjust its tiles and make flower sculptures. In the first scene the abuelita (“grandmother,” the diminutive of abuela) tells Maribel: “This candle will give you a new gift, mi vida.” Mi vida, technically means “my life.” It’s a term of endearment that might be better translated as “sweetheart” or “dear.”
In the Heights
In Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2021 hit musical In the Heights another abuela, Claudia, says: “Caramba. Buy me a bikini.” Caramba is an exclamation that can mean, “jeez” or “wow.”
Spanglish
Spanglish, another movie from 2004, tells the story of how a proud yet caring housekeeper and nanny from Mexico teaches a family not just how to speak some Spanish but also how to care for each other in new ways. Part of the Spanglish of the movie involves questions in English and answers in Spanish (and vice versa), another thing that Spanglish speakers do!
Spanglish in music
“Atréve-te-te”
This song by Calle 13, a Puerto Rican hip hop band, uses Spanish and English to make a fun rhymes with some car references:
Préndete, sácale chispas al starter
Préndete en fuego como un lighter
Sacúdete el sudor como si fueras un wiper
Turn yourself on, get sparks out of the starter
Light yourself up like a lighter
Shake off the sweat as if you were a wiper
“Livin’ la Vida Loca”
You probably know this song by Puerto Rican Ricky Martin and, as the final song of the second Shrek movie, sung by Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas. One line says:
She’ll push and pull you down
Livin’ la vida loca
which, as you might know, means “living a crazy life.”
“Bailando”
A lot of people must have learned the word contigo from the memorable song by Enrique Iglesias that goes:
I wanna be contigo
And live contigo
And dance contigo
Para have una noche loca
Contigo means “with you” and para here means “to.” Una noche loca is, you guessed it, “a crazy night.”
“La Isla Bonita”
This lighthearted song by Madonna, probably inspired by an island off the coast of Belize, is a tale of love in the tropics. La isla bonita means “the beautiful island.”
Tropical the island breeze
All of nature wild and free
This is where I long to be
La isla bonita
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Move from Spanglish to Spanish with Rosetta Stone
Spanglish is a fascinating study of how languages evolve organically. It even gives us a look into how closely intertwined two cultures can be!
Now that you’ve learned some fun vocabulary, why not take your knowledge a step further?
To go from Spanglish to learning Spanish suavemente (smoothly), check out Rosetta Stone. You’ll experience Spanish in a uniquely immersive learning environment that’s designed to get you conversation-ready in no time. Plus, our bite-sized lessons fit into any schedule. Take them with you on the go!
Written by Rowena Galavitz
Rowena Galavitz is a Spanish translator, bilingual copy editor, and language and literature instructor with three master’s degrees who loves Spanish and all things Mexico.
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