KSOL Using Ghetto Spanish?

[DavidKaye]

My barber is a Nicaraguan woman who prides herself in learning English and running a successful business for the past 20 years. The other day we were talking about radio and TV and she said to me that KSOL and 93.3 hire DJs who speak "ghetto Spanish". She says that the DJs sound uneducated and use weird words and pronunciations. I asked her if it was a difference between Mexican Spanish and Nicaraguan Spanish. She said no, that even the locals here, who are largely from Mexico speak better Spanish than what she hears on the radio.

I asked her if maybe it was a Spanglish situation. She said that that was only part of it. She said that DJs tend to turn adjectives and nouns around, such as saying (in Spanish) "serial killer" rather than "killer serial", and that the pronunciation of "serial" in Spanish comes across as if they're saying "cereal" instead. She said it's just sloppy and uneducated Spanish, and an embarrassment to listen to.

I know enough Spanish to get me arrested. I can listen to spoken Spanish and get the gist of what's being talked about, but I don't know the nuances she's speaking about.

Okay, any Spanish speakers out there who can agree or disagree with her assessment?

 

[DJBigOne]

My barber is a Nicaraguan woman who prides herself in learning English and running a successful business for the past 20 years. The other day we were talking about radio and TV and she said to me that KSOL and 93.3 hire DJs who speak "ghetto Spanish".<<

I don't speak fluent Spanish, but there is a difference between slang and proper Spanish. I suppose it's also true between American English and the "Queen's English".

My cousin married a UCLA Spanish Professor. She would not marry him until he spoke perfect "Castilian Spanish". What...ever!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castilian_Spanish

 

[Bongwater]

Any cuss words en espanol?

Interesting question: If someone on Spanish or any other language radio says a 'fleeting expletive', does the FCC make a sound?

 

[davideduardo]

Any cuss words en espanol?

Interesting question: If someone on Spanish or any other language radio says a 'fleeting expletive', does the FCC make a sound?

The first issue is to determine if the supposed cuss word is a cuss word. A vulgarism for fornication in Mexico is the word for "picking up" or "taking" in the Caribbean. The Cuban vulgar term for penis is a kind of fruit in many other places. A common nickname for women on one area is the female genitalia elsewhere.

This is compounded by many other words that vary in meaning. The expression for picking up a baby becomes grabbing a bus in Puerto Rico.

The majority of the original seven dirty words are actually the 300 dirty words, as each term has different, sometimes many different, common terms in each country or region of Latin America.

As the saying goes, "20 countries divided by a single language."

 

[davideduardo]

Okay, any Spanish speakers out there who can agree or disagree with her assessment?

This sounds like what in Spanish is called "esnobísmo" or snobbishness. A regional Mexican station is not specifically targeted at Nicaraguans, and some of the things that make the format unique would likely make it less than relevant to a Nicaraguan.

The format appeals, mostly, to persons of Mexican origin who come from rural areas of Mexico. The language usage, accent and inflection is quite different, even from Mexico City.

Nicaraguan Spanish is what would be characterized as "Caribbean." The "swing" or "lilt" in speaking is very different from that in rural Mexico, and the vocabulary is really, really different. Some people not from Mexico would say the language is not "good Spanish" but the fact is that Mexico, with 110,000,000 people sets its own language standards.

In addition, the influence of "anglicisms" is extreme. When you have people from rural areas coming to a highly technical society, they do not know technical terms in their native language, so they convert English terms to Spanish. It's common to hear about the "keyboard" instead of the "teclado." Or the "mouse" instead of the "raton." Or, in South Texas, my favorite: "tira" for "tire" when a tire is a "llanta" and a "tira" is really a board...

When I programmed all talk KTNQ, I'd get at least one call a day from some listener who thought they were more cultured than my audience or staff and who wanted to insist on the correct usage of Spanish, but this is the equivalent of people who criticize dramatic dialogue that includes "ain't" in it.