Reply to Why do Hispanics refer to themselves as Spanish?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think this is a troll post.

Most people from Spanish speaking countries refer to themselves as Mexican, Honduran, Salvadoran, Peruvian, etc. They'll tell you that white/Asian/black/whatever Americans are the ones who lump them together as latinos or hispanics. It's our label, not their label. [/quote]

I assure you this is not a troll post. Go sub at some schools along Route 1 and you will hear kids of Central American descent calling themselves Spanish. Are you trying to claim that they don't?  I realize that Hispanics/Latinas don't refer to themselves as Hispanic/Latina (indeed that is what this post is about). I would not find it odd at all if they did refer to themselves as Mexican, Honduran, Salvadoran, etc., But they don't. They call themselves Spanish instead. I find that weird. [/quote]

To put it another way, I find it strange that someone from Guatemala would call themselves Spanish instead of Hispanic, Latino or Guatemalan. Most people describe themselves by either their nationality or race. A person from Guatemala has Guatemalan nationality and would be considered Hispanic/Latino racially. Spanish is not a race and it is not the appropriate nationality for someone from Guatemala. [/quote]

I'm in my 40s, majored in Spanish, work in a public interest field with Spanish-speaking clients, and I've never heard anyone in the DC metro area refer to themselves as Spanish unless they are from Spain...and Spaniards always clarify by saying, "I'm from Spain." Literally everyone I encounter identifies themselves by their ancestral country ("I'm Nicaraguan/Honduran/Dominican/Salvadoran, etc.").

If you are working with young kids being raised by non-citizen parents, they probably haven't heard the term Latino or Hispanic before...because as I said earlier, that's an American label we put on them. People in El Salvador don't call themselves Latinos or Hispanics. They call themselves salvadorans. I imagine when Spanish speaking kids from a variety of countries are thrown together in a US public school, they quickly realize who speaks English and who speaks Spanish. They're self-sorting and identifying themselves that way...rather than using a label they've never heard (Latino or Hispanic). They're simply noting that a fellow classmate speaks the same language. Makes perfect sense to me.[/quote]

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