MovieChat Forums > Crónicas (2006) Discussion > Code switching--from Spanish to English

Code switching--from Spanish to English


Any linguists out there who can explain why in some scenes Leguizamo switches from Spanish to English in the course of the same conversation? I'm a grad student studying the phenomenon of code mixing/switching.

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[deleted]

Leguizamo did say on Conan O'Brien that there were scenes the director wanted him to use English... he particularly mentioned the times he cursed in the film, which if you watch closely, the majority if not all of the times he uses a curse word he does so in English... he said that even took a little getting used to switching back and forth between the two

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Actually, there should have been more of that. Bilingual people in places like Miami do tend to mix languages. There are also some expressions that seem to be more natural or work better in one language or the other. Where they could have used this to greater effect would have been when they were in the presence of the Ecuadoran police. It would have been natural for Latinos from Miami to speak in English with each other so as to communicate more freely without being understood by the police. Of course, there is always the chance that the cop spoke some English, but it would not be likely in a small community like the one shown in the film.

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Thanks for the insight about bilinguals from Miami tending to switch. And I agree that code-switching can be a strategy to avoid being understood by others. What puzzled me, however, is that Leguizamo always did it when talking to his two assistants, with no one else present, and that there seemed to be no reason for it, as the English words did not involve unusual expressions or some special context.

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John Leguizamo grew up in Queens, New York. He was born and raised by Colombian parents, but he did grow up speaking Spanish. He is not fluent, and at times does have a bit of an accent. He learned the words for the movie, which is why when he shows a lot of emotion, he speaks English.

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[deleted]


Baba mi Ogun modupue

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Yes, his father is Puerto Rican. However, he was born in Colombia and lived there till he was three before moving to Queens.(I, myself, am also of Colombian descent (both parents) and from Queens originally.)

Although, I somewhat agree that at times he doesn't sound all that fluent in his Spanish - I think it's more so because the other actors are more experienced in acting in Spanish speaking films. He does have a fairly distinct Colombian accent in his Spanish and he grew up in a Spanish speaking household (Since both parents communicated to each other in Spanish) so he is fairly fluent in the language out of necessity. And don't forget, he spent his first three years of his life in Colombia, so it had to be the first language he learned.

The switching of English to Spanish and back is fairly common among bilinguals. For example, as a child and an adult, my sister and I have always communicated with each other in English even though we are very fluent in Spanish. Yet, growing up we'd sit at the kitchen table carry on a conversation with our mother in Spanish and then turn to each other and continue the conversation in English and vice-versa.

Why? I don't know why. I do know that both my sister and I learned English first as our mother made it a point to teach us the language first as toddlers. (Something quite unusual among Spanish speaking households.)However, I don't think that's the reason for it as I've noted the same phenomenon in other Spanish-English speaking households.)

If anyone thinks they understand why or have some sort of study about it I can reference, let me know.

As far as Leguizamo doing it in the film, I think it's a conscience effort by the director to remind the audience that this tv crew is an American crew, not a Latin Amrican one and as such, this would be a natural occurance.

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He switch into english because sometimes he dont want people to understand him, this was the idea for the character of Manolo(John Leguizamo). I found a website that explain a bit of the characters and the Killer but is in spanish sorry about that http://www.semananews.com/news.php?nid=1355

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I second what Noel has said - Manolo often says things that are degrading or offensive in English rather than in Spanish so that the Ecuadorians around him will not understand and it will not tarnish his reputation. Other times he will speak in English about his plans for a news story or a scoop, so that his plans will not be revealed.

Another point of interest, many times bilinguals will switch languages when they are quoting someone. For example: I am speaking in Spanish to my mom, but I want to tell her something that my friend had said (in English) - I would switch to English to quote the friend. This is very common.

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On a talk show he did, Leguizamo told the host that he was having trouble with the spanish even though he was born in Colombia. He did move to New York when he was 3, but I guess he still thought that he could do a Spanish movie. I think he tried to pull off speaking english when he got emotional.

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This has been something that has annoyed me since I was a little kid. My dad tends to switch back and forth while talking y pues antes me molestaba mucho. Now I am more used to it y a veces yo mismo lo hago. It does seem to be that somethings are easier to say in English, y en cambio muchas cosas sólo tienen sentido en Español. Each language tiene varios modismos, and growing up you learn different cosas en los dos idiomas. It can get crazy after a while too...

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It´s called SPANGLISH and it was completly intended. His character´s language IS english ,thus, he´s more comfortable speaking in english, although he has to use spanish to comunicate with the ecuadorian people...

Algo asi...

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Bilinguals tend to have a dominant (primary) language they feel the most comfortable with. Obviosly it's the language used most often and the one with the largerst vocabulary. It's not necesarilly their first language. They express themselves best in their dominant language and it tends to come out under stress. You see this in English speakers when you have people who've trained in American Standard English for professional work (actors, newscasters etc)but lose it and revert to their original accent or language under emotional pressure or excitement.

The character of Manolo switches to English to keep some things secret. Also, Leguizamo probably likes to ad lib and his English is better than his Spanish.
Overall he is a great actor, regardless of the language.

Leguizamo isn't using "Spanglish". His conversations go in English or switch to Spanish but he doesn't mix the words. Spanglish (Latino Ebonics)converts English to Semi-Spanish by adding an "o" or an "a" to a word. Example: "Toma la highwaya to exito 52 y compramos some grocerias." That makes no sense to a Spanish speaker with no English ("Take the "hwya?" to success 52 and we'll buy some insults")but a Spanish speaking American can make it out.

Funny thing I noticed about John Leguizamo. He sounds Puerto Rican (thick accent)but uses wording and the polite form of address typical of a Colombian. You can tell peoples background (or the origin of their Spanish) from their word choices more than from a particular accent.

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ar117 said:

Funny thing I noticed about John Leguizamo. He sounds Puerto Rican (thick accent)but uses wording and the polite form of address typical of a Colombian. You can tell peoples background (or the origin of their Spanish) from their word choices more than from a particular accent.


I noticed this too. I have a Colombian friend who speaks very proper Spanish, and gets frustrated when me and others talk in our rather unformal Mexican Spanish.

On topic, it didn't distract me at all that he would switch back and forth, because it is the way me and my family talk. Our home is bilingual and we switch back and forth between languages constantly. More like John does rather than a Spanglish style, though I very much disagree with the examples you gave of Spanglish. I have never said, nor heard anybody say, highwaya. That just sound ridiculous. Maybe lonche for lunch, or carta for card, but not like you said.

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"rather unforaml mexican spanish."

since when is spanish from mexico unformal??? what is formality? everyone speaks differently, there is no "unformal" it's what you speak.

I know that in the US some recent CHICANOS, (US citizens) have a way of mixing some english words with spanish. TROCA, PARQUIADERO, YARDA.. but it's not wrong. that's the way they speak. it's not only in the US, i have visited many latin american countries and they do the same thing.

Latin american people get so mad at mexicans because they speak " UNFORMAL" to what?? to SPAIN, is SPAIN SPANISH FORMAL. NO, it's just a different dialect. it's like england, can we say that the english from the US is "not formal" nope it's the way we talk

some central and south american countries have their own spanish also. For example mexico use the "TU" and "nosotros" in costa rica they say "VOS" but do not say "VOSOTROS" in spain they use "VOS" and "VOSOTROS" there is no formality.

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It's funny because I'm Cuban, and we had some Brazilians and Argentinians visiting my aunt's house, and both families (Cuban and Bra/Arg) found ourselves trying to speak textbook, formal Spanish so things wouldn't be lost in translation. Often times we opted for English since there were more than 3 seperate dialects going on--Cuban Spanish, Argentine Spanish, Brazilian Spanish-Porteguese. Funny stuff!

http://www.matchflick.com/member/3739

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switching languages is normal for anyone who speaks a certain foreign language very well. for example, i communicate with my sister in english at least 50% of the time, even though it's not my primary language ( my primary language is croatian ). i thought it was a bit weird that he was the only one of the crew to use english if they were all from miami, they all should have used english more often, or at least responded to his english with english. that would have been a normal reaction, if someone speaks to you in a certain language, even if subconciously, you feel the need to respond in the same language. if my sister continuously spoke to me in english, i would not speak to her in croatian but in english.

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