SAMPLE: Blog for Language Learning Site (Client & Site hidden until published) How to (Correctly) Answer: ¿De dónde
es usted?
DECEM BER 28, 2015 ~ TRISHA ~ EDIT
How many continents did you memorize in the 3rd grade?
Surprisingly, the answer to this question depends entirely on where you were educated. It will
range from as few as three to as many as seven continents. This, like countless
other truths and facts are subject to cultural convention.
Don’t worry – this isn’t a discussion about the sociopolitical nature of borders or divisions, but
about what is really happening when individuals from different cultural and linguistic
backgrounds interact. We cross paths and come together for various reasons, and when we do so,
worlds collide. This veritable collision can be an incredible experience and quite literally mindaltering.
As you’re learning Spanish, dictionaries may lead you to believe that languages are merely
collections of words with one-to-one correspondences of meaning: suegra: mother-in-law;
independiente: independent; américano/a: American. But if you are from the United States, do
not be led astray by textbooks or dictionary entries. When you are asked, ¿De dónde eres tú?
– the answer is not América and you are not americano.
Well, let’s take a step back. Yes, of course you are. But you are engaged in conversation in order
to communicate some intended message, and in this case, answering soy americano does not
provide the answer sought out by your conversational partner.
In Central and South America, América is not a nation, it is a continent. (Yes – that’s right,
Google it.) Americano, therefore, does not differentiate a US-born citizen from a Canadian or a
Chilean. As you read this, boys and girls in classrooms from Santiago to Mexico City are
memorizing charts and names for countries and continents, just as we did, only they are
SAMPLE: Blog for Language Learning Site (Client & Site hidden until published) acquiring an association between this word, América, and a landmass that stretches from the
southernmost islands off the coast of Chile to the snowy abyss that crowns Canada.
Think about it – this might be comparable to asking someone you’ve just met where they are
from and receiving the answer, “North America.” While this may be true, this is not the answer
you were expecting. The context, their accent, manner, and dress already gave this away. You
were more likely to be seeking something like a city, a state, or perhaps clarification as to
whether or not he or she is from the U.S. or from Canada.
The only difference here is that for you, the answer “North American” may be at the very worst,
perplexing, while the answer Americano can invoke more severe social consequences – it has the
power to offend, or at the very least, lead your conversational partner to conclude that you are
arrogant and/or ignorant. For many, it serves to minimize other countries in the Americas by
claiming ourselves as the only true Americans.
You may think I’m splitting hairs here, but let’s remember what you’re doing in the first place.
You are crossing a border constructed of words. Your developing Spanish is allowing you to
enter the social world of others, and understanding the relativity of it all is an essential tool in the
multilingual’s toolkit. Even if it seems silly or overly sensitive right now, with time, travel, and
continued interactions with those of different cultural backgrounds, you’ll realize that this isn’t
true at all. There are, in fact, very few universals – it’s all relative.
Touching on this, Dr. Claire Kramsch, award winning scholar for her work on intercultural
dialogue and author of Language and Culture, explores this paradox and cautions that while such
a statement may be “perfectly valid in its intention, …it raises the problem of wanting to express
one world view through the language normally used to express another society’s world view.”
The result is often communicative failure, not to mention an unsuccessful intercultural
interaction.
Successful communication requires that you are flexible, adaptable, and sensitive to the
assumptions of your conversational partners. Remember that words do not carry a simple one-toone correspondence – there is connotation, association, as well as personal and cultural meaning.
SAMPLE: Blog for Language Learning Site (Client & Site hidden until published) Ok, so you’ve got the point. Let’s get practical and take a look at an example of how a nonnative Spanish-speaker (me) might interact with, say, a tall, dark, and disarmingly handsome
Argentinean man:
– Latino Hearthrob: (with smoldering eyes) Hola bella. ¿De dónde es usted?
– Me: ¿Quién? Yo? (blushing and fluttering lashes) Soy estadounidense.
– Latino Hearthrob: Claro, ya sé que es de los estados unidos pero ¿de dónde?
– Me: Soy de Hawaii. Nací en Honolulu.
In this contrived (and completely ridiculous) example, you can see you’ve got several options for
answering this question. Estadounidense is a favorite of mine. I like to translate this as
Unitedstatesian, but translating apps will tell you US (adj.) or American (adj. and noun).
Let’s keep one thing clear: I do not suggest that you need to adopt the view points of others or
that you should reject the seven-continent model of your beloved 3rd grade teacher. I merely
wish to say we must take responsibility for our part in communication when using another
culture’s language. Be sensitive to the sensitivities of others and keep aware of the relativity of it
all.
¿De dónde es usted?: Where are you from (formal)
¿De dónde eres tú?: Where are you from (informal)
¿De dónde sos vos?: Where are you from (informal, regional)
Soy de los Estados Unidos (los EEUU): I’m from the United States
estadounidense (adj.): American
Estadounidense (n.): American
Nací en… : I was born in…
América (n.): a term describing a single continent subsuming the regions of North, Central, and
South America.
SAMPLE: Blog for Language Learning Site (Client & Site hidden until published) américano/a (adj.): an individual from North, Central, or South America.