Do you feel a little bit ashamed of what we call Konglish? However, Konglish is also considered an essential element of language growth and development in linguistics. In addition to Konglish as we know it, the Spanglish phenomenon is also spreading rapidly. So, let's find out more about it! ....................................Ed
If you watch recent news or broadcasts, you can easily come across words like ‘corona’ and ‘untact’. We can easily see that these words mean ‘step-by-step recovery policy’. However, it is Konglish, which is not used in the English-speaking world. We express the phrase, ‘Living with coronavirus,’ with the Korean pronunciation of ‚With corona‘, and ‘Contactless payment’ as ‚Untact.‘ Many linguists regard Konglish as an essential element of language growth and development.
How does the combination of languages occur? Language is changing through contact with other languages, even within one country. In particular, the United States is a multicultural and multi-ethnic society where immigrants from many countries coexist, so the combination of languages occurs frequently. Among them, Spanglish, a mixture of English and Spanish, stands out the most. Overall, the number of Spanish-speaking Hispanics is increasing in the United States. Therefore, Hispanics in American society have a great influence on politics, economy, and society. This increase in the Hispanic population has had a great influence on language use. The Spanglish phenomenon, in which English and Spanish are mixed by Hispanics who are not good at English, has begun in earnest. Some examples include ‚Tú tienes las keys.‘ (You have the keys.) Estás ready? (Are you ready?) and ‘marketa’ (market). They refused to be synchronized into American culture, and tried to maintain their identity and familiarity. Over time, the frequency of using Spanglish gradually increased, establishing themselves in American society.
Spanglish was recognized as a single language in the United States because its spread was widely accelerated to be regarded as a simple form of language mutation. Spanglish is very different from the Spanish we are learning, and it must be treated as a new language. Therefore, the study of Spanglish, which is widespread in the United States, is more than just language education. And many specialists think that understanding the use of Spanish, which is recognized as a language in the United States and has plenty of economic and political influence, and learning Spanglish are in line with the goal of language education to nurture people around the world.
“Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.” -Rita Mae Brown
Yang Su-rin (ST Cub-Reporter)
s066178@soongsil.ac.kr
