Not in the LA Spanish I Know

letter to the editor

I would question some conclusions in the article "Se Habla Angelino" [2/13/2008]. Claudia Parodi claims that the local news here is given in Los Angeles Spanish. I would like her to provide examples of that. The majority of local journalists on the Spanish-speaking news grew up in Spanish-speaking countries and immigrated here as adults, and would no more speak LA Spanish than Professor Parodi would, having been born and raised in Mexico. (This fact can be easily verified by checking the biographies on the TV and radio stations' websites.)

Also, I would be interested in seeing the sample size of her research into LA Spanish, which claims that its speakers commonly use the words "agora," "asina," and "mesmo." Perhaps the Spanish spoken in Los Angeles is radically different from that spoken in San Gabriel Valley, because I have never heard those words used here. I'm sure there are people somewhere in Los Angeles who do use those words, but I question whether those words are a universal feature of the Los Angeles Spanish dialect.

Jessica Romero
Glendora Calif.

Date Posted: 3/20/2008