Actual conversation in our shop here in Texas. Told someone I did not speak Mexican and was corrected that Mexican is a race of people and they speak a form of Spanish.
  The discussion ended with a consensus that Spain speaks Spanish, Mexicans speak Mexican, Americans speak American, and England speaks English.

  Is it wrong to indetify the different dialect as Mexican since it is unique to Mexicans or call what Americans speak American?

Bo  

Remember,
If the women don't find you handsome,
they should at least find you handy.
 (Red Green) www.redgreen.com
 

(Warning, pedantry follows)

Actually Mexican is a nationality, not a race designation ( There are many races in Mexico)..

In the United States we speak a form of English and in Canada ( also American, like Mexico and all of South and Central America) they also speak a version of English with Quebecois speaking a version of French.


In most countries there is one dominant language but many different versions and dialects ( and in some countries, actual different languages).

For convenience, we usually refer to the country as the basis of the Language name,but it is not really accurate in many cases.
 

To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

As a UK resident I've never heard of American or Mexican.

It's spanish or Latin.

If it was down to dialect, the the UK would consists of hundreds of languages!
Get a native of Glasgow, Liverpool "The Black Country" & a "cockney" together and you'd swear they all spoke different languages!

The difference between American English and the "Queen's" English are so little that it cannot be classed as a seperate language.

Robert Wilensky:
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

 

Quote:

The difference between American English and the "Queen's" English are so little that it cannot be classed as a seperate language.

Not according to Professor Higgins of My Fair Lady.

Every region has their own dialect as Professor 'iggns pointed out in the play. In America, you can pick up accents from New Englanders, the New "Jorsey" shore, the South, the Southwest, the West, etc., etc. It's still English although we joke about it being "American."

Even in Central and South America, there are dialects the differ from region to region and country to country. I've heard Mexicans complain they have a hard time understanding people from Paraguay even though they still speak Spanish.  

James P. Cottingham
^{I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229!}

In the part of Texas where I live (San Antonio) the spanish that most individuals speak could be called either Tex-Mex or spanglish.  It's not "true spanish", such as would be spoken in Madrid.  But's it's still "Spanish" and "English". Everything else is a dialect, as has been pointed out.

If you're living in Texas, you should at least have enough Spanish to get by - for me, that means ordering a beer and asking directions to the restrooms!

Susan
"Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.
Then, when you criticize them, you are a mile away ...
and you have their shoes."

Expanding on the "My Fair Lady" theme, Professor Higgins also says about French:

"The French don't care what they say as long as it is pronounced correctly."

Espanol es mucho trabaho para los gringos. ;)

 

Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg  http://parallel.tzo.com
 

  Everyone has used the words; form of, dialect, or version of.

QUESTION:
 Is it wrong to name or describe these versions, forms, and dialects by those who use them?

 Or is the only correct way to say it is, "I don't understand him, he speaks a different form of Spanish because he is from Mexico".

I do understand a little Canadian just fine, eh.  

Bo  

Remember,
If the women don't find you handsome,
they should at least find you handy.
 (Red Green) www.redgreen.com
 

==> Is it wrong to name or describe these versions, forms, and dialects by those who use them?
Not necessarily.  It depends on how accurate your description of those who use them.

==> Or is the only correct way to say it is, "I don't understand him, he speaks a different form of Spanish because he is from Mexico".
I'm not sure that's accurate unless you can't understand everyone who is from Mexico.  In other words, just because you don't understand him, does that mean you don't understand everyone from Mexico?

The concern is when you paint "those who use them" with too broad a brush.

--------------
Good Luck
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read
FAQ181-2886: How can I maximize my chances of getting an answer?
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

My English, that I speak and write, is closer to American-English than British-English (which I had learned in school), and I have no problem understanding Americans (except New Yorkers), Canadians (except the Franco-phones), British (except the slang/dialects), but some of the Commonwealth English speakers out there, e.g. Indians, are just too much...

Mexicans speak Mexican-Spanish, Americans speak American-English...

as pointed out, the difference is small, between American English and the Queen's English, but it can be funny as heck, e.g. an American calls the thingamajig at the end of a pencil an eraser, the British call it a rubber...

and I agree with CajunCenturion (Commandant de Cadiens) about the concern with painting using a broad brush...

@gbaughma - No, not too much work... "Yo no hablo español muy bien. Inglés y alemán, pero muy bien."

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

Turkbear: I think a bit of pedantry was called for. have a purple-pointy on me for explaining something that, apparently, needed explaining.

DTSMAN: I don't know you and honestly don't mean to disparage you personally. But to my ear - as someone who lives in a diverse city, perhaps - the original question sounds ignorant and offensive.

Everyone who has been through a few years of school should know that the language we're typing is called "English". At least, I'm assuming that's what the language classes you took were called. (As in, "I'm late for [English / Math / Chemistry / Band].")

If one is aware that "we" speak English, not American, then it follows that (most) Mexicans speak Spanish, not Mexican.

-John
    The plural of anecdote is not data

Help us help you. Please read FAQ 181-2886 before posting.

I agree anotherhiggins.

 The question I posed was if it is wrong to associate a name to the different dialects people speak. Or is it OK for a region to take a language, manipulate over the years to be their own, and still say it is the same as what they started with.
For example, depending on which English you speak, when I ask you for a fag, what am I going to get???
   

Bo  

Remember,
If the women don't find you handsome,
they should at least find you handy.
 (Red Green) www.redgreen.com
 

==> For example, depending on which English you speak, when I ask you for a fag, what am I going to get?
I think you're confusing language with slang.

In answer to your question, it would depend on your accent.
 

--------------
Good Luck
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read
FAQ181-2886: How can I maximize my chances of getting an answer?
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

Quote:

Or is it OK for a region to take a language, manipulate over the years to be their own

Yes, look at English, it started out being a form of German... Now German and English are two different languages...

Quote:

and still say it is the same as what they started with.

Well, I don not hear any Englishman(woman) say they are speaking German (Angle or Saxon)

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

Don't forget the liberal amounts of French, Greek and Latin thrown in for good measure. Include as well, plently of words that have simply been made up. Just ask Bill Shakespear.

Robert Wilensky:
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

 

I think the issue here is simple.  DTS, you ask if it is wrong to call a language by the region that speaks it...

The answer is yes it is wrong if the language has a name already.  So calling my language American is incorrect (wrong).  I speak English.   IF you wish to further describe it, the language I speak is a variation you could call American English... but you would not call it simply American.

So by the same token, IF you wish to refer to the variation of the language being spoken, it is correct to say you don't speak Mexican Spanish, but it is incorrect to say you don't speak Mexican.

Mexican or American are only adjectives in these phrases, describing the noun which is the name of the language.

~thadeus

I'm with Professor Higgins. I don't believe you chaps speak English at all! <Tongue in cheek>

Fee

"The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen

...thus spake the Welsh lady...tongue in cheek because it's always tangled

The internet - allowing those who don't know what they're talking about to have their say.

Some of the most pedantic users of the English language have been Welsh. [sniff]

Fee

"The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen

You could argue Welsh IS English...

Robert Wilensky:
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

 

If you can convince enough people, then anything can be held for the truth!

 

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

So, it's "Mexanish" or "Spanican" !
Me no se habla espanol.  

"Impatience will reward you with dissatisfaction" RMS Cosmics'97

I speak Mexican Spanish and Spain Spanish and Venezuelan Spanish.  There are words I can use in some of those countries that I wouldn't dare use in the other.  And, they aren't the same words either, so it is tough to keep it all straight.  Something very properly said in one country can be quite vulgar in another.  The words are the same.  That is language usage, not difference.

I worked for a British company for a few years and found out that we speak the same language, but use words differently.  I had to learn how to translate British English for my American clients and vice versa.  Not knowing the difference caused real problems at times.

rmw2

Thanks Thadeus, star for you.

 I guess we are adding to the world of acronyms a world of hyphenated descriptors to stay politically correct. I will avoid the one that annoys me and my classmate from Morocco here in the states.

 So, Boomhauer from the animated series 'King Of The Hill' actually speaks, "Texan-American-English". I understand him just fine.

 Majority rules. I am going with the flow. Thanks for the advice..

Bo  

Remember,
If the women don't find you handsome,
they should at least find you handy.
 (Red Green) www.redgreen.com
 

I don't think you get it yet. It isn't wrong to call it Mexican or American because that is politically incorrect, it is wrong because the actual language is English or Spanish. There is a difference between a language and a dialect. You don't have to hyphenate it either. He speaks English is perfectly fine in usage.  

"NOTHING is more important in a database than integrity." ESquared
 

On a side note, it seems the New Yorkers are losing their accents according to this news article.
 

James P. Cottingham
^{I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229!}

Time to cram out the Dice^* Videos...


* Andrew "Dice" Clay

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"