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Chapter 4. E-mail, Emilio or Mensaje de Correo Electrónico? The Spanish Language Fight for Purity in the New Technologies

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Chapter 4E-mail, Emilio or Mensaje de CorreoElectrónico?The Spanish Language Fight forPurity in the New TechnologiesJEREMY MUNDAYIntroductionThis chapter sets out to summarise briefly some of the ways in whichthe Spanish language and its institutions are reacting to the worldwidespread of English. The Spanish-English interface is of great interest:Spanish is a major world language, an official language of the UnitedNations and the European Union, and itself has experienced a noticeablegrowth in the past decade; most interestingly, the number of speakers ofSpanish in the United States has risen rapidly with immigration fromMexico and Central and South America. Although Spanish has thereforeincreased in prominence in the United States, it is also under pressurefrom English, which has given rise to a hybrid form, sometimes called‘Spanglish’ or ‘espanglish’, that is fraught with controversy. A major focusof this chapter will be an attempt to relate how the institutions chargedwith protecting the Spanish language are reacting to the situation. In par-ticular, an analysis will be provided of the battlefield of information tech-nology, where technical terms and ‘netspeak’ show the increasinginfluence of English but where electronic corpora have been set up by theSpanish Royal Academy of the language to try and protect and maintainthe unity of Spanish.1The Development of Spanish as a First LanguageAlthough there is some debate about the number of first-languagespeakers of different varieties of Spanish in the world, the generallyaccepted figure is upwards of 320 million. The largest number (more than90 million) live in Mexico, followed by Spain (nearly 40 million). In total,Spanish is the first or main language in 23 countries, including the coun-tries of Spanish America, one African state (Equatorial Guinea, with400,000 speakers) and the Philippines (at least 1.8 million speakers).2In57IN AND OUT OF ENGLISH FINAL 5/11/05 12:11 PM Page 57
©Channel View Publications Ltd, Bristol/Blue Ridge Summit

Chapter 4E-mail, Emilio or Mensaje de CorreoElectrónico?The Spanish Language Fight forPurity in the New TechnologiesJEREMY MUNDAYIntroductionThis chapter sets out to summarise briefly some of the ways in whichthe Spanish language and its institutions are reacting to the worldwidespread of English. The Spanish-English interface is of great interest:Spanish is a major world language, an official language of the UnitedNations and the European Union, and itself has experienced a noticeablegrowth in the past decade; most interestingly, the number of speakers ofSpanish in the United States has risen rapidly with immigration fromMexico and Central and South America. Although Spanish has thereforeincreased in prominence in the United States, it is also under pressurefrom English, which has given rise to a hybrid form, sometimes called‘Spanglish’ or ‘espanglish’, that is fraught with controversy. A major focusof this chapter will be an attempt to relate how the institutions chargedwith protecting the Spanish language are reacting to the situation. In par-ticular, an analysis will be provided of the battlefield of information tech-nology, where technical terms and ‘netspeak’ show the increasinginfluence of English but where electronic corpora have been set up by theSpanish Royal Academy of the language to try and protect and maintainthe unity of Spanish.1The Development of Spanish as a First LanguageAlthough there is some debate about the number of first-languagespeakers of different varieties of Spanish in the world, the generallyaccepted figure is upwards of 320 million. The largest number (more than90 million) live in Mexico, followed by Spain (nearly 40 million). In total,Spanish is the first or main language in 23 countries, including the coun-tries of Spanish America, one African state (Equatorial Guinea, with400,000 speakers) and the Philippines (at least 1.8 million speakers).2In57IN AND OUT OF ENGLISH FINAL 5/11/05 12:11 PM Page 57
©Channel View Publications Ltd, Bristol/Blue Ridge Summit

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Acknowledgements ix
  5. Contributors: A Short Profile x
  6. Chapter 1. English in Europe: For Better, for Worse? 1
  7. Chapter 2. English Translation and Linguistic Hegemony in the Global Era 27
  8. Chapter 3. Unequal Systems: On the Problem of Anglicisms in Contemporary French Usage 39
  9. Chapter 4. E-mail, Emilio or Mensaje de Correo Electrónico? The Spanish Language Fight for Purity in the New Technologies 57
  10. Chapter 5. The Influence of English on Italian: The Case of Translations of Economics Articles 71
  11. Chapter 6. The Influence of English on Greek: A Sociological Approach 97
  12. Chapter 7. Polish Under Siege? 108
  13. Chapter 8. New Anglicisms in Russian 123
  14. Chapter 9. Anglo-Finnish Contacts: Collisions and Collusions 133
  15. Chapter 10. Contemporary English Influence on German – A Perspective from Linguistics 153
  16. Chapter 11. Anglicisms and Translation 161
  17. Chapter 12. Anglicisms in Norwegian: When and Where? 185
  18. Chapter 13. Fingerprints in Translation 201
  19. Chapter 14. Translation and/or Editing – The Way Forward? 214
  20. 15. Translating into a Second Language: Can We, Should We? 227
  21. Chapter 16. Translating into English as a Non-Native Language: The Dutch Connection 242
  22. Chapter 17. Native versus Non-Native Speaker Competence in German-English Translation: A Case Study 256
  23. Chapter 18. À l’anglaise or the Invisible European 275
  24. Chapter 19. Intercultural Dialogue: The Challenge of Communicating Across Language Boundaries 286
  25. Index 299
Readers are also interested in:
https://doi.org/10.21832/9781853597893-007

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Acknowledgements ix
  5. Contributors: A Short Profile x
  6. Chapter 1. English in Europe: For Better, for Worse? 1
  7. Chapter 2. English Translation and Linguistic Hegemony in the Global Era 27
  8. Chapter 3. Unequal Systems: On the Problem of Anglicisms in Contemporary French Usage 39
  9. Chapter 4. E-mail, Emilio or Mensaje de Correo Electrónico? The Spanish Language Fight for Purity in the New Technologies 57
  10. Chapter 5. The Influence of English on Italian: The Case of Translations of Economics Articles 71
  11. Chapter 6. The Influence of English on Greek: A Sociological Approach 97
  12. Chapter 7. Polish Under Siege? 108
  13. Chapter 8. New Anglicisms in Russian 123
  14. Chapter 9. Anglo-Finnish Contacts: Collisions and Collusions 133
  15. Chapter 10. Contemporary English Influence on German – A Perspective from Linguistics 153
  16. Chapter 11. Anglicisms and Translation 161
  17. Chapter 12. Anglicisms in Norwegian: When and Where? 185
  18. Chapter 13. Fingerprints in Translation 201
  19. Chapter 14. Translation and/or Editing – The Way Forward? 214
  20. 15. Translating into a Second Language: Can We, Should We? 227
  21. Chapter 16. Translating into English as a Non-Native Language: The Dutch Connection 242
  22. Chapter 17. Native versus Non-Native Speaker Competence in German-English Translation: A Case Study 256
  23. Chapter 18. À l’anglaise or the Invisible European 275
  24. Chapter 19. Intercultural Dialogue: The Challenge of Communicating Across Language Boundaries 286
  25. Index 299
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