You Say Tomayto I Say Tomaughto

Has it ever occurred to you that you speak anything other than English? Me neither. Until, that is, I started giving clases particulares (private tutoring) here in Chile. It seems that, unbeknownst to us Americans, what we speak is actually "Norteamericano" while our friends across the pond in Britain speak "English." And the delineation doesn't stop there. Apparently, the abundance of modismos (slang, or expressions) we have and the way that we modulan (pronounce) amounts to, in the opinion of Chileans that I have spoken with about this, a shameful pollution of "English."

My tutees, for example, consider these two "languages" to be so different (and, although they've never flat out told me so, the latter so preferable to the former) that it actually raises concerns for them in their learning of the language. About three times a class, they ask me anxiously, when I introduce a word or phrase, "Now is that Norteamericano or English?" And comments about my "modulation," or that of my compatriots--from the casual English speaker on the street to famous actors my tutees have seen in movies--are a constant part of our lessons.

I take offense to this. And none too little. Perhaps it's because I've always thought of myself (call it a vanity of mine) as an extremely clear speaker, with excellent enunciation and pronunciation. I like words and language and I make a conscientious effort to know as much as I can about their correct usage. So, when someone tells me that I don't actually speak the language that I think I do, it irks me. I've found myself, more than once, snapping back at my poor tutees, "This difference that you think there is, between "Norteamericano" and "English," it's NOT THERE."

That's probably wrong of me. Not only because they are just observing what they hear, but also because, on some level, they are right, there are differences. Not on the level of different languages, but dialects, certainly. It's true, there are plenty of words that Americans use that British don't, and vice-versa, and, of course, there is the difference in accent, not only between British and American speakers but amongst speakers of each group, depending on geographic area, socio-economic status, age, and un monton of other factors. I have no problem with my tutees observing and commenting on that. But it's the idea of superiority that they seem to attach to English, that is, the English of Great Britain, that bothers me.

What is most interesting to me about this is that my tutees, as Chileans, are sure to have been the victims of this kind of linguistic snobbery. One of the first things I was told when I came to Chile, and one of the first things people--Chileans--say to me when I tell them I came here to improve my Spanish, is that Chilean Spanish is "terrible." Chileans are the first ones to deprecate their speech, but I have to believe that this is undoubtedly the result of criticism by other Latin American countries and Spain. Chileans will bring up their tendency to cut off the ends of words, speak extremely fast, and use modismos that only Chileans would understand. They call this speaking "badly" or "incorrectly." And perhaps, because they have become comfortable with being categorized as "bad" speakers, they don't see any problem with criticizing the speech of others.

But, I happen to like Chilean Spanish. Having lived here for a few months now I've gotten used to the way that they speak, have become familiar with some (only a handful relatively speaking) of their modismos, and even have gotten comfortable enough to use a few of them in my own speech. Chilean Spanish is unique, and endearing, and interesting to listen to and try to understand. And so what if it's not what they speak in Spain, or Argentina, or Mexico. Language is nothing if not dynamic, it's constantly changing and evolving to serve its only real purpose: communication. And that's why when Chileans make comments to me about their speech, saying "We speak badly" or advising me not to pick up their habits, I disagree with them, insisting that their speech is not wrong but merely different.

I'm not afraid to learn and practice Spanish with Chileans. Yes, perhaps if, someday in the future, I travel to Mexico and ask a Mexican woman if she has a pololo (Chilenismo for "boyfriend"), she'll look at me like I have two heads. Or if I go back to Spain to visit my host mother and when she calls me to lunch I say I'll be there al tiro (Chilean for "right away"), she will think I'm talking about a gunshot, which is the original meaning of tiro. But is speaking Spanish with Chileans going to pollute my knowledge of the language? Absolutely not. Just like learning English from a North American (because English is what they are learning, not this "Norteamericano" business) is not going to be detrimental to my tutees. They are not learning an incorrect version of English. I like to think that I'm teaching them practical, real life, and, to the extent that it's necessary, grammatically correct use of the English language. Hopefully they can get over their fear of Norteamericano so that they can move towards fluency in English.