Speaking Spanish in the USA: Variations in Vocabulary Usage - Softcover

Native speakers of Spanish as well as intermediate and advanced level students of Spanish as a second language increasingly use words and expressions that bear the influence of American English. The author has been able to document the use of such terms in oral and written communication, both in formal and informal contexts. He asserts that these anglicisms are acceptable modes of speech in a developing dialect which he calls United States Spanish. The intention of his manual is not to change the way people express themselves, but rather to help language students distinguish between United States usage and standard academic usage. He insists that there is nothing wrong with communicating in Spanglish in a bilingual, bicultural environment; the important thing is to be aware that you're using it. His book presents 650 entries in alphabetical order, then asks you to test yourself by identifying each entry as either standard or U.S. Spanish, and learn how to switch from one form of speech to the other. Following 29 exercises, the book concludes with an English-to-Spanish index.

[back cover]
Speaking Spanish in the U.S.A.
Native speakers of Spanish as well as intermediate and advanced students of Spanish as a second language increasingly use words and expressions that bear the influence of American English. This highly original book documents the use of such terms in oral and written communication, both in formal and informal contexts. The author’s intention is to help you distinguish between United States usage and standard academic usage. He presents 650 entries in alphabetical order, then asks you to—

Test yourself by identifying each entry as either standard or U.S. Spanish

Learn how to switch from one form of speech to the other.
Praise from an authority on Spanglish:
“Spanish in the United States exists in a state of mutation. Will the language of Cervantes

ultimately disappear? Will it be revamped into an altogether new form of communication? By cataloguing and analyzing variations in usage (or “abusage,” as some might describe it), Alberto Barugel insinuates the answer. His book is an invaluable resource destined to infuriate the purists and be admired by the average person.”

—Ilan Stavans, Lewis-Sebring Professor of Latin American and Latino Culture, Amherst College, and author of
Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language