Do you habla Spanglish? Sami shares his love of language in new learning book aimed towards kids

Aug. 15—"How to Speak in Spanglish" is an entertaining learning book aimed at ages 4 to 8.

The young boy Sami is the main character. Not only does Sami speak in English and in Spanish, but he mixes the two languages in the same sentence.

Sami also injects a few words borrowed from English and Spanish into a hybrid tongue called Spanglish.

The first of those Spanglish words in the book is "lonche." Borrowed from English, it means "lunch."

At a family breakfast, Sami tells readers that he sometimes uses these made-up words as he does in asking the question, "Can I buy lonche at school?"

The word "lonche" has been in use for decades.

Sami also combines English, Spanish and Spanglish in the same sentence.

Witness his statement on what he says is being served at school that day: "Today is jamberguers con papas fritas." Translation — hamburgers with french fries. In Spanish, the letter "j" sounds like a soft "h."

A few pages later, Sami is on the way out the front door, headed for school. He waves to his next-door neighbor, Mrs. Bell.

"Brr! Me estoy frisando out here!" He says, meaning he's cold.

Sami's father asks him in Spanish, "Donde está tu chaqueta, Sami?" Chaqueta is Spanish, not Spanglish, for jacket.

Here are a few other Spanglish words in the text phonetically similar to words borrowed from English and Spanish —"Watcha" for the exclamation "Watch this," "sanweech" for sandwich, and janguear meaning "to hang out."

Another Spanglish word in the book, "rufo," combines the English "roof" and the Spanish "techo." All three words mean the same thing.

There's a three-page section at the back of the book that refers to keywords and phrases in the text that are in Spanish, Spanglish and English.

The author, Mónica Mancillas, who lives in Burbank, California, is the daughter of a Mexican American father and a Chilean mother. She moved to the United States from Mexico at age two and considers herself Mexican American.

"I learned English at school and as a kid most of my code-switching was accidental, not an intentional use of mixed words," Mancillas said in a phone interview.

Code-switching means alternating between languages or dialects in a conversation, or even in a single sentence.

"I came up with the idea for the book because language is so much a part of one's identity if you're from a different country. Language is a bridge to cultural heritage," she added. "And for me, it was a matter of shame or embarrassment not speaking Spanish so well."

Mancillas believes her book normalizes — and, indeed, celebrates — code-switching, a practice many Latinos in the United States have grown up with.

Based on her research for the book, Mancillas believes code-switching enhances cognitive abilities and is a help socially because you have more people you can talk to.

"We are intermixing (words) more than ever. In my lifetime alone, there are new words in our lexicon than there were when I was growing up," she said.

Olivia de Castro, the book's illustrator, said the book reminded her of growing up in New Jersey with grandparents from Colombia and the Dominican Republic who spoke Spanish and parents who used Spanglish.

Spanish scholar Enrique Lamadrid addressed the subject of code-switching in an email. "In the public and private schools of the past, code-switching and elements of regional Spanish were not tolerated, or even were ridiculed in the classroom," writes Lamadrid, distinguished emeritus professor of Spanish at the University of New Mexico.

"As Spanish Heritage Language pedagogy and programs emerged alongside ethnic activism, teachers began to treat what bilingual students brought to the classroom with respect, an asset to be built upon, rather than a detriment to learning," he added.