Los Angeles pocha Natalie Munguia didn’t learn Spanish when she was growing up, and now she feels left out, as she explains in this video for Sociology 244 at Whittier College. FYI, here’s the course description:
Mas…This L.A. pocha wishes she could speak better Spanish (video)
Feliz Hanukkah from POCHO and the Hip Hop Hoodíos! Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, begins at sunset Sunday night and ends at sunset on December 30: Ocho noches, therefore Ocho Kandelikas.
This salsa version of Ocho Kandelikas comes from swingin’ L.A. Cantor Kenny Ellis. The lyrics are in Ladino, the Sephardic language with roots in Spanish and Hebrew:
Mas…Los Hip Hop Hoodíos fire up ‘Ocho Kandelikas’ for Chanukah (videos)
Mexico, like the United Estates, is a “nation of immigrants.”
In the 1900s, Tijuana welcomed Jewish refugees fleeing wars, hate and poverty in Europe, Asia and the Mideast.
Tijuana Jews, the story of the extended Artenstein family, has become a POCHO Rosh HaShanah (New Year) tradition ever since we noticed rosh-ha-shanah rhymes with Tijuana.
The Jewish year 5776 begins at sundown Sunday, September 13. We wish all who celebrate a happy, healthy, peaceful, loving, prosperous, and sweet New Year. In Ladino — the hybrid Spanish-Hebrew language Jews spoke in Andaluz before the Inquisition — that’s ANYADA BUENA I DULSE!
Mas…Happy Rosh HaShanah from the Jews of Tijuana! Happy 5776! (video)
The urban legend is true.
There ARE massive tunnels underneath the streets of Puebla, one of the first major cities of Spanish-era Mexico.
“…authorities have now confirmed their existence, and say the secret passageways could date back 500 years. The city hopes to turn the tunnels into an attraction.
The underground passages, which measure approximately seven meters high and three meters wide, were discovered during public works in the colonial city.
Mas…Tunnels from 1531 discovered under streets of Puebla, Mexico (video)
Newly-hired Vanessa Ruiz of KPNX TV Channel 12 news knows how to properly pronounce her Spanish, thank you very much and no, she won’t apologize. Ruiz’ Facebook page is here. [Pinche Flash video may not play on your device.]
We have totally been here before. Mira two videos from Gustavo Arellano and Gustavo Almadovar.
First-generation Texas-born Filipa wants to be teacher, and she gets some early experience when she helps her uncle learn English so he can obtain a driver’s license for a new job. The documentary short Felipa: North of the Border is from 1970 and aired on CBS.
Mas…First-generation Felipa was born ‘North of the Border’ (#TBT 1970 video)
“Wow, it’s so cool you can speak Spanish,” people tell me after they hear me on the phone with my mom.
I say thanks and try to shrug it off, but I worry that letting them think that gives a mistaken impression.
I mean, yes. I can speak Spanish.
My parents taught me Spanish when I was growing up in California because it was the only language they had to give.
Like a lot of children of immigrants, I grew up in a Mexican immigrant bubble – my tias and tios spoke only Spanish. My baby primos spoke Spanish with me when we watched Plaza Sesamo and ate conchitas.
Mas…Born in the USA: The secret downside of espeaking Spanglish
Hispanic, Latino and Spanish are often used interchangeably in describing ethnicity. But what’s the right terminology? Feminist, vlogger and “critical thinker” Kat Lazo sets people straight. Nice Venn diagram, too.
Mas…Latino? Hispanic? Spanish? What’s the difference? (videos)
Televisa Monterrey Meteorologist Yanet Garcia has become an online sensation. Her June 20 weather forecast is all over the Internets — over half a million views on YouTube.
The video, with the catchy title of Yanet Garcia y El Pronostico Del Tiempo 20-Jun-2015 Full HD, has even attracted the attention of high brow publications like the NY Daily News:
Mas…If Yanet Garcia does the weather it’s HOT HOT HOT! (video)
“The Zorro story, invented in 1919 by pulp fiction author Johnston McCulley, tells the tale of an aristocrat in Spanish California who dons a mask to fight against corrupt colonial officials on behalf of the oppressed,” writes Marlon Bishop of Latino USA.
Mas…Out of the night, when the full moon is bright! America’s first superhero
Rula the parrot, from Tracy, in San Joaquin County, is a dirty-mouthed bird according to Spanish-speaking — and Spanish-HEARING — neighbors. Or not. The animal authorities have been advised of the situation, but none of their on-staff critter wranglers are bilingual.
PREVIOUSLY ON PARROTS WHO ESPEAK SPANISH:
Mas…Neighbors complain local parrot curses in Spanish, or not (video)
Like puro pochos, the peeps at Latino USA talk Spanglish. In this episode they talk about their favorite Spanglish vocabulary words and also check in with expert and POCHO amigo Professor Ilan Stavans, who literally wrote the book on Spanglish.
Mas…Latino USA: Favorite Spanglish words and Ilan Stavans (audio)
Many politically conscious Chicanos are looking for yet another alternative way to Celebrate Cinco de Drinko but still protest the ahistorical consumer appropriation of a battle that is meaningless to most Mexicans.
Well, Jeb Bush (aka el Yeb according to his Mexican compadres) has provided us with a warm video message of solidarity this Fifth of May to honor the “honorable” way that the Mexicans fought against foreign invaders in the Battle of Puebla. Did I mention that the message is all in Spanish?
Enjoy the Internacional, the world-wide (Get it? It’s international!) anthem of those red commie cabrones in Cuba and Venezuela and China and North Korea (and lurking in secretive cells everywhere else but the lamestream media sheeple won’t tell you that).
Tomorrow, May 1, is May Day AKA International Workers’ Day, when the communist comrades sing this stirring appeal, with its hummable melody and a vague vision of a better future that’s hard to disagree with, except maybe the LUCHA FINAL aspect.
Mas…Happy May Day from the Workers of the World (music video, lyrics)
By BERNADETTE RIVERO
Technically, the word I should have used above, in the headline, is “Manipulates.” As in, “Safely Manipulate Your Balls When You Celebrate!”
That’s what the Federal Drug Administration advises this season, anyway. (Screen capture, above.)
But I’m a writer who has spent a lifetime in both advertising and journalism, and I know the value of good clickbait when I have it in my hands.
Er… Line of sight. Sorry, I’m distracted by the FDA advising me to fondle one’s nether regions for Easter.
Mas…The Easter Story: Why advertising to Hispanics sucks balls* [Updated]
POCHO Migrant Editor Al Madrigal gets some help from POCHO Jefe-in-Chief Lalo Alcaraz and POCHO Associate Naranjero Gustavo Arellano as he tries to understand what it means to be half-Mexican in America.
Mas…Al Madrigal’s ‘Pocho Quest’: ‘Half Like Me’ (complete video)
The ¡Ask A Mexican! Why do Mexicans OVER-PRONOUNCE Spanish? video prompted California Report’s Queena Kim to call POCHO Associate Naranjero Gustavo Arellano for more info.
No, it’s not really pronounced “Kimm,” she explains. It should be pronounced more like “Keeeem.”
C’est la vie.
The mariachi version of Daft Punk’s Get Loqui is only the tip of the iceberg, as this video shows.
The BBC sent a reporter to the Southwest to find out what it means to be a Mexican-American. The answer? It’s complicated.
There are some Spanish words English-speakers can’t wrap their tongues around.
PREVIOUSLY ON SPANISH WORDS:
Gustavo ¡Ask A Mexican! Arellano is always ready with answers to your preguntas:
Mas…Ask A Mexican: Why do Mexicans OVER-PRONOUNCE Spanish? (videos)
(PNS reporting from RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA) Factional fighting among Spanglish speakers, academics, and Raza activists doomed the first Spanglish grammar conference, held here Sunday.
“The idea was to create some foundational principles and ground rules for our people’s language,” co-organizer Lourdes Cervantes-Borges of the Professional Organization of Chican@s Oppressed by Society (POCHOS) told PNS. “We wished merely to memorialize those rules in a book of proper Spanglish Style, a Estronque y Blanco if you will, but then these know-nada nacos had to get involved.”
“No manches, son puras pendejadas! I ain’t down with all of that academic bullshit,” countered East Los delegate-at-large Oscar “Mocoso” Chavez. “Nuestra lengua is from the streets, and I ain’t talking ’bout that chingon taco troka on the corner of Beverly Boulevard.”
Mas…Accusations, controversy doom first Spanglish grammar conference
Beware of El Lado Oscuro!
PREVIOUSLY ON STAR WARS:
Mas…Star Wars: ‘The Force Awakens/El Despertar de la Fuerza’ (video)
When he flew away from his British owner in Torrance, CA four years ago, Nigel talked with an English accent. When he returned last week, the talented African gray parrot spoke Spanish.
Here are the Pocho Ocho top phrases Nigel the Parrot picked up on his Raza Vacation:
8. No más “Nigel.” Mi nombre es “Miguel” ahora.
7. El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!
6. Polly quiere un Takis.
Mas…Pocho Ocho top new Spanish phrases learned by Nigel the Parrot
At the Trenton Crossing Shopping Center in McAllen, TX, they espeak Spanglish.
“What exactly IS all this pocho talk?” you might ask.
