[Note: this is part of a continuing retrospective after a semester abroad in Santiago, Chile. For more background to the trip, click here]
Nationality also presents an interesting topic, especially when it comes to language. Living in Chile, I became used to referring to myself as an estadounidense, stemming from the Spanish term for the United States, los Estados Unidos. I would never have called myself an ‘americano,’ because, as my friend Ruo Shin pointed out, everyone in North and South America is by definition an American. Nevertheless, this bit of political correctness falters when you transition to English. Unlike Spanish, in which long, laser-precise words are plentiful (ex. to get dark = anochecer, to be located = ubicar) , our Anglo-Saxon inheritance prefers to the linguistic equivalent of tossed salad – lots of words mixed up illogically to form an idea (this is also one of the more significant problems for ESL learners; why in the world do we say ‘hurry up’ or ‘wait up’?). So what happens to estadounidense? In essence, it becomes an error in translation. Although you can work around the idea with phrases like ‘from the United States’ or ‘resident of the United States’, there simply is no direct translation for estadounidense. It just doesn’t exist.
Nevertheless, the need to express your nationality in English doesn’t dissapear, so I’ve found myself falling back on the arrogant but undeniably-convenient moniker of ‘American.’ In some ways, I feel guilty for this; I understand that everyone in these two continents merits the title of ‘American.’ Nevertheless, if the purpose of language is only to communicate, then it seems almost arbitrary to insist that in English that one continue to refer to U.S. citizens by an awkward, workaround construction. Granted, it makes for a bad translation to Spanish if read literally, but then again, if a Canadian translated the term norteamericano directly, they would have right to take offense as well (because it is used as a synonym for estadounidense).
So how does one balance cultural sensitivity and effective communication? And when does the accepted verbal standards take precedence over unintentional connotations? (In some ways, this echoes the ‘original meaning’ vs. ‘accepted meaning’ debate over Halloween or other ostensibly ‘pagan’ holidays in religious circles) I guess for now, I’m using the prepositional workaround when possible, but am not afraid to bust out the ‘American’ designation when things just get too messy. In Spanish, however, it’s definitely estadounidense or norteamericano. Anything else just doesn’t cut it.
[for other excellent, if slightly esoteric, language discussions, check out John's take on Mandarin eccentricities]
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