I wrote this letter to the leadership of a European client of ours. Our role was specifically to ensure that accurate American English was being used in reports for the US. I had discovered that they did not see a difference between terms, and were therefore using them very, very incorrectly. So incorrectly that it made the overall report useless. So I jumped in to make my case.
I’m posting it here, because as things change so dynamically in our political world, I feel like it’s an editor’s job to ensure that we are all using the same words to mean the same things, and that we do not confuse one thing for another through sheer linguistic sloppiness. Accuracy matters, and editors can make the world just that little bit much better simply by making sure that the right word is in the right place at the right time.
Latino vs. Hispanic
I’m writing to bring your attention to the following paragraph, in the published Report [redacted]. On page 7, it states:
For the purposes of this Report, [company] has used the following definitions:
[company] acknowledges that individuals of Hispanic and Latino origin utilize myriad terms to describe themselves. “Hispanic” entails anyone who has origins from a Spanish-speaking country, and “Latino” denotes individuals who have origins in a Latin American country, regardless of whether it is a Spanish-speaking country. To capture the diversity of this demographic, this Report will employ the terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” interchangeably to indicate individuals of Spanish-speaking descent or with origins from a Latin American country.
I would humbly request that this be removed, and that the report be reexamined in its entirety, given the fact that this definition is foundationally incorrect.
- Hispanic refers to a person with ancestry from a country whose primary language is Spanish.
- Latino, Latina, and Latinx (Latin/o) refer to a person with origins from anywhere in Latin America (Mexico, South and Central America) and the Caribbean.
It’s not that there are “myriad terms”… it’s that each term has a specific usage to mean a specific thing, and that has strong demographic implications.
- Someone from Spain is Hispanic.
- Someone from Brazil is Latin/o, but is not Hispanic.
- Someone who is Mayan, while they do speak Spanish, considers themself Indigenous, and would insist on being referred to only as Latin/o.
As these examples (and those in the attached articles) show, it’s quite complex, but it’s definitely not “interchangeable”. And for the purposes of this report, the disparate groups encompassed within the language of this report are not likely to be functionally the same. Or, to put it another way, people living in the jungles of the Mexican Riviera are not paying for goods and services the same way people living in Rio de Janeiro are, or people in Haiti (who speak French, but are Latin/o) are. Painting these demographics with too broad a brush dilutes the value of the Report itself.
Most importantly, these are terms that are bound up with people’s identity and lived experience; using them in the way they are used in this report risks very real (and valid) offense. I would request that this report be reviewed thoroughly, and the language be reconsidered in this light. Thank you.
References:
- https://www.npr.org/2023/01/26/1151608403/mena-race-categories-us-census-middle-eastern-latino-hispanic
- https://medschool.duke.edu/blog/ask-oedi-hispanic-latino-latina-latinx-which-best
- https://www.vox.com/2015/8/19/9173457/hispanic-latino-comic
- https://thelatinoauthor.com/voice-articles/correct-term-hispanic-latino/
- https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/choosing-the-right-word-hispanic-latino-and-latinx
