Anglicismos in Mexican Spanish

If you’ve had the opportunity to visit Mexico, or ever seen a film or series based in the country, you may have picked up on the vast number of words spoken in Mexican Spanish which have an English twist. These words are known as anglicismos, or anglicisms, and are becoming increasingly more common in Latin American Spanish, particularly amongst young latinxs.

What are anglicismos?

Unlike Spanglish, which is considered its own language that is formed by combining Spanish and English, anglicismos are words taken from the English language that are hispanicized and then incorporated into Spanish dialogue.

Some of these words are altered phonetically to sound Spanish, like:

chance, pronounced “chahn-seh”

Dame chance.

Give me a chance.

Others, particularly verbs, take on the appearance of Spanish words by adopting typical word endings, such as:

parquear = to park

No se puede parquear el carro allí.

You can’t park the car there.

Anglicismos tend to be used so often that they eventually replace the existing Spanish noun or verb, to the horror of some native speakers.

Why are anglicismos so popular in Mexico?

With modern-day Mexican culture being so heavily influenced by the US, it is no surprise that English words have crept into people’s everyday Spanish vocabulary. This is particularly true for food- and sports-related words, as you’ll see in the examples below, especially those with roots in American culture.

Food

Sports

Anglicismos are also very common in the workplace.

Work and Social Media

Loanwords

In addition to these, there are a whole bunch of loanwords - taken directly from English without modification - that are adopted by Spanish speakers, either because the terms simply do not exist in Spanish yet or because English is a universal language in the industries they belong to. Often, these are associated with the rapidly evolving tech industry, such as the words “marketing” and “influencer”, where language just hasn’t been able to keep up. The following are loanwords which do have a Spanish translation but the English is still more commonly used:

So what do the locals think?

We asked our maestros de español and, whilst some are more keen to use them than others, they all agree that the rise of anglicismos in Mexican Spanish is inevitable, due to the country’s close proximity to the US. Maestro Erick says, if anything, he finds that they are chistoso (funny) and make the language more divertido (fun). Despite differing opinions, it seems anglicismos are here to stay.

Here are some other fun anglicismos that you’re likely to hear around town in Felipe Carrillo Puerto:

Ride (instead of llevar)

Se me hace tarde para la clase. ¿Me puedes dar un ride?

Se me hace tarde para la clase. ¿Me puedes llevar?

I’m late for class. Can you give me a ride?

Wachar (instead of mirar)

Wacha ese perro.

Mira ese perro.

Look at that dog.

Cachar (instead of atrapar)

Cacha la pelota.

Atrapa la pelota.

Catch the ball.

If you want to read more about Mexican Spanish, check out our regular blogs on the language here. The best way to learn Spanish and to experience Mexican culture is through an immersion experience. To find out more click here or contact us on say@naatikmexico.org.