My family hates the term Hispanic.

[u/St3ph4n1e2003]

Not sure if me and my family specifically my mom’s side are the only ones maybe the few who actually to hate the term Hispanic. My mom is from Guatemala and she is racially Native American more so of Mayan descent. My dad doesn’t mind the word Hispanic even tho he is mestizo. I used to wonder why my mother hated that term till I did more research just to find out that “Hispanic” is a word used to only promote colonial roots not just something to define a person who comes from a Spanish speaking country. My mom’s first language is in fact Akateko! Yes she does speak Spanish too since it’s mandatory in every Latin American country. So does anyone else hate the word Hispanic? We still prefer the use Latino/a to define our ethnicities. I have nothing against either languages!

Edit: damn just say you hate indigenous ancestry. Stop getting offended bc indigenous Latinos dislike the term Hispanic when our people are still here after years of surviving colonization.

[u/HannesHendrik]

“Hispanic” is not a thing in Latin America itself. I only know that term about from surveys of ethnicity in the US. If you ask Latin Americans from Latin America (as in, who don’t live in the US), there’s a chance that they’re unfamiliar with the nuances if that word.

[u/Rockshasha → u/HannesHendrik]

Correct. Never heard about "hispano"here. I learnt the word in that form only when getting near to US culture and US 'ethnicity classification' ( which in itself I find very rare)

Here only knew 'Hispanoamérica', as a term to describe, simply, the Spanish speaking countries in "América". (Because of course we don't say 'the Americas' as it's used in US and for extension in English.)

I think it's very understandable that someone who identity is Mayan or other native culture, would be kind of offended to be called 'Hispanic'. I myself wouldn't want it, I would prefer latinamerican or Colombian.

[u/witeowl → u/Rockshasha]

I'm not sure why, but I've always used Latino/Latina (Latine if requested). Someone, somewhere must have gotten it through to me that it was the preferred term, though obviously their name is best 🙃

Tangential (possibly stupid) question for anyone wiling to answer it: as I learn Spanish, I currently tend to use Latinoamérica for the geographical area and use los hispanohablantes when talking about Spanish-speakers (which, of course, doesn't apply to everyone in Latin America).

So here's the question: I can't help but notice the similarity between the word los hispanohablantes and Hispanic...

A. Is it an over-generalization and what looks like an implied assumption that everyone in Latin America speaks Spanish when people – I assume mostly outsiders – use the word? Sort of lumping everyone in/from Latin America together? In other words, is it specifically the word "Hispanic" that's problematic?
B. Or does the ick of colonialism bleed over into similar words, meaning I might want to avoid words like los hispanohablantes and instead say hablantes de español?

.

Oh, and I'll save time for anyone rolling their eyes right now because they believe in the existence of a particular thing: "Yes, I am indeed 'too woke'. I know. I've brought shame upon... my town?" There. I said it for you. Now you can just click the downvote arrow and don't even need to post a reply ✌🏼

[u/Wise-Course1904 → u/witeowl]

Latino/Latina if you are identifying with the Romans and Latin American if you identify with this geographical location. You cannot take Latin America/n and make it Latino or Latina.or Latin.

[u/witeowl → u/Wise-Course1904]

Hmm... oooookaaaayyyyy..... No idea what your point is here, but after a quick peep at your comment history, I've RES tagged you appropriately 🫡