So I "dabble" with music in all aspects. I write lyrics (raps), make instrumentals, and experiment with mixing genres. I have always liked to make it when I have free time, make it to relieve stress, and about a year ago to memorize stuff needed for tests lol.
One of my Spanish professors for 302 was really into poetry and music and was telling me a good way to use spanish is to write poetry and use it in a beat I make. I really liked this idea because some of the artists I like do the same thing (Pitbull, Baby Bash, Romeo Santos, just to name a few). For me its just to help me work on my pronunciation and language maintenance but these mainstream artists are making a huge impact with their use of Spanglish.
It used to be that artists speaking spanish would make albums for that audience and if it became successful then maybe songwriters would translate the lyrics to english (extremely difficult to do, I tried doing that with one of my songs in english to spanish and spent the whole semester trying to figure out rhyme schemes to match what I was saying in English). But with that in mind, I think artists like (Shakira and others) started making albums that were in spanish or english specifically, and wrote lyrics for the songs that could easily be translated to keep the pattern nearly identical. But now that Spanglish is being used in these songs artists are taking advantage of this!
Since these artists are having success on the radio and switching between the two dialects it makes me think people are now willing to accept Spanglish as a language and use it. To me spanish sounds much smoother than English (I think its because Spanish has the highest peaks of pronunciation in the middle of words or phrases, where as English seems to have a harsh pronunciation at the end of the word) and even better when it is mixed in a song! On the other hand, it could be that people only like the beat of the song and do not pay attention the language switching that is taking place. Either way Spanglish is getting poured into the one of the biggest markets (entertainment) and is having major success.
Whether this music is playing in a night club with "Anglos or Mexicans" who cant speak/understand a lick of either language they are still enjoying the music. Could this lead to those people wanting to learn how to speak the other language so they can enjoy the lyrics? What about people who know some of the language, either one, is it maintaing the language in a bigger perspective?
Anyone have thoughts about the use of Spanglish in music or the entertainment realm? Sorry if this is somewhat disorganized but it just had me thinking!
Justin Aragón
Justin, very cool post! I think music can be a great way to experience and hear a language and it can be a good tool to motivate language learners. I always suggest to my students to listen to local radio stations here in ABQ, such as la kalle, or simply to listen to as much music in Spanish as they can. Music can sometimes be a great introduction to language because it seeps into your body and before you know it you are reproducing the music on your own. And, just as you had stated in your creative outlets, it can be a good way to engage with a different language as a means of expression. I think that music is great medium for anyone who wants to further their creativity or their skills in language!
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