Mexican English

Welcome to our Mexican English page.

This page contains a growing list of resources regarding Mexican English; how Mexican English has influenced international English and how English is spoken in Mexico.

Please leave any suggested links in the comments section.

Our blog posts on Mexican English

Mexican English, here we go!
In my own bid to celebrate Mexican English month I am going to commit to eating as much Mexican food as possible. Also Mexicans everywhere will be celebrating the Day of the Dead  this month, and I think that it sounds like the kind of celebration I would like to be involved in: remembering and celebrating the lives of friends and family members who have died. I want to do some of that.

Multiculturalism in Mexico
Language is something of a hot potato  in this part of the world, not least for the role it can play in issues of social and political exclusion. Mexico has fared better than some of its neighbours in having set in place legislation to establish the ‘linguistic rights’ of its people, but in practice, many still remain excluded by the mere fact that they are not fluent in Spanish. You’ll still find official websites with English versions, but no indigenous-language version, so I, as a foreigner, have more chance of understanding the machinations of the Mexican state than many of its citizens do.

I can’t live without them!
I think the alarm bells first started ringing for me when Mexican friends and colleagues also started using our corrupted Spanglish, and when I found I couldn’t actually switch it off when I returned to the UK, and was received with more than a few raised eyebrows.

A thriving corner of the English rainforest
What am I doing writing a blog post about Mexican English? After all I am English English. I speak absolutely standard British English for a person of my age and my upbringing. But there was a time when my perception of English was subtly altered, like so many Inner Circle people who live and work outside their home countries (such as Britain, the US, Australia, Ireland etc). I was living and teaching in Mexico and it was here that I was able to witness the way in which people appropriate English and mould it to their own ends – or rather the way in which the English that Mexicans used (and I mean good competent successful English rather than, say, beginner English) has its own special ‘feel’ and norms.

You won’t hear much Spanglish in Mexico
If something sounds reasonable, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s true. People sometimes assume that the Spanish spoken in Mexico, because of its proximity to the US, has more English words in it than, say, the Spanish of Spain or Argentina. My experience in Mexico, however, showed that this is not even remotely true.

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