what’s the difference between a latina/latino, hispanic, spanish and mexican?

8 Comments

1. LexDIamondz says:

   November 10, 2009 at 11:39 pm

   Ok

   Latino/Latina just means you speak a language that developed from Latin (Romance languages). Generally there are two types of Latinos, the Latin Europeans and the Latin Americans. Latin Europeans are the nations that were provinces of the Roman Empire and speak a Romance language today, and they include the Spanish, French, Italians and Portuguese.

   Latin Americans are the peoples who live in the Western Hemisphere (North & South America) and were colonised by the Latin Europeans. Latin Americans are the more common Latinos in the United States, and so they’re the ones that are most often reffered to as Latino, even though it really includes Europeans too. Latin Americans are also much more racially mixed than Latin Europeans, who are all white, and so they get seen as "different"

   Hispanics are just people who come from a Spanish-Speaking country, or have origins in Spanish speaking countries.

   I know its kinda confusing but look at it this way. If you had a Brazilian, an Italian, A Frenchman and a Mexican in a room, all of them would be Latin, but only the Brasilian and the Mexican will be Latin American, and only the Mexican is Hispanic
2. mr dance moves says:

   November 10, 2009 at 11:39 pm

   she some light on me too, ill be taking notes.
3. HOT BLoOD3D L@T!NA ♥God is Love♥ says:

   November 10, 2009 at 11:39 pm

   LATIN: someone from an European country such as Italy or Spain whose language developed from Latin. / A member of a Latin people, especially a native or inhabitant of Latin America.
   HISPANIC: A Spanish-speaking person.
   http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Latin

   The term *Latino* comes from Lazio which is a region in Italy: Lazio. Latins were a populations of the centre of Italy so the ancient Rome was a Latin town.
   Basically Latinos can be anything: mestizos, mulattos, blacks, whites, Asians, natives.
   Spain is a latin country, so is Italy, Portugal, France and Romania and all of South and Central America.

   The term *hispanic* is used by the USA to group all people of spanish speaking countries into one group.
   Hispanic is an ethnicity,not a race.
   http://womeninbusiness.about.com/od/businessetiquette/a/pc-hispanic.htm

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXzpqvxYSjc&feature=related
   Watch this video, it might help u understand. =]
4. Jαsϻínε Ignαcío dε Gαrcíα.♥ says:

   November 10, 2009 at 11:39 pm

   Nowadays… "Latino/Latina" is a term used to describe a person (regardless of race) who was born in a Spanish-speaking country. "Hispanic" is also just a term that simply states that you speak Spanish – nothing more, nothing less (the term, has nothing to do with race or ethnicity). Anyone from a Spanish-speaking country of the Americas or certain parts of the Caribbean are considered, "Latino/Latina". Basically, no matter how you look at it, the Spanish-speaking people of Mexico are Hispanic and Latino/Latina (note that, Spanish is not the only language spoken in Mexico; there are many different dialects). The Spanish, on the other hand, are not Latino – they are LATINS (or Latin Europeans).

   So basically, to sum it all up… Hispanics are anybody (regardless of race), who speak Spanish. Latinos/Latinas are people born in Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas (e.g. Mexico, Guatemala, Peru), or certain parts of the Caribbean (e.g. Dominican Republic, Cuba).
5. El magno says:

   November 10, 2009 at 11:39 pm

   Latino/a can be any1 who was born in a country where a romance language(developed from Latin like French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Roman) is spoken.

   Latin american: a Latino from America (the continent)

   Hispanic: a person who’s from a coutry where Spanish is spoken.

   Mexican: person from mexico
   Colombian: person from Colombia
   Venezuelan:person from Venezuela
   Spanish: person from Spain

   hope that helps
6. Bert says:

   December 25, 2009 at 10:53 am

   Everyone tries to say it his or her way but there is only one history. The Latin Language, Culture and Civilization originate in Italy (Italia), Not Spain, Not “Latin-America”.
   There is no difference between ther term Latino/Latina or Latin.It all depends on who is talking. The French and British say Latin all the other of us Latin Europeans say Latino/Latina.
   So don’t make up stories.
   No, the real Latins , that is those who can claim Latin Culture are the Italians. Then the French,the Romanians and lastly the Spaniards. I said lastly. These people were all colonized by the Romans,the ancient Italians, and that’ why they inherited the Latin Language, the Christian Catholic Religion and Roman Laws. Eventually the Latin evolved into other moderm Romance languages spoken today.
   No, a Mexican or a Puerto Rican or a Dpminican doesn’t have the same Latin Culture of an Italian or any other Latin European. “Latin Americans” only have languages which come from the Latin. That’s all.
7. francissimidominguez says:

   May 3, 2010 at 10:42 am

   Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese (as well as French , etc) , are Latin people also, of course, yes. Latin language and culture originated in the heart of Italy.

   But in this country (US) I wouldn’t call them “Latin-O’s”, no. Because that term has come to indicate (again , at least in the US), people from central or south America, regardless of the individual person’s race. I would kind of look at it as, “Latino” is sort of a spin-off of the Latin European culture(s) which settled in and later immigrated heavily to south America. Also they speak in south America primarily Spanish (or in the case of Brazil , Portuguese) — both of which are Latin / Romance European languages. There are also many Italians incidentally, living in south America as well (particularly Argentina for instance).

   And there are even other ethnicities in south America as well, people like German descendants who today would be Latinos because they are Spanish-speaking people born in south (or Latin) America. Basically, the “Latin” in Latin America just distinguishes it from north America (English-speaking, Protestant majority as opposed to Latin/Romance-speaking, Catholic majority).

   It is kind of annoying though when old-timers, in America especially, refer to Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, south Americans, etc, as “Spanish”. That would be like calling all north Americans “English” ….. obviously they’re far from it, and in fact the countries in both north and south America fought wars of independence to be free of either the English or the Spaniards. So we should respect that fact and call the Americans , Americans (or whatever hyphenation they may want) — and not “Anglos” — and we should call the south Americans as either “Hispanics” or “Latinos”, not “Spanish”.
8. Bella_Donna says:

   October 16, 2010 at 6:20 pm

   I think south americans should be only referred to as hispanic not latin/o/a and bert is right. sorry idc who gets offended but a mexican or south american is no latin they r hispanic nothing more they speak a dialect from spanish.