The Vaya Blog: Just A ‘Lil NYC Spanglish!

Latin America is the region of the Americas where Romance Languages, those derived from Latin (particularly Spanish and Portuguese) are primarily spoken. Latin America is contrasted with the less frequently used term Anglo-America, designating that region of the Americas where English predominates.

Latin American Culture is the formal or informal expression of the peoples of Latin America; includes both: “High Culture” that refers to literature, high art, etc; and “Popular Culture” that refers to music, folk art and dance as well ad religion and other practices people are used to or have them as custom.

Regions of the Americas considered as Latin America include Mexico, Central America, South America; and The Caribbean (Cuba, The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico) in which Haiti is generally included since it is a non-Hispanic country with some Hispanic cultural influence.

Advanced civilizations such as Aztec, Maya, Toltec, and Olmec, of the Central American continent make Latin American culture a rich and fascinating study.
The southern part of Latin American culture includes most of South America, including the ancient civilizations of Inca, Moche, Nasca, and Tiwanaku.

In the USA there is an important Latin American cultural presence in places like California, the Southwest and cities such as New York and Miami.
Hispanics living in The United States are America citizens or residents of Hispanic ethnicity who identify themselves as having Hispanic Cultural heritage. Hispanics are the nation’s largest minority group.

The Hispanic population consists of the people of Spain and anyone with origins in any Spanish-speaking nations of the Americas.
Sometimes people confuse the terms “Spanish” with “Hispanic”. The Spanish (or Spaniards) are the people who were born in Spain. The Hispanics have a culture with strong links with the Spanish culture.

The Hispanic culture and ethnicity has enriched its culture with a mix of Native Americans and Spanish-European civilizations.

As an interesting note Latino is defined in English language dictionaries as:

• A person of Latin- American or Spanish-speaking ancestry;

• A Latin American;

• A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American descent, often one living in the United States;

• A Spanish speaking person from Latin American birth or descent who lives in the U.S.;

• Latin inhabitant of the United States

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I thought that it was interesting to speak a little about this topic, getting increasingly interesting for everyone as we have more questions and information.
There are tons of information to discuss about this topic, which I will do in the future with your help and comments.

We would love to hear your opinions about this topic; over the time we can all have great information and learn about it!!