Is Latinx the appropriate word to use for our festival?
Asked by: Concerned Student
Answered by: Ms. Pina
The question was paraphrased for the title above. Here is the full question:
It has come to my attention recently that the term “Latinx” is not commonly used or embraced in Spanish-speaking countries, mostly because the “x” ending does not work with the Spanish language. The term was created in the past twenty years by queer Latinx people living in the United States, but people living in Spanish-speaking countries have pioneered another term: “Latine”. This variant naturally works when one is speaking Spanish. Many Latine people online have been speaking out against the use of “Latinx”, claiming that Spanish is not a gendered language but merely one where every noun is either masculine or feminine. Why, then, is our festival called the Latinx heritage festival? If we are truly celebrating the heritage of these people, shouldn’t it be the Latine festival? Just for clarity, I’m not Latinx/Latine, so you might want to take my opinions with a grain of salt. Just curious.
Dear Concerned Student,
Thank you for reaching out. Our Heritage month to commemorate all the different identities coming from the Americas (North, Central and South) was named Latinx before the term Latine gained more popularity. The variant that you speak of deemed natural (Latine) is indeed not natural in this case. As you so rightly point out, the Spanish language has nouns that are masculine or feminine (determined by the use of the 'el' or 'la' prior to the noun). To name our festival (not identify a community) we could go several different ways;
The Latin American Heritage Festival (describing the type of heritage).
El festival Latino (festival being a 'masculine' term)
El festival de la herencia latina (herencia being a 'feminine' term)
El festival de la comunidad latina (here the word being identified would be community, not the people that make up the community).
In short there are many versions we can choose from in English and Spanish, and this year we chose to go with Latinx Heritage, perhaps next year we will go with another one.
Ms. Pina