Versión en castellano"I am American", he said. "Me too", I answered,
while he knit his eyebrows in surprise.
We have to keep our culture, our language. This does not mean to promote nationalism, just to express well what we really mean (versión en castellano).
How many times do we hear the term americanos in reference to U.S. citizens? The precise designation is estadounidense (literally, "United States-ian"). But aren't we also Americans? Reducing America to just the United States goes beyond titles for nationality. This influence can be seen in incorrect translations (see table below which does not include many other technical terms), the dominance of fast food (which wouldn't be a bad thing if the food were decent), violent movies and TV (which feature horrendous acts of gruesome bloodshed, but carefully avoid explicit sexual acts, which are natural and beautiful), satanic music, etc.
| English | Incorrect Spanish | Correct Spanish | Comment |
| American | Americano | Estadounidense | |
| Billion | Billón | Mil millones | One thousand millions |
| Trillion | Trillón | Billón | In Spanish, a trillion is a million of billions |
| Interface | Interfase | Interfaz | Fase is phase in English |
| Library | Librería | Biblioteca | |
| Assume | Asumir | Suponer | Asumir in Spanish is to take or accept a position or duty |
| Submit | Submitir | Enviar |
Without disregarding the good things of U.S. culture, its enslavic economic invasion is packed with a Ptolomaic vision of the world. Communication media centered in national news, with the paucity of international news often portraying only disasters. Local sports with "world" series. All this creates ignorance in general knowledge (recall the famous National Geographic geographical survey more than ten years ago and the new one). In this sense, Canada is an interesting country, which tries to mix the best of the US with the social benefits of Europe.
The use of American has a deeper connotation. United States of America is really a bad name, because America is more than just the original 13 British colonies. In English, many people use America to mean the US. A partial way to resolve this ambiguity, is the six continents theory, where North and South America are different continents, and then we can say Americas. Let's assume that this is true, then:
Note that these historical views were defined before the Antarctic was considered as another continent (and then we have six or seven continents). I have seen America divided as North and Latin American, to imply that Mexico is not part of North America (although difficult to deny after NAFTA). Do not allow the usurpation of our continent. There is just one America and we can all share it. Hence, we have to reply with pride that we are also Americans. Even more, the true Americans (in the continental sense).
Note: I am grateful to the English revision done by my fellow american friend Bob Dailey and the comments of several readers.