“In Spanish, mi hermano, in Spanish.” It Is Good to Speak in Español in USA

Abstract

Sometimes even the most alert minds seem to forget hackneyed phrases; we call this “PeroGrullo.” Let’s begin with one common forgotten but obvious truth: Spanish was the first language spoken in western United States. The political unity of the regions, the United States, accepted the language of Cervantes when it was first spoken in its territorio less than 50 years before the first word in the language of Shakespeare was heard. But let’s go a step further: Spanish was the primary language used in the earliest official documents, theatrical plays, newspapers, first trials, and so forth. We could continue and cover in detail all areas of the earliest knowledge and human experiences relative to Spanish but that is partially the point. The truth is that this romance language continued until the early nineteenth century to be the most spoken language within the territory of what today is the United States.