#latino culture

[girls-are-weird]

YR fanfic pet peeves (and corrections): latin america edition

so. i was originally going to post this in january as a kind of "new year, new opportunity to learn about simon's hispanic heritage" kind of a thing, but life got busy, and then my computer died and i lost my original list, so i've had to reconstruct this from memory as best as i could. there may be some stuff missing, so perhaps i'll just keep adding to this post as missing/new points come to mind.

disclaimer 1: if you've included any of the points made here on any fanfic of yours, please don't take this as a call-out. this isn't intended to shame anyone, but rather as an educational opportunity. it's very rare that a latin american nationality that is not mexican or colombian or puerto rican is showcased in an international show, especially outside of the US, and it's given me such joy to have all of you lovely folks make the effort to be open to and research and understand the idiosyncrasies of simon's (and omar's) heritage because the rest of latin america tends to go overlooked in most other fandoms. so i don't intend to scold anyone with this. we can't all know everything about every other culture-- lord knows i don't know everything about sweden, but i want to be respectful to the country and its people and that is why i heavily research anything i don't know and ask people who do know when my research doesn't quite cover it and am open to corrections when even that falls short. i expect most of you come to write about simon's family background in good faith and also want to be respectful to his family's culture, and so i thought i might make things a bit easier for you all by putting the most common errors/misunderstandings i've seen in one handy post. but once again, it's not a call-out, i don't get offended by these things, and i'm in no way implying, if you've done any of these things in fic or in life, that you are a bad person. i understand people make mistakes when they don't know things.

disclaimer 2: i am not venezuelan myself. i was born and raised in the same general region of latin america, though, and i have venezuelan friends and have worked with venezuelan people and have visited venezuela. generally speaking, i feel their culture is very similar to mine (though our spanish is much closer to spanglish than theirs is, haha xD) and feel a deep kinship with them. but of course, i'm no native, and if you're venezuelan and catch anything here that you feel is incorrect, feel free to point it out and i'll add a correction in your name.

warning: this is very long. christ almighty. DX if you can't make it to the end, tl;dr-- feel free to ask if you have any questions or if anything isn't clear. my ask box/messages are always open.

1- "mijo." this is the only one that legit has caused me to click out of several fics/chapters, at least in the beginning, but i've learned to grin and bear it by now. it's not so much that it's wrong, per se, but rather it's more of a location issue. "mijo" is, to my ears, very much a mexican (or, if you stretch it, northern triangle) slang. it IS used sparingly in other countries, but rarely used unironically. instead, if you hear the term used in the caribbean region of latin america (which my country is part of, as is a large part of venezuela), it's almost always used… let's say sarcastically. for example, if your grown-ass adult friend is being a dumbass and doing something reckless, you might call out "oiga, mijo, se va a romper el cuello" ("hey, mijo, you're going to break your neck"). basically, it's a way of calling someone immature like a child. it doesn't have to be ENTIRELY unaffectionate (kinda like the way someone might call their significant other "idiot" or "dummy" but mean it endearingly. in fact, in colombia it's way more common for spouses to call each other "mijo/a" than it is for them to call their children that), but you can also use it with complete strangers-- like if someone cuts sharply into your lane while you're driving, you might yell at them "oiga, mijo, a donde le enseñaron a manejar, en un potrero?!" ("hey, mijo, where did you learn how to drive, in a horse paddock?!"). but even in these sarcastic/neggy cases, it's rare. and EVEN RARER to hear a mother call her children "mijo" or "mija" in this region. it's just not a thing. so when i read it in fanfic, it immediately takes me out of the story because it's so weird to me that linda would sound mexican-- it's a very distinctive accent, which carmen gloria 1000000% does not have. (plus, "mijo" in spanish is a type of birdseed. so it gave me a chuckle the first few times i read it in a fic because i always have that brief second of confusion where i go "why is linda calling simon birdseed?" before it clicks. xD i'm a dork.) it's much more likely that linda would just say "hijo" or "mi hijo," instead.

1b- the way you decide on whether to use "hijo" or "mi hijo" is important because "mi hijo" can sound overly formal in the modern context especially, much like it would in english. in fact, you can use the english version of it, "son" vs "my son" to guide you on which of the two to use. like for example, if linda were to say directly to simon "i love you, my son," she would sound oddly old-timey and anachronistic, so you would just use "son" ("hijo") in that case. whereas if she's talking about simon with someone else, for example saying "i told my son to be here on time," you'd be perfectly okay to use "mi hijo" in that sentence in spanish. it's very transferable in that case.

2- speaking of non-transferable, though, you can't use "cariño" in all instances you would use "sweetheart" or "sweetie." it really depends on the grammatical construction, and it can be tricky to get it right, but it depends on whether you're using it as a direct address or as an object. for example, if you're using it in place of someone's name-- say, a mother telling her child "te quiero, cariño" ("i love you, sweetheart/sweetie") is perfectly fine, because in that case, she could also say "te quiero, hijo" ("i love you, son") or "te quiero, simon" ("i love you, simon"). but if, say, simon says to wille "you're my sweetheart," you would not use "cariño" there; you'd go instead with some syrupy way to say "boyfriend," like "eres mi novio" or "eres mi enamorado" or even "eres mi amor," and if sara tells felice "you're a sweetheart," that would also not involve "cariño" at all. in addition, "cariño" is also very rarely used in plural; if linda is using a term of endearment for both her kids, or for a group of teens her kids' age, she would use a different term of endearment altogether: "hola, mis amores" ("hi, my loves"), "hola, bebés" ("hi, babies") or "hola, mis tesoros" ("hi, my treasures") among some examples. one exception is when you say "cariños míos" ("my sweethearts"), but very rarely the plural by itself. in fact, "cariño" is often slang for gift or present, especially in the diminutive-- for example, if you go to someone's celebratory party for some occassion (birthdays, graduations, baby showers, heck even christmas), you might hand them a small gift and go "te traje un cariñito" ("i brought you a small present"), and if it's more than one gift, or you're bringing gifts for several people, then you'd say "unos cariños" or "unos cariñitos" in the plural.

3- simon's skin is tan, not tanned. this… doesn't personally bug me as much because it's more of an english grammar issue, but i know people who might actually feel very offended if you get this one wrong with respect to them. "tan" is a color; a light shade of brown. "tanned" implies the original color of your skin has darkened with the sun. now, i'm sure simon can tan (lucky goat, says she whose skin burns even while indoors), but about 95% of the time "tanned" is used in YR fanfiction, it's used as a descriptor of the color of simon's skin as we see it on the show. that would imply his skin used to be lighter at some indeterminate before-time and has been darkened by the sun. this is incorrect; that is the natural color of simon's skin. so stick to "tan skin" instead (not tan PERSON, mind you. his SKIN is tan, he is not). and i would gently suggest that if you take away any single thing from this post, make it ESPECIALLY this point, as someone more sensitive than me might interpret this error as some kind of retroactive whitewashing. and i don't want anyone here to get in trouble for simply not knowing.

4- pabellón criollo is one dish, yes, but it's four different FOODS. it's not something a newbie would be able to make off of a recipe (i don't know how to make it and i've been eating it all my life), and it's not something that's likely to be taught in just one day. also, if you're bringing it to a dinner or a potluck, you're bringing four separate food containers, not just one.

4b- also, venezuelan food, for the most part, is not particularly spicy. you CAN make it spicy if you want, but traditionally, it is not. it's flavorful, maybe even saucy depending on the dish, but rarely spicy. i know the joke of white people being unable to handle spice is funny, but there's also plenty of us hispanic people who are equally terrible at it, because there's different levels of spice in the food from different regions of latin america. besides, as a friend of mine perfectly put: we are living in the 21st century now. if you can eat mild mexican food, you should be able to handle traditional venezuelan food just fine. and i'm pretty sure there's mexican food in sweden. plus, wille would probably be more used to international food-- not only does he have the means, but having traditional meals in foreign countries is kind of part of the job.

5- while i'm at it: simon is definitely half venezuelan. this is canon as of S2. there is no other place in the world where that dish is called pabellón. please keep that in mind when you're writing and researching.

5b- this, along with several of the points above, is important because it's a bit of diaspora trauma that whenever we venture outside of latin america and people learn we're latino, they immediately assume we're mexican, or that our culture and traditions are the same as those of mexican people. it happens often, and it's incredibly annoying. not that there's anything wrong with mexico or mexican people-- they're lovely, and their traditions and culture and food are fantastic-- but we are not them, and treating us like we are is reductive. the rest of latin america can be very different and incredibly diverse, and it can be dispiriting when people treat us like we're all the same. so that is why it is important when writing about simon, his family or his venezuelan roots, that you take care to actually research things as they are in venezuela, and not just pick the low-hanging fruit of latino facts you might've learned through pop cultural osmosis, which eight times out of ten will be mexican-only because most hispanic people in the US are mexican and the US exports its media all over the world. i've learned to just roll my eyes at it by now, but some people might actually feel offended or hurt, and i'm sure nobody here intends for that to happen.

6- although simon speaks spanish, neither he nor sara nor his mother nor any aspect of his mother's culture is spanish. "spanish" is what people from spain call themselves. people from spanish-speaking latin american countries are not spanish; we are hispanic, or latino/a/e. "latinx" is… let's call it controversial, at least outside of the US. most people born and raised in latin america don't like it; i personally don't get offended if people use it, but i don't use the term myself. also, you can say "latin food" or "latin music," but we usually don't refer to PEOPLE as latin, but rather latino/a/e. if in doubt, just use latin american or hispanic. they're also conveniently gender neutral.

EDIT: @andthatisnotfake also brought up a very important point: "if you spell it latinx, it makes it harder for screen readers to read (or so I've been told) and some people depend on those, so there's another reason to avoid it." (the unpronounceability of that term is at least part of the reason why hispanic people who live in latin america don't like it.)

6b- never use "the latino/a" on its own to refer to people. "latino/a/e" is an adjective, not a noun, so you would say "the latino boy" or "the latino man" but never just "the latino." kinda like it would be weird to point out the one japanese man in a room as "the japanese." there are some nationality/ethnic terms that just don't work as nouns in english.

7- spanish is not simon's one native language-- or at least not any more than swedish is. he grew up in a mixed-race household, speaking two different languages. it's pointless to call spanish his native language when comparing it to swedish. both are his native languages. also, while we're at this, wille is probably at least bilingual (i'm assuming he can speak at least english), although he only has one native language. it's hardly a competition between the two boys as to who's more of a polyglot.

7b- simon wouldn't take classes on the spanish language-- like to learn how to SPEAK the language-- since spanish is one of his native languages. he wouldn't take them at hillerska, nor in university, nor elsewhere. he wouldn't be allowed. you're literally not allowed to take classes on your native language, nor get credit for said classes. trust me, those would've been an easy extra 24 credits for me in college if that was a thing.

EDIT: have been made aware (thanks, @rightsogetthis and @plantbasedfish!) that at least in sweden and in finland one IS allowed to take classes of your non-swedish/finnish native language, in certain circumstances. i have to say, i'd be pissed if i were taking my french classes alongside a french native speaker, but hey, the system's the system, i guess. ;) so i've struck this one out.

8- dear god please don't use google translate for your spanish translations. listen, i'm not judging-- i do it with other languages, too, when i'm in a pinch. but google translate is literally The Worst (tm) so i always try to either check with someone, or stick to the stuff i already know is correct. seriously, you don't want to know the kinds of crazy stuff GT can spit out that people actually put out in the real world; some of them are quite hilarious. if you're unsure, my ask box/messages are always open and i looooove helping people with this kind of thing, hispanic language and cultural stuff. i know it seems like i'm hardly around, but i do check my messages. don't be shy, even if it's something really small.

PS: while i'm talking pet peeves, malin is wille's bodyguard, not his butler. she's nice enough to attend to him at hillerska because there's no other palace staff around and she's literally stationed outside his door, but she wouldn't do that in the actual palace. there's other staff for that. she wouldn't even guard him at the palace, i don't think, because the royal palaces in sweden are guarded by the royal guard, not SÄPO. if anything, malin might spend the time while wille is in the palace grounds at a gatehouse (like in YR 2x03 and onwards) or at some kind of security office in the palace, and then get called whenever wille needs to go anywhere. she wouldn't be giving wille messages from the queen or walking guests to wille's room or anything like that. that's not her job. (sorry, i had to get that off my chest, lol.)

#young royals #young royals netflix #netflix #simon eriksson #sara eriksson #linda eriksson #omar rudberg #carmen gloria perez #latin america #latino #hispanic #latin american culture #latin culture #latino culture #hispanic culture #spanish language #i hope this is helpful #if not feel free to ignore lol

[kabukiaku]

Felíz día de los Muertos to my fellow Latinos! ✨🧡🎊💀🖤

I may wanna turn this queztal bird into a oc....I grew attached to him. 🥺❤🤍💚

#my art #dia de los muertos #mexican #latino culture #mexican culture #digital art #queztal #birds #anthro #character design #anthro art #avian furry #furry #furry art

[thebatblog]

#batman #Mexican Batman #latino culture #latino #Latino Batman #dc comics #danny trejo

[brazilspill]

Latino solidarity

When I lived in Cuba for a semester, my Brazilian mom expected me to call at least once a week, long-distance call prices be damned. Ideally more than once a week though.

One day, I realized that it'd been over a week since I'd called and I mentioned it to a fellow Canadian student.

"Well, you're an adult now, your mom needs to understand that you're gonna be more independent because you have your own life," was the white Canadian reaction.

"No, that's not-- Oh, you don't get it," I sighed.

"Get what?" a Cuban friend asked.

"I just realized that I haven't called my mom in over a week."

"Ooooh noooo..." was the immediate Cuban response.

"I KNOOOOW!"

"Well, it was nice knowing ya," they laughed, "You are so dead."

#brazil #cuba #latino culture #culture clash #lost in translation #lol #the real life of me #latina mom #brazilian culture #cuban culture

[tainted-liquor]

racism and 'hiimayee'/'mayearies'

hi! so, I know Im not posting as frequently as I should be n I kinda fell off, BUT! theres a reason for that that I will be discussing today.

so, around maybe a month or so ago I was added to an insta gc with a handful of writers. Some being ash, maye, Dalia, a mutual friend named Ash, who we refer to as Lash, and a few others. Keep in mind, just so there is no misconception, the dominant population of this groupchat was both black and queer. I am not going to define who as its not relevant, and I would like to respect everyones privacy.

So, one day in the groupchat, we were all joking around when maye decided to call Dalia, aka @primaviva, a b--der h**per.

Now, for some who are confused lets go over the term 'b--der h**per' and its history.

This is a racial slur that aims to offend the Latino community, specifically Mexican immigrants. it is a callback to the border laws that prevent non-U.S. citizens from entering the United States without legal documentation, otherwise known as a passport or a 'green card' that will recognize you as a U.S. citizen. Throughout history, the government has made it harder and harder to apply for U.S. citizenship. Especially if the person attempting to migrate doesn't have the appropriate funds to finance this kind of migration. This is a form of systemic oppression to further segregate POC from White America, and this system has been critized in the past due to its nature and America even being stolen land.

As stated above, this slur is aimed at Mexican Immigrants. However, anyone of any culture can be an immigrant. When Maye knowingly said this to Dalia, not only was she using a derogatory term used to berate those who spent years trying to find a way towards a better life against her, but she was also grouping her in a category that is not her own. Dalia is NOT Mexican-American. She is puerto rican and dominican. So not only does this term not apply to her, it groups the entire Latino community in a giant umbrella of ignorance that erases her culture, and throws it under one title that is not her own.

To put this into perspective, lets use a hypothetical example.

Jen is Mexican-American. Her culture has deep roots that contributed to everyday history. While some components of her history may be similar to other Latino heritage, they are not the same and differ in many ways.

Gabriella is Puerto-Rican. She too has some similarites to other Latino/spanish speaking cultures, but there is an entirely different story to how her people came to be.

Grouping Jen and Gabriella together is ignorant. Doing this overlooks and dismisses their difference in history and boils their culture down to one small similarity; Spanish. You wouldn't call Gabriella a deragotory term that doesn't apply to her, because not only is it racist, but it also takes a massive eraser to her culture and roots. To put these two under the same roof and unite them under one thing is essentially telling them "you're all the same."

Cultural erasure is already a big problem in non-white communities. Anything that differs from European american history is already not talked about, but to do this is just a slap in the face.

And to put the icing on the cake, this was her apology. Which took her 3 tries...

#1, which was already an issue in itself...an emoji for racism is crazy.

#2, which still wasn't sufficient for racism...

And #3, in which she attempt to deflect the situation by saying we use "problematic language". Which, is only the n-word amongst each other. Because we're all black!

She even got defensive when Dalia assumed she was Latino due to how quickly the word was sent like it was normal. This was not a PROPER apology, regardless of how lengthy it was.

And to make matters worse, this isn't the first time she's been caught saying some racist/problematic shit.

This post is lengthy, and for that, I apologize. But I would like to address one last component of this post before I sign things off.

As you can see in one image, Maye cracked a joke about 'curry' when talking about Pakistani women's education activist Malala.

Let's take a moment to explain why this is problematic, and how cracking jokes about curry when on the topic of Pakistan is an issue.

Pakistan is a country in South Asia that neighbors India. This country has a beautiful and unique history of its own that very rarely is taught in classroom settings, just like I said earlier with any sort of history that is not European. One of the racial stereotypes of its South Asia is their 'abundance of curry', and all of their meals being some type of 'curry'

This is again an ignorant and narrow-minded ideology regarding the topic of race and its similarities to other countries that are similar in certain aspects. It pushes people into a marginalized box, and labels them as 'all the same'.

I ask that you do research before spreading a harmful narrative about peoples culture, and don't be ignorant. Thank you for taking time to read this post.

#discrimination #please read #History #hiimayee #Racism #hate crimes #latino culture #latino #ignorance #Latino community

[thesavagestoic]

#breaking bad #walter white #sugar skull #Dias de Los muertos #latino culture

[atheostic]

As an Indigenous lifelong atheist being told by theist Jews on Tumblr that I have to be culturally Christian because I happen to be Latina, it feels extra gross and infuriating to me.

Especially as my tribe in particular (Nambikwara) has a long and very proud history of resistance against Christianity.

What theist Jews are saying when they say that all Latinos have to be culturally Christian regardless of their life story:

a) Indigenous culture and identity as well as other minority cultures in Latin America are invalid and/or unimportant compared to Christianity (if they even acknowledge their existence at all).

b) Latino culture is monolithic when it's anything but. If I were to say that Jewish culture is monolithic I'd be (rightfully) called a bigot, but in their minds saying that about Latino culture is a-okay. In fact, it's bigoted of me to disagree with them (complete randos on the internet) about what my culture is.

c) That Latinos don't get to have autonomy; we're required to have a hive mind because some randos who happen to be Jewish said so. And if we disagree with them then we're bigots because to disagree with a Jew regarding your own identity is bigoted, I guess.

d) They're imposing Christianity on Indigenous people, which is gross enough on its own without the added bonus that it also implies that Indigenous peoples' struggles to retain their culture are at best pointless and at worst irrelevant (if they even acknowledge the struggle at all).

e) They, complete randos on the internet, are more qualified than me to determine what my culture and beliefs are (not unlike how run-of-the-mill queerphobes claim to know better than the person themselves what their sexuality and gender are).

f) That Jewish Latinos are culturally Christian by default and don't count as real Jews.

g) That your culture is whatever the main religion in your country happens to be -- unless you're Jewish, Jewish people are the only ones who this doesn't apply to.

#abrahamic religions #christianity #religion #atheism #judaism #cultural christianity #latino culture #south america #latin america #latinoamerica #atheist #theists #theism #racism #bigotry #hypocrisy

[ishomieokay]

So, today I went to buy a milkshake. When the lady brought me my drink, I thanked her and she replied "a la orden, mami" which literally translates to "at your service, mommy."

So, being a local I obviously know that she said this because 1) "At your service" is a very normal thing to say to clients in Venezuela, for some reason (?) and 2) in Venezuelan slang calling someone mommy is the equivalent of saying "sweetheart" or "baby" and it's a very common endearment to use even between strangers.

However, I also know that through an American lens that probably sounded like a dialogue taken out of a weird BDSM scene set in victorian times and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.

#spanish #venezuela #mommy k!nk #bdsmkink #latino culture #idk how to tag this #not homelander related #although he would be into this I think #fine i'll create my own content #oh the joys of living in socialist venezuela

[t13shoots]

#photography #canon photography #street photography #black and white photography #photographer on tumblr #festival #original photography on tumblr #photographers on tumblr #photography on tumblr #latino #latin girls #latino culture #latina culture #culture #manassas #va #bw photography #bwphotography #dancers #dancing

[spydermisc]

#marvel comics #venom #Dias de Los muertos #sugar skull #latino #latino culture

[marcoszks]

shoot by mikeylazo (instagram)

#houston #lowrider #latino culture #texas #aesthetic #photography

[thebatblog]

#batman #Mexican Batman #latin heritage #latino culture #latino #Latino Batman #danny trejo #dc comics

[brazilspill]

Coming out to my mom

Last year I told my mom about this sketch by a trio of Irish comedians about this dude that keeps trying to come out to his family only to repeatedly get interrupted for 15 years straight (pun unintended).

A few weeks later, I casually came out to my mom as being ace during a car ride.

Her response?

"What kind of coming out was that? You're LATINA, it needs to be DRAMATIC. At the very least as dramatic as that Irish sketch you told me about! I demand a do-over."

My mom doesn't give a flip about who I do or don't bone so long as I'm happy, but by god, she will not stand for a daughter who's less dramatic than the Irish.

#brazilian people #my mom #the real life of me #lol #latino life #latino culture #foil arms and hog #coming out #lgbtq #lgbt positivity #lgbt+ humor #lgbt+ positivity #asexual

[tainted-liquor]

Yes, I did post you! I did indeed.

Notice how in your own little exposé, you made no mention of how you said…2 slurs. And then proceeded to say we were accusing you of not being Thai, when we weren’t even the ones who said it bb!!☠️

This wasn’t even me, this was Marie☠️☠️ I didn’t accuse you of anything cuz that’s a wild ass allegation…

what gets me is how you’re allowed to say “oh she said faggot this this and that” when I’m…openly queer. before anything happened or any of our posts went up, YOU decided to say this shit on your note

See? Like ash said, she’s not mean without a reason. AND STILL, instead of taking accountability for saying multiple slurs, you yet again attempt to shift the blame on someone else for saying jokes (which you acknowledged and even reciprocated as jokes,) that they can reclaim. That entire GC was black with an exception to AIVA and DALIA. So again, YES WE WERE LMFOAAOOA

N you wanna know smth funny? You removed us from the GC so we can’t get the “receipts” your dumbass posted. But you KNOW WHAT WE DO HAVVEEE??😋

that entire post where you did not acknowledge once that you said several slurs. You literally js posted screenshots of us joking and said “oh this’ll get em! This’ll justify me saying derogatory terms!!” Lmfao☠️☠️

not to mention how you tried to doxx ash on anon as this situation went down…what???☠️

doxxing someone over a slur you said is CRAAAAAAAAAAZY

and on to you saying I stole your theme…I asked you first to take inspo, to which you said yes☠️☠️ please don’t switch up now when I’ve defended you on others ACTUALLY stealing your theme. You even told me yourself I’m the only one that asked.

And if you wanna pull ‘receipts’ of me saying things you also said, I can do that too!! As well as your friends bashing you behind your back

So please, have some sense and stop lying to save your racist ass🩷

#racisim #latino culture #hiimayee #try again cuntbag

[badgalbre]

Nochebuena @ Cavaña, SF 🎄

#nochebuena #citylife #nightlife #latino culture #san francisco #bay area #cocktails #drinks #theme bar #xmasmood #holidayseason

[thesavagestoic]

#breaking bad #walter white #sugar skull #latino culture