Why do Americans refer to latinas as spanish

[Diyhai]

black americans are called african american
saying Spanish is just like saying asian
general term when you don't know the specifics of a person's origins

 

[boskey]

besides the ignorance of your statement,
Some latin countries speak portuguese as well, why aren't brazilians,uruguayans and paraguayans referred to as portuguese then

Nevermind latin european countries like Italy,romania,andorra,moldova et al who have their own language

You have a point with Paraguayans, Brazilians etc but they don't have as big of a presence in America so its obvious why they get lumped in with the 95% who speak spanish.

Italians Romaniasn etc are not considered Latinos so that point is moot

 

[Diyhai]

besides the ignorance of your statement,
Some latin countries speak portuguese as well, why aren't brazilians,uruguayans and paraguayans referred to as portuguese then

Nevermind latin european countries like Italy,romania,andorra,moldova et al who have their own language

people don't have time to be familiar with every culture that exists
so they generalize
I don't know if I think its disrespectful

 

[Baka's Weird Case]

Cuz they speak spanish. What else do all the latino countries have in common? Serious question...

they dont all speak spanish see brazilians. hispanic and latino arent the same thing

latino means they’re colonized by countries that use romance languages.

edit: someone answered above

 

[IGSaint12]

Most of the western world outside outside of NA(meaning Europe) does not interact with Latinos as much as Americans do. Nor do Americans interact much with people from Spain. Some people are gonna get confused or not care about proper identification

 

[Mowgli]

Do you would call a Mexican Spanish...and then call a Rican Spanish in the same conversation?

If I can't tell their nationalities by looking at them/hearing their accents yea.

Is Latin better ?

 

[Diyhai]

You have a point with Paraguayans, Brazilians etc but they don't have as big of a presence in America so its obvious why they get lumped in with the 95% who speak spanish.

Italians Romaniasn etc are not considered Latinos so that point is moot

i think the average person would say Brazilians speak brazilian
not even Portuguese
Shyt aint relevant to their life so why they need to know that random shyt

 

[Baka's Weird Case]

You have a point with Paraguayans, Brazilians etc but they don't have as big of a presence in America so its obvious why they get lumped in with the 95% who speak spanish.

Italians Romaniasn etc are not considered Latinos so that point is moot

italians and romanians arent from latin american which is what the term “latino” refers to. if italy had colonies in south america those people would be called latino

 

[Geek Nasty]

Why do we call every Latino illegal Mexican when most of them aren't?

Language is stupid and lazy sometimes. At a certain point trying to use the right word makes you hard to understand and pretentious sounding.

 

[Collateral]

They call themselves that and most of them don’t have a problem being called Spanish, so what’s the problem.

I stopped calling them Spanish bc it really is ignorant, I just say Hispanic. But there’s no uproar with them so it doesn’t matter.

 

[kingofnyc]

This is a uniquely American thing, everyone else around the world refer to people from latin countries as latina
They may group them as latin Europeans, latin American etc unless they are from spain (those are the only
identified by their correct term, spanish or spaniard)

The first time I heard an American refer to a dominican as spanish, I was confused as hell

So you refer to them as spanish just because some of them speak spanish

coli please explain why it makes sense to call a colombian, spanish

its a hip hop ebonics New York thing

 

[boskey]

italians and romanians arent from latin american which is what the term “latino” refers to. if italy had colonies in south america those people would be called latino

Good point

 

[315]

I’ve only really heard that on rap songs

 

[Jean Jacket]

If I can't tell their nationalities by looking at them/hearing their accents yea.

Is Latin better ?

I ain't tripping Breh. I just wonder how people differentiate.

I couldn't tell who was who if I had only a voice to go off of.