Translating Spanglish in US Latinx Audiovisual Stories

by Remy Attig (Editor), Roshawnda A. Derrick (Editor)

Overview

This collection showcases interdisciplinary perspectives on how Spanglish is translated across different forms of audiovisual media for different audiences in the US Latinx content.

The volume explores the ways in which Spanglish is used in American media to portray the hallmark linguistic characteristics of the communities in which they are set, but also the different scholarly approaches employed to analyze them in existing research. The first section looks at the interplay of code-switching, translanguaging, and linguistic identity in television shows and films but also podcasts, music, and other emergent forms of media. The second part examines US Latinx stories through the lens of translation studies, with chapters showcasing different lines of inquiry within contemporary translation scholarship, including accessibility via captioning and interlingual translation through subtitling and dubbing. Taken together, the volume offers a holistic view on how Spanglish is translated in US Latinx stories towards paving the way for future research in this context but also on multilingual and translingual audiovisual stories more broadly.

This book will be of interest to scholars in sociolinguistics, translation studies, language and media, media studies, and Latinx studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032784717
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/26/2025
Series:	Routledge Studies in Sociolinguistics
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Remy Attig is Assistant Professor in the World Languages and Culture Department at Bowling Green State University, USA.

Roshawnda A. Derrick is Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies at Seaver College at Pepperdine University, USA.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors

 

1.    Introduction – Remy Attig & Roshawnda A. Derrick

2.    The Queer Politics of Spanglish - Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes

 

PART 1 – Spanglish in US Latinx Audiovisual Stories

 

3.    Spanglish in Audiovisual Texts - Roshawnda A. Derrick

4.    Code-Switching in ¿Qué Pasa, USA?: A Prototype for Bridging Languages and Cultures on Screen - Cecilia Montes-Alcalá

5.    Making Latinidad Audible: The Changing Linguistic Representation of Bilingualism on Latinx-Themed Television Shows - Victoria Melgarejo & Mary Bucholtz

6.    A grammatical analysis of the code-switching in Gentefied - Rodrigo Delgado

7.    The Sonic Borderlands: Crime, Music, and Latinx Podcasting - Manuel G. Avilés-Santiago & Danny Méndez

8.    Radio hosts embracing community language practices: Spanish-English code-mixing and “Spicy Talk” in Los Angeles - Brandon J. Martínez, George Romero, Amelia Grace Hill, Hannia O. Rojas Barreda & Ana M. Carvalho

 

PART 2 - Closed captions, poetics and translations in US Latinx Audiovisual Stories

 

9.    The Challenge of Translating Spanglish - Remy Attig

10.  Spanglish use in Netflix’s show La Firma - Leslie Del Carpio

11.  Radical bottomhood: a critical translational analysis of the songs “Boy is a Bottom” and “Es una pasiva” - Iván Villanueva-Jordán & Antonio J. Martínez Pleguezuelos

12.  What is the role of Spanglish in the depiction of Latinidad in an original and in the Spanish dubbed version of a TV Series? The case of Modern Family (ABC: 2009-2020)  - María José Higueras Ruiz

13.  Bilingual Choices in Felipe Esparza’s Bad Decisions/Malas Decisiones - Margaret Buchanan

 

Index