Have you changed any of your vocabulary because you live in a bilingual area?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I grew up calling soft drinks “pop” and saying “excuse me” when I needed to pass/squeeze by somebody. In 1983, when I was 17, my family moved to a new town in an agricultural area that had a lot of seasonal migrant workers, mostly Mexican. Over the last 10-20 years, more and more Mexicans have settled permanently in my area, to the point where my city’s population is now about 30% Hispanic. As a result, day-to-day interaction with native Spanish speakers is extremely common.

So I noticed a while back that I had switched to using “soda” for soft drinks, and I had replaced “excuse me” with “pardon me”. There are probably other words I’ve similarly replaced, but these are the two that come to mind, as in both cases the substitution is still perfectly clear to English speakers, but are more likely to be understood by Spanish speakers. “Pardon me”, in particular. I’ve found it helpful because unless I already know the Mexican in question, I don’t know immediately if the person understands English, but I know that either way they will understand the word “pardon”.

Has anybody else here made this kind of vocabulary change?

2

The area that I live in has a large Latino population but I haven’t noticed that I’ve changed any of my English vocabulary. I’ve picked up a lot more Spanish, though.

3

About all I do is say “Gracias” at the taco stand. Anything more feels fake and patronizing somehow.

4

Many Thai words get sprinkled into English conversation among Westerners here . Farang (Westerner"), mao (“drunk”). But I’ve also adopted a lot of British and Australian slang, which is almost like English.

5

I’d have to say the number one word that has changed in my vocabulary is what most people call a “catering truck”–one of those trucks that goes around to various places to sell food to construction workers or students, etc.

Well, for me it’s a “lonchera,” no matter whom I’m talking to.

I have a Mexican step-mother and two Mexican step-sisters and one step-brother. I worked three years in my step-mother’s restaurant, with cooks who spoke little English, so I picked up a lot of their lingo. So I’d never say “tripe” instead of “menudo.”

Even when speaking with purely English speakers, I’ll often say “chingado” and they’'ll understand, or “vato”, and always “mamacita,” (when referring to a woman who isn’t my mother." But then I made a lot of Peruvian friends, and sometimes I’d say “Mande?” by mistake, and they’d looked confused.

But then I lived in Caribbean Colombia where they say things with English-speaker Colombians like “hijue’puto,” [EX: That hijue’puto just dented my left rear fender!" but everyone understands it, even Spaniards.]

Because my area is not bilingual, but rather, quinta lingual (Spanish, Thai, Korean, Armenian, and English), certain words just creep in. For example, you never order “Turkish coffee” around here. It’s always “Armenian coffee.”

In Thai Town, you always get a better dish if you order it in Thai.