I am bi-lingual and it is important to me to have my daughter speak Spanish.
I have been buying board books for my daughter that are either entirely in Spanish or English/Spanish.
I recently bought a book on Amazon by DK publishing. It is a simple board book about puppies (“Touch the puppy!”).
Then I came to a page with “Don’t pull the puppy’s ears” and pull was translated as:
Hale.
I have never, ever encountered this spelling so I contacted the publisher. Usually spelling errors don’t bother me (on things such as e-mails or message boards), but I feel that a book should be correct. My daughter is too young to notice, but the spelling bothers me because, IMO, it’s glaringly bad!
This is the response I recieved:
(bolding mine)
again:
Is she telling me that DK feels it’s ok to ‘teach’ incorrect spanish?
Have you, as a Spanish speaker, ever encountered the spelling “hale”?
I am not going to return the book as it didn’t cost enough to go through the hassle of returning it. I did, however, leave a ‘customer opinion’ on Amazon.
The verb is correctly spelled halar. It means “to pull.” This according to my wife, who is a native-born Spanish speaker and a professional translator. It’s also confirmed by the searchable dictionary at the Real Academia Española.
It is certainly not incorrect. “Halar” is listed as meaning “to pull toward oneself” in my copy of the American Heritage Spanish Dictionary, with no indication that it is a substandard usage. They also list “jalar.”
I don’t consider myself bilingual, but I’m pretty fluent, and speak Spanish daily here in Panama, where I’ve worked for 26 years.
The word is extremely common here in Panama. In fact, “HALE” appears on every outside door in the building I’m posting from. It is by far the most common word to see on “pull” doors here, although I do on rare occasions see “jale.”
“Halar” is a regionalism, not an error. I understand that jalar/halar was originally (and still is) a nautical term (“haul”), and its use in the Americas (in contrast to Spain, where “tirar” is more common) is due to the fact that many early colonists had a maritime background.
DK publishing, as far as I can see, is entirely correct in their position. Given the complex regionalisms in Spanish, it’s impossible to use words that are going to seem correct to everyone.
I am surprised that you have never seen this spelling. Where did you learn your Spanish?
I learned Spanish from my mom, who is from Chihuahua. I grew up in El Paso. I speak Spanish fluently. Sadly, I never really read nor wrote much Spanish, so I am pretty slow at that. It’s another reason I am glad to buy these books - to educate myself.
As for hale, no, I have never encountered it. The doors here all say “Jale”.
So, what about H being silent? Not counting foreign words introduced into Spanish (such as hockey), are there other words where the h is pronounced as in English?
I’m not absolutely sure, since I see the word on signs much more than I hear it said, but I assume that the “h” is silent, and that the difference in spelling reflects a difference in pronunciation as well.
Panamanian Spanish is, I am sure, rather different from Mexican Spanish. The accent/pronunciation is similar to “Caribbean” Spanish: Puerto Rican, Cuban, coastal Colombian. “S” is often dropped or softened (e’to’ for estos) as is “d” (vena’o for venado.) But (proper) spelling is the same for most words.
I realize that there are different dialects of Spanish - the s thing, for example, is always a big tip off to me that they aren’t from Mexico. Usually I find this to happen in movies with Cuban actors (as an example) portraying Mexicans…it totally ruins it for me! It’s like having a person with an English accent playing an American.
Are you saying then, that as far as you know, that hale in Panama is pronounced Ah-le?
I just asked the person in the office next door, who is Argentinian. She says in Argentina it’s pronounced “al-le,” but in Panama they pronounce it “ha-le,” with the h sound (even though it’s usually spelled “hale.”) She kind of rolled her eyes when she told me this.
Here in Baja California it’s spelled ‘jale’ and I cringe to think what Madre Cordero would think of ‘hale.’ My government issued textbooks always used the j spelling and I’ve always thought of them as regionalism free. Shows what I know.
I just checked my trusty Cassell’s Colloquial Spanish. Including Latin American Spanish, and they have this to say:
This said, although Cassell’s is good for Iberian, Mexican, Andean, and Argentinean/Chilean Spanish, it doesn’t seem to me to be nearly as knowledgeable for Central American and Caribbean Spanish. This doesn’t really seem to cover the situation in Panama.
It would seem you are correct in that ‘jalar,’ with an initial aspirate, is the more widespread and accepted form. However, some places (apparently Argentina) spell it ‘halar’ and pronounce it that way, while others (evidently Panama) spell it ‘halar’ but pronounce it ‘jalar.’
*In many places ‘tirar’ has come to mean ‘to screw’ in slang.
