"From the Venezuelan heart to American hearths"

Zentella, by way of Gumperz, defines code switching as “the juxtaposition within the same speech exchange of passages belonging to two different grammatical systems or subsystems”. I found this a considerable help in distinguishing between what is actually code switching and what is not in my own life. The focus Zentella gives to how word borrowing can be misinterpreted as code switching is one of the traps I had fallen into myself. True code switching is far more robust.

Later on in her piece, the author reflects on the power of English “on international, national, and local levels” and how it is the language of independence, wealth and technological superiority. I wonder how much longer that will hold true. The rising value of the Euro and the growth of large nations such as China and India will surely put that actuality to the test. She goes on to paint Spanish as the opposite, as a language of dependence and poverty. The contrast and my musings on the changing landscape of our global civilization seem are even more fascinatingly germane when set a long side a news story I read the other day. From 2005 on, Venezuela's controversial president Hugo Chavez has actually been offering needy families in the US free heating oil. (Here is the article itself, from the China Post) The program is in full effect again this year as well. Of course, Chavez most certainly has less than altruistic motives in providing aid to a country he vilifies and condemns loudly and often, but the role reversal and its potential significance is just too heady and implausible to pass by: The poor, Spanish speaking nation offering aid to the wealthy, English speaking one.