¿Question for Latino or Hispanic DU'ers

[underpants]

Last edited Tue Jul 16, 2019, 03:52 PM - Edit history (1)

I’m going to cross post this in the Latino/Hispanic forum as well.

When I was in college I came up with my own system of taking notes, as most people do.

Whenever I had a question I used the Spanish ¿ at the beginning of the question so it stood out to me on the page. Alt+168 on a keyboard by the way.

Yesterday at work I was sending an email and I considered using it. I didn’t.

My question is - would that be offensive?
It’s not only that I’m still in my probationary period at a new position but I just don’t want to be a jerk.

Anyone’s opinions on this are welcome.

[Thyla]

1. Surely it only makes sense to use it

When typing in Spanish language.

I wouldn't find it offensive at all though, I live in Spain so am used to it but it would seem strange if it was in written English.
It's easy to forgive too when you know someone is not so great with English or are possibly using translate.

Actually I often do the opposite, write a question in Spanish and only use the ? at the end, never thought it may be offensive but it may be, otherwise I need to go copy/paste the upside down one.

[Caliman73]

5. the inverted question mark.

I do a lot of communicating in Spanish print and especially when texting or posting to Messenger, I have had periods where I do the same thing and do not put the inverted question mark in front. I am typically communicating with people who know me pretty well so it isn't really a big deal. Whenever I do so for official reasons I try to make sure that I am checking grammar and spelling.

On the phone is actually easier than on computer, unless you have the "Character Map" readily available on Windows (don't use Mac so I wouldn't know what the equivalent is). I have a Spanish keyboard on my phones now so it is easy to switch though sometimes it can get tedious if you are conversing in both languages and Spanglish to boot.

[MineralMan]

2. I don't see why anyone would take offense from it.

It's just a punctuation mark. It will probably not be fully understood by your email recipients, though, if they don't know any Spanish. it's not used in English punctuation.

[demosincebirth]

3. I don't know about other latinos, but I respect non spanish speakers trying to learn, read and

write our language.

[Caliman73]

4. If you are typing in Spanish, by all means.

A good rule of thumb is that if you have to stop and think whether it would be offensive to someone, it is probably best not to do it.

I would not necessarily find it "offensive" but I might question why someone would use Spanish grammar for a sentence in English. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt or question before jumping to conclusions. Other people may not and may interpret that mixed use as "appropriation" or some kind of other slight. You don't want to put yourself in that situation, especially with people who may not know you well enough not to take offense.

[underpants]

6. That's what I did

Since I had to stop and think I realized it probably wasn’t a good idea.

[Caliman73]

7. Yep. Good call.

Like I said, not because it is offensive. I mean, you can do something that 99% of people would not find offensive but that ONE person does. Like with anything you want to balance something that is a habit or important to you with how you may be perceived.