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points by elondaits 2 days ago | 0 comments
The X in Spanish is sometimes used to “neutralize” the gender of a word. An alternative is the @, as in “latin@“. Visually the x is more harmonic, because of its smaller size, and the fact that there are lower and uppercase versions.

That x is generally pronounced as an “e” in Spanish (i.e. “latine”, not “latin eks” or “latinks” and most certainly not “latinj”, as the j sound of x is only before a vowel, e.g. xavier = javier).

But why write an x and not an e? Because there are consonants that change their sound with an “e”. So, say, the word “chicos” (boys) and “chicas” (girls) would be written as “chiques” in neutral because the c sounds like an s and not like a k with an e in front… but “chiques” doesn’t look like “chicos”… visually it’s not recognizable… while “chicxs” is much easier to parse.

This is how it works. I don’t care to enter a discussion of whether this is nice or not, good or bad. I’ll just leave with the anecdote that I once participated in a project that involved a big survey written in the traditional “neutral” form, which consists of writing “chicos/as” to covers both binary genders. That form quickly becomes very hard to read… “Los chicos/as están sentados/as con sus nuevos/as compañeros/as”. Use of the x has a lot of pushback from some people, but all in all, it’s easier to adapt to.

[–] ta7000 2 days ago
It's not. And that shows just poor education. Differently from the US, in Spanish we have the RAE (Real Academia Española). That dictates and gives guidelines on how to write so most people will understand what you are writing. The fact that you are having these issues just shows poor education, these topics have been discussed, and they are clear rules to avoid this non sense. Don't invent rules, read what has been already created for you to write clearly in Spanish.
[–] lazyasciiart 2 days ago
Speaking of ways to demonstrate ignorance, Spanish language usage in America is driven by Central and South American speakers, and they do not consider themselves bound by some bunch of Europeans telling them how to speak their own language.
[–] aschwtzr 1 day ago
Not really, it's the dictionary of record for the Spanish language and what is commonly used in academia and dinner table debates. As to whether people feel bound to it or not it's the same as how people use any other language colloquially, i.e. a dictionary is largely irrelevant or an afterthought. I have also never come across someone personally arguing against it as a "bunch of Europeans telling them how to speak their own language," most of us are pretty aware of the fact that our language descended from Castilian Spanish.
[–] elondaits 1 day ago
Linguistics are descriptive, not prescriptive. I'm explaining how things work in practice, not how they're supposed to be according to the wishes or mandates of some foreign institution and its followers.

Judging something and understanding something are different processes. The RAE creates guidelines, but people often speak and write without following them, and that's still worthy of examination.