Spanglish has been around for a while and I would contend that perhaps longer than the time when English and Spanish came into contact in the Americas—probably around the time when England, France and Spain held marriages of convenience among their kings, queens, princes and princesses—and does not seem to fade away at all (Johnson: 2006). On a related matter, another phenomenon that becomes apparent in the text below, more the reflection of a conversation than a written treatise, of course, is that of code switching. Many friends and acquaintances in Miami—Cubans, Venezuelans, Colombians, Argentineans, Nicaraguans, Peruvians, Mexicans, Nuyoricans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Ricans, first and second generation Americans of Hispanic descent (this author's children included), even two Spaniards, were able to hold a solid conversation in either English or Spanish, in addition to which they would do code switching every so often, and very naturally. Are they less smart than their monolingual counterparts? Not at all. If anything, they are quick-minded, possess a large vocabulary and a beautiful pronunciation both in English and in Spanish and are extremelyvivos, lively and witty! And, no less important, the inclusion of terms and adapted structures from one language into another was not an exclusive trait of Hispanics. It was common to observe—and a delight to hear—Anglos and Haitians peppering their speech in English and Creole with terms in Spanish and in Spanglish. (All references in this section are to this author's almost eleven years of vida activa in Miami).

There are, of course, those who, on account of their many years in the US, have started to forget their Spanish—unless their parents and grandparents keep it alive at home and in their community. Those may favor English more in their conversation, salpicado here and there with some Spanish—at times even Haitian Creole—in Miami. There are those that still maintain a good command of Spanish but need English to "echar pa'lante" in society. They still mix both languages but their Spanish influence is more apparent, especially in their choice of English vocabulary and use of its structures. However, everyone, young and old, immigrant and US-born, uses Spanglish to some degree and that, it seems, is not only to assert their personality and individuality, but tosentir el sabor—enjoy the taste of such language variants. The same happens with related jargons or pidgins, or even new creoles (criollos) like the one developing in the Zona Libre de Corozal located between Belize and Mexico (Murrieta, 2002): it is a way people have to caminar por el camino no trillado, feel they share, that they are in the know and, most importantly, that they belong.

In respect to the way English influences Spanish speakers and makes some purists fear that our US Spanish may become impoverished, we should remember that Hispanics in the US constitute practically the only minority that keeps close ties with its original countries, with the exception of Cubans. Such ties include frequent visits, exchange of letters, invitations to relatives to come to the US and, of course, most activities in this respect are conducted in Spanish.

In the US there are several TV channels and probably hundreds of radio stations that broadcast in Spanish around the clock. This author has studied the TV channels and in them appear speakers from Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, etc., most of them with a wonderful, educated speech that becomes ever more attractive because it is neither "neutral" nor too regional. Those TV channels run the gamut of Latin American Spanish through their interviews and news reports with government leaders, educators, poor peasants and laborers, in short, representatives from all levels of education and walks of life in our Hispanic countries. Their soaps, sports, comedies, newscasts, talk shows and other activities greatly contribute to the diffusion of good, normal, typical Spanish! From a historical point of view, it is also important to point out that Spanish already existed in what is today the US long before English made its appearance on this land.In an article written by Cara Anna for the Associated Press on October 5^th, 2005 and quoted by Graddol in his paper, it is explained how some immigrants to the USA become multilingual:

"As new immigrants arrive in already diverse neighborhoods, the language they embrace isn't always English. Honduran cooks learn Mandarin, Mexican clerks learn Korean. Most often, people learn Spanish. Language experts say it is a phenomenon that has gone largely unstudied. There are no tidy reports or statistics at hand, but they say the trend could finally help make America a multilingual nation." (Graddol: 118)