Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito are joined by Gabriela González, host of the Spanish Sin Pena Cafecitos, a conversation group where Latinos learn Spanish in community. Suzy, Fidel and Gabriela sit down for a conversation about what it means to be Latino in the U.S. when your Spanish isn’t “perfect.” Gabriela traces how she lost the language, switching from Spanish to English at age four after a babysitter called her stupid for not understanding her, and what it took to get it back. Suzy shares her own story, from wanting to sound like a cool California teen raised on Daria to a Cuban grandmother whose nuns smacked the Spanish out of her. Fidel wonders if shame is the most reliable marker of Latinidad, and the three get into who’s allowed to shame whom. Then they zoom out. Fidel breaks down how many Spanish speakers live in the U.S. (spoiler: it’s a lot), and they talk about how English and Spanish were both imposed through shame and violence. They also ask why so many of us treat Spanish as private and English as paperwork, and why today’s teenage música mexicana stars write poetry in Spanish but give interviews in English. Plus: is Spanglish a Miami dialect or just how we live? Fidel defends “troca” with a K, Suzy brings “el tiki-tiki” (the remote, the key fob, the garage clicker) and Gabriela explains why she’s now saying “buen provecho” to strangers. And because this is De Los Podcast, they end with a new name for the cafecitos: Spanish Con Joy. Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro. 🎙 De Los Podcast drops new episodes every week on YouTube and all major podcast platforms. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation.
Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito are joined by Gabriela González, host of the Spanish Sin Pena Cafecitos, a conversation group where Latinos learn Spanish in community. Suzy, Fidel and Gabriela sit down for a conversation about what it means to be Latino in the U.S. when your Spanish isn’t “perfect.”
Gabriela traces how she lost the language, switching from Spanish to English at age four after a babysitter called her stupid for not understanding her, and what it took to get it back. Suzy shares her own story, from wanting to sound like a cool California teen raised on Daria to a Cuban grandmother whose nuns smacked the Spanish out of her. Fidel wonders if shame is the most reliable marker of Latinidad, and the three get into who’s allowed to shame whom.
Then they zoom out. Fidel breaks down how many Spanish speakers live in the U.S. (spoiler: it’s a lot), and they talk about how English and Spanish were both imposed through shame and violence. They also ask why so many of us treat Spanish as private and English as paperwork, and why today’s teenage música mexicana stars write poetry in Spanish but give interviews in English.
Plus: is Spanglish a Miami dialect or just how we live? Fidel defends “troca” with a K, Suzy brings “el tiki-tiki” (the remote, the key fob, the garage clicker) and Gabriela explains why she’s now saying “buen provecho” to strangers.
And because this is De Los Podcast, they end with a new name for the cafecitos: Spanish Con Joy.
Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro.
🎙 De Los Podcast drops new episodes every week on YouTube and all major podcast platforms. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation.