What is the difference between Latino and Ladino?

Answer 1

Latino is a term derived from Spanish and used chiefly in the United States to refer to people of Latin American extraction or descent. However, the term has also been incorrectly used as a synonym for Hispanic. Hispanic is a narrower term which only refers to persons of Spanish-speaking origin or ancestry. "Latino" on the other hand, is more frequently used to refer more generally to anyone of Latin American origin or ancestry, including Brazilians. The United States Census uses the ethnonym Hispanic or Latino to refer to "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race."

The terms "Latino" and "Latina" originate from American Spanish, and ultimately from the Latin terms "latinus" and "latina", which literally mean Latin. The terms may be an abbreviated form of the Spanish word latinoamericano (Latin American). This use of the expression Latin derives from the cultural distinctions between the Romance language countries of modern-day Italy, Spain, France and Portugal; and other European nations, including the Germanic countries of Northwestern and Central Europe. These distinctions grew as the Germanic countries tended to embrace Protestantism while the Romance language countries remained Roman Catholic.

In Spanish language dictionaries, specifically, the Diccionario de la lengua española de Real Academia Española (Dictionary of the Spanish language of the Royal Spanish Academy) lists ten definitions for "latino", including "Se aplica a la persona o pueblo cuya lengua y cultura derivan del latín: América latina; España, Francia, Italia y Portugal son naciones latinas" (It is applied to the person or people whose language and culture are derived from Latin: Latin America, Spain, France, Italy and Portugal are Latin nations). In Spanish, "latino", just as any other demonym, is by convention not capitalized.

By contrast, Ladino is a term which arose during the Spanish Colonial period and is used primarily in Guatemala and Mexico's southeastern states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo. Ladino was a demonym, derived from "Latino" developed after the Conquest during the Colonial period. It was used as a general term to refer to the Spanish-speaking population that did not belong to the indigenous peoples (Indians) nor to either of the two Colonial ruling elite groups, the Peninsulares or "Gachupines" (Spaniards born in Spain) or Criollos (descendants of Spaniards born in the Americas). In Mexico, Guatemala and most other parts of Latin America, the term universally used for this group is "Mestizo." The word was popularly thought to be derived from a mix of "Latino" and "ladrón", the Spanish word for "thief", but is not necessarily or popularly considered as pejorative in the same sense as is "Mestizo".

In Southeastern Mexico, the group does not necessarily denote a specific ethnic type, but a cultural segment of society that includes the descendants of the offspring of Indians and Europeans, Indians and Africans or Europeans and Africans, descendants of Africans, descendants of Indians expelled or who left their home village and lost their ethnic identity, and descendants of landless, impoverished Europeans, all characterized by their use of Spanish as a common language, their lack of legal status in Colonial society and their exclusion from post-Independence society. Until the Liberal Party revolutions in Mexico and Guatemala, the Ladino group had no legal status whatsoever. It formed a vast pool of roving, landless laborers, most of whom were consigned to debt peonage. They also served as conscript cannon fodder for any self-appointed general's use in uprisings, civil wars or attempted coups.

The Ladino population of Guatemala is officially recognized as a distinct ethnic group. The population censuses include the ladino population as one of the different ethnic groups in Guatemala. The Guatemalan Ministry of Education uses the following definition: "The ladino population has been characterized as a heterogenous population which expresses itself in the Spanish language as a maternal language, which possesses specific cultural traits of Hispanic origin mixed with indigenous cultural elements, and dresses in a style commonly considered as western."

Ladino is sometimes also used to refer to the mestizo middle class, or to the population of Amerindian peoples who have attained some level of upward social mobility above the largely impoverished indigenous masses, especially with regard to material wealth and imitating the North American lifestyle. At times it can be used in a wider sense, meaning any Guatemalan whose primary language is Spanish.

The Diccionario de la lengua española de Real Academia Española (Dictionary of the Spanish language of the Royal Spanish Academy) has three definitions for "ladino", the most applicable of which is "amer. Mestizo, especialmente el que solo habla español" (amer Mestizo, especially one who only speaks Spanish). In Spanish, "ladino", as with other demonyms, is by convention not capitalized.

Additionally, Ladino is a Judeo-Hispanic Language which was spoken historically by Sephardi Jews. Ladino is a dying language and its only remaining fluent speakers live in and around Netanya, Israel.