Brazilians and Argentines: are they considered Latinos?

Since today marks the 30-day period that is Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from September 15 to October 15, I figured that I should ask this question: are Brazilians and Argentines considered Latinos? The reason why I'm asking is because for Brazil's case, they speak Portuguese instead of Spanish, while in Argentina's case, the majority of the population is predominately white, as opposed to the rest of Latin America, which is predominately mestizo (mixed European and indigenous heritage), along with some African influences. Are Brazilians and Argentines considered Latinos?

Latinos is a general term for inhabitants of Latin America (Mexico and everything South), and they are probably the most ethnically diverse group in the world. So you can be both "white" and "Latino" no problem. Brazillians are Latinos, but not Hispanics - those are the people who speak Spanish. So Hispanics=/=Latinxs.

Some Brazilians aren't even of Latino or Hispanic descent so that wouldn't be an accurate term to describe them. Brazil is a mosh up of people of all different descents, most notably Portugese.

I may be wrong but I think people from Brazil are considered Brazilian, not Latinos

Fynn pretty much hits the nail on the head. Hispanic = Spanish speaking or descended from Spanish speaking (this includes people from Spain). Brazil speaks Portuguese, therefore not Hispanic.

Argentina is Spanish speaking and was colonized by Spain; thus it's Hispanic.

That said, caveat that I'm not from any of those countries so I'd probably find people that are, and ask them.

Fynn and Pyke have it.

Brazilians can drastically differ in their racial background from black to really white and everything else in between. You can't really apply a label of that nature to a Brazilian.

I'd like to add one more thing to my statement, after discussing the topic with my wife who has a master's in Hispanic Language and Culture.

Rather than an ethnic group, "Latinx" refers to a cultural group comprised of different ethnicities, but sharing a common cultural history of being colonized by a Romance language (because those are the languages directly descending from Latin) speaking country - so Spain, Portugal and France (Italy and Romania never really had colonies). So what I said before still stands - Brazillians and Argentinians are Latinos, whether they are white, black, mestizo or other (like I said, most ethnically diverse area in the world), but Brazillians are not Hispanics. I was, however, wrong in saying that everything from Mexico going South is Latino - Latin America refers to a cultural location, rather than a geographic one, and there are places that are geographically in South America, but are not considered Latino because they don't speak a Romance language. I can't remember the name of the country, but there is one where they speak Dutch - therefore, it's not a Latino country.

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

Brazilians can drastically differ in their racial background from black to really white and everything else in between. You can't really apply a label of that nature to a Brazilian.

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Correct, there are also Asians in Brazil.

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Originally Posted by Fynn

I'd like to add one more thing to my statement, after discussing the topic with my wife who has a master's in Hispanic Language and Culture.

Rather than an ethnic group, "Latinx" refers to a cultural group comprised of different ethnicities, but sharing a common cultural history of being colonized by a Romance language (because those are the languages directly descending from Latin) speaking country - so Spain, Portugal and France (Italy and Romania never really had colonies). So what I said before still stands - Brazillians and Argentinians are Latinos, whether they are white, black, mestizo or other (like I said, most ethnically diverse area in the world), but Brazillians are not Hispanics. I was, however, wrong in saying that everything from Mexico going South is Latino - Latin America refers to a cultural location, rather than a geographic one, and there are places that are geographically in South America, but are not considered Latino because they don't speak a Romance language. I can't remember the name of the country, but there is one where they speak Dutch - therefore, it's not a Latino country.

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This seems very confusing. You're saying that Spain is a Latino country because they were colonized by a Romance language speaking nation, but surely they identify as Hispanic, right (I mean... it's Spain)? Does that mean anyone who is Hispanic is also Latino, but not everyone who is Latino is Hispanic?

Also, I have never heard of France referred to as a Latino culture.

EDIT: Actually, nevermind. What I'm actually confused about is what seperates Latinx from Latino. If you could clear that up it would answer my previous questions.

this is racist.

If I've said anything culturally insensitive it's purely out of naivety, nothing is meant with any malice or even out to pigeon-hole people into specific groups. I was simply curious about some of the explanations brought up in this thread.

Latinos come from countries where Spanish is the main language. Brazil, Belize, Guyana & French Guinea aren't technically part of Latin America. Latinos can be of any race, whether it's black, white or indigenous.

Wikipedia gives a slightly different definiton. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latino_(demonym)

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Originally Posted by Colonel Angus

Latinos come from countries where Spanish is the main language. Brazil, Belize, Guyana & French Guinea aren't technically part of Latin America. Latinos can be of any race, whether it's black, white or indigenous.

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Surely Spanish people are Hispanic though, right? Not Latino. Or or are they both?

Spain is Hispanic, but not Latino. I named those countries as the source of the colonies, not as being Latino themselves.

Well, the cultural studies over here put Brazil and French Guyana as Latin America but not Hispanic America, so idk if it's just anothe case of Hispanic/Latino not being the same thing but confused often, or just different definitions by different sources :monster:

I'll still stand by my statement that Brazil and French Guyana are Latin but not Hispanic.

Look, the basic idea is that what is considered Latino in the popular opinion is not really the same. People usually think Latino=mestizo (mix of white and indigenous) and Spanish-speaking, when that is entirely untrue becaus, again, Latinos are incredibly diverse ethnically and speak many different languages. So you can't really say Brazil or Argentina aren't Latino because there's white people or black people there - the culture is still Latin American. You guys do realize blue-eyed Cameron Diaz is Latina, right? So was Honey Lemon from Bog Hero Six, for that matter.

Wikipedia is fine, but I also recommend the TVTropes article on the matter, it's pretty insightful both in defining the term and explaining why it's different in media: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph.../LatinoIsBrown

I'm still pretty confused, but okay.

So what's the difference between Latino and Latinx? I'd never even heard of Latinx before this thread.

It's the same, I just used that to be PC. Because in Spanish adjectives usually have an -o or -a ending to denote gender. Which is why people often use the term "Latin@s", but "Latinxs" is even more inclusive because it goes beyond the gender binary.

This thread is creating more questions than its answering for me. You earlier said that France was Latino because it was colonised by a Romance language speaking country, but I've never heard someone refer to it as such.

Also, if we're going back far enough then Hispania was colonised by Rome, meaning by your earlier definition that it IS Latino, despite you saying that it wasn't.

No, I meant it was one of the countries that HAS colonized Latin America, and that Latin America is called such due to being colonized by countries using Romance languages. So France is definitely not a Latino country. Whether you count Guyana as a Latino country seems to be debatable, however.

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Originally Posted by Pheesh

If I've said anything culturally insensitive it's purely out of naivety, nothing is meant with any malice or even out to pigeon-hole people into specific groups. I was simply curious about some of the explanations brought up in this thread.

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I was joking and wasn't referring to any one post or anything like that.

Shrug.

My ex in Phoenix kind of hated the Latino/Hispanic labels. He preferred to be called Mexican.

He he even had a Pancho Villa shirt that said "I am Mexican. I am not Latino- Latinos are Anglos from Italy. I am not Hispanic- Hispanics are Anglos from Spain" or something. lol I know that's not right but yeah.

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Originally Posted by Pheesh

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Originally Posted by Colonel Angus

Latinos come from countries where Spanish is the main language. Brazil, Belize, Guyana & French Guinea aren't technically part of Latin America. Latinos can be of any race, whether it's black, white or indigenous.

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Surely Spanish people are Hispanic though, right? Not Latino. Or or are they both?

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Hispanic & Latino are the same thing. Hispanic is just archaic & not as acceptable. Kind of like Blacks not wanting to be labeled "colored".

I think Spaniards are considered Latino, but obviously not Latin American.

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Originally Posted by Colonel Angus

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Originally Posted by Pheesh

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Originally Posted by Colonel Angus

Latinos come from countries where Spanish is the main language. Brazil, Belize, Guyana & French Guinea aren't technically part of Latin America. Latinos can be of any race, whether it's black, white or indigenous.

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Surely Spanish people are Hispanic though, right? Not Latino. Or or are they both?

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Hispanic & Latino are the same thing. Hispanic is just archaic & not as acceptable. Kind of like Blacks not wanting to be labeled "colored".

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Probably the clearest answer I've heard in this thread so far. Noted.

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Originally Posted by Colonel Angus

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Originally Posted by Pheesh

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Originally Posted by Colonel Angus

Latinos come from countries where Spanish is the main language. Brazil, Belize, Guyana & French Guinea aren't technically part of Latin America. Latinos can be of any race, whether it's black, white or indigenous.

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Surely Spanish people are Hispanic though, right? Not Latino. Or or are they both?

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Hispanic & Latino are the same thing. Hispanic is just archaic & not as acceptable. Kind of like Blacks not wanting to be labeled "colored".

I think Spaniards are considered Latino, but obviously not Latin American.

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No it isn't the same as blacks not being labeled as colored at all. Colored has a racist connotation and reverts back to segregation era. Hispanic refers to people of Spanish origins who are Spanish speaking. Latino refers to people from Latin America. A more clearer example of this is Jamaican people being called African-American. They'd prefer to be called Jamaican or black because African-American is completely wrong. Same for Haitian people I've come across.

EDIT: I just asked my Brazilian friend what he would prefer being called and he said Latino.

I just call them all South/Central American.

I always knew that Spain was considered the original Hispanic country, since that was the country that conquered the majority of Latin America, with the exception of Brazil, which was conquered by Portugal, but that Spain was not Latino. Hispanic refers to language, while Latino refers to geography.

There's also a stereotype of Argentines believing themselves to be of pure European descent and identifying themselves less with other people from the other countries of Latin America.

My understanding was always that Latin America is from Mexico and southwards to the continent of South America. It was also my understanding that Latino meant someone from this area of the world.

My understanding was also that Hispanic meant someone who has grown up in a Spanish speaking culture/nation.

Thus, "Hispanic" would include Spain, but exclude Brazil, whereas "Latino" would exclude Spain, but include Brazil.

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

My understanding was always that Latin America is from Mexico and southwards to the continent of South America. It was also my understanding that Latino meant someone from this area of the world.

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>>> This is correct.. And yeah, Brazilians and Argentines are considered latinos too..:luca:

Belize is a country in Central America that was not colonized by Spain, and Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana are three countries in South America that were also not colonized by Spain, and in the Caribbean, only three countries, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, were colonized by Spain; the rest were colonized by other European countries. But Spain conquered the vast majority of Latin America, so I think it should be called Spanish America or Iberian America instead, if you want to include Brazil, which was colonized by Portugal, because Spain and Portugal together are referred to as the Iberian Peninsula.

As for Brazil and Argentina, Brazil is multiracial, but Argentina is predominately white.

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Originally Posted by SuperMillionaire

Belize is a country in Central America that was not colonized by Spain, and Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana are three countries in South America that were also not colonized by Spain, and in the Caribbean, only three countries, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, were colonized by Spain; the rest were colonized by other European countries. But Spain conquered the vast majority of Latin America, so I think it should be called Spanish America or Iberian America instead, if you want to include Brazil, which was colonized by Portugal, because Spain and Portugal together are referred to as the Iberian Peninsula.

As for Brazil and Argentina, Brazil is multiracial, but Argentina is predominately white.

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The majority of the Americas as a whole were colonised by Europeans, that doesn't mean you should call the entire two continents "European America".

"Latin" relates to a culture and language. "Iberian" relates to a physical region. If someone were to say something is "Latin" I would understand they mean that it is related to the Latin cultures. If someone were to say something is "Iberian" I would assume it comes from the Iberian peninsula.

The phrase 'Latin America' was coined by a French person, if I recall correctly. If you want to start saying "Iberian America" you can give it a shot, but I highly doubt it will catch on.

This is awesome cause Im brazilian-american and I gotta tell ya, pure brazilians here dont even know what they should be considered.

Because Brazilians are of South American origin, but do not have a Spanish-derived culture, as they were conquered by Portugal, and not Spain.

Latino and Hispanic are describing two different traits. Idiot and alive are two different traits, but not all living people are idiots and not all idiots are alive; however, there is significant overlap.

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Originally Posted by Jiro

Latino and Hispanic are describing two different traits. Idiot and alive are two different traits, but not all living people are idiots and not all idiots are alive; however, there is significant overlap.

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I'd bet many people don't know the difference though and use them interchangeably.