latino character being removed as a subtag of hispanic character made me so happy, there is a difference! im so glad that ao3 is so WOKE bc even tho its smth small it also means a lot for representation and understanding of our communities. ty tag wranglers!!
Hi! I don't mean to come off as intrusive, but could you tell me the difference between Hispanic and Latino? I was unware that there was one and am interested in learning, but i currently don't trust search engines.
Sorry if this bothers you in anyway /gen
Hispanic = spanish speaking person, while latino refers to people of latin decent (latin america).. ex. hispanic can include Spain because while spaniards are not latino they can speak spanish. Another example of this are brazilians, they are latino, but NOT hispanic since they usually speak portuguese (of course too some do but the official language of Brazil is portuguese.) I'm sure someone can explain a bit better than me, but the basics is "hispanic = they speak spanish" "latino = of latin american decent".
hiihi! you’ve already had 2 pretty good responses but i’ll also explain. also, not intrusive at all! very good question and it warms my heart that people are so interested in learning abt different cultures <3
hispanic comes from the anglicised version of the spanish term for spanish speakers which is “hispanohablantes”. hispano being spanish and hablantes being speakers. this is the same as other language’s ways of referring to speakers of that language, for example french. in french “francophone” is french speaker, and the english version of that is…francophone.
therefore hispanic is the english way of saying spanish speakers. this means a lot of latino people consider themselves hispanic.
however, latin america is a region where of course spanish is spoken, but not all countries speak spanish. for example brasil, whose main language is brasilian portuguese. ‘latino/latina/latinx’ is the shortened way of saying ‘latinomamericano/a/x’ which is “person from latin america” in spanish. in this, latino people can be those who do not speak spanish.
a lot of people who consider themselves latino are usually people descended from latinoamericanos and now live in a different country. almost every person who is born in these countries and has lived all their life in latin american countries wouldn’t say they’re latino at all, instead go with their actual country. a lot of actual native latinos see it as more of an immigrant thing/american thing bc america is kinda obsessed with categorisation over there lol.
but i still see it as valid, to me it’s a way of referring and grouping all these different countries together into a region like how we say europeans and asians.
for many people being latino is also about the culture you hold from your country and community and many people find the latino identity being lumped together with the hispanic identity redundant because they are completely different despite easily being confused.
thank you for asking so politely! i hope this made sense and cleared up stuff, and if u have anything else to ask feel free to :-)
Thank you for clearing that up! I wish they actually taught stuff like that in highschool spanish classes, would probably stop a lot of confusion that way.
Comment on Updates to "No Fandom" Additional Tags, May 2026
tortuguita84 Sat 30 May 2026 01:59PM UTC
Comment Actions
Inarticulation0_0 Sun 31 May 2026 03:53AM UTC
Comment Actions
Kaanbaltla Sun 31 May 2026 04:06PM UTC
Last Edited Sun 31 May 2026 04:08PM UTC
Comment Actions
Inarticulation0_0 Sun 31 May 2026 10:20PM UTC
Comment Actions
SODACRACKPOP Sun 31 May 2026 04:49PM UTC
Comment Actions
Inarticulation0_0 Sun 31 May 2026 10:20PM UTC
Comment Actions
tortuguita84 Sun 31 May 2026 05:49PM UTC
Comment Actions
Inarticulation0_0 Sun 31 May 2026 10:19PM UTC
Comment Actions
KaishaKat Mon 01 Jun 2026 01:40AM UTC
Comment Actions