None quite matches the historical pyrotechnics and manic Spanglish that made the life of Oscar Wao so exhilarating.

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If you hear someone talking about "going out to hanguear (hang out) at the mol (mall)", that's Spanglish.

BBC: Life in Spanglish for California's young Latinos

In the visitation room, the woman held a phone and spoke to her husband in Spanglish with a country twang.

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Very often they switch between languages within a single sentence, or borrow English words and put them into Spanish, making a hybrid known as Spanglish.

BBC: Life in Spanglish for California's young Latinos

Seven out of 10 confess to using Spanglish.

BBC: Life in Spanglish for California's young Latinos

As everywhere in Latin America, Spanglish abounds.

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"I would describe it as a combination of two great languages to create a new expression that is richer than just speaking English or Spanish, " says Cristina Burgos, who last year decided to write a blog in Spanglish.

BBC: Life in Spanglish for California's young Latinos

Ferreras and Bardusco are also the creative minds behind the HBO Latino series "Habla, " which features unscripted first-person accounts of Latinos from various backgrounds, some speaking in Spanish, some in English and others in Spanglish, a mixture of both.

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