It’s Hispanic Heritage Month! Here at the California Report we are often discussing how to pronounce the name of most cities in California… For example Pajaro or Pawharo… Planada or Plunada… Madera or Madera…. When should we pronounce words and proper nouns in Spanish versus Standard American English? The truth is we haven’t exactly landed on a “correct”  answer. And maybe there isn’t one!

But to help us get to the bottom of this is Kirsten Silva Gruez professor of Literature Latino/a studies at UC Santa Cruz and author of Cotton Mather's Spanish Lessons: A Story of Language, Race, and Belonging in the Early Americas.