The latest U.S. Census data shows that 62 million people in the U.S. identify as Hispanic or Latino.

Do you know what each term means?

Well, today we'll find out.

And get ready for National Hispanic Heritage Month.

I'm Bethany Van Delft.

It's September 14th, and this is the 10 News.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1.

September 15th is the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month,

which honors the cultures and contributions

of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States. That means that in the next few weeks,

we're going to see and hear the words Hispanic and Latino quite a bit. Cool. These two terms

are often used interchangeably, but they have different meanings.

Understanding terms like this helps us be more respectful of people's background.

So, here to talk about what they mean and how people can use them correctly is one of our beloved correspondents, Natalie Alonzo, a Cuban-American journalist who lives in New York City.

Hi, Natalie.

Hey, Bethany.

Happy to be here.

I am too.

And I'm so happy to be having this conversation.

I'm Puerto Rican, and sometimes I get these terms confused myself.

So, Natalie, let's talk about the difference between the terms Latino and Hispanic.

There's actually a pretty simple way to remember the difference.

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