During a recent Super Bowl broadcast, Bad Bunny ended his appearance by saying “God bless America” — and then expanded that idea by visually representing countries from across the Americas. What struck me was that he wasn’t talking about the United States alone, but about the entire hemisphere.

I felt an immediate sense of recognition. Not because of the spectacle, but because I realized that I share that same feeling about the Americas — a sense of belonging that goes beyond national borders.

After spending so much time in Latin America, I’ve come to think of myself as a true American — not only in the sense of being from the United States, but as someone who belongs to this entire hemisphere. I love Europe and Asia, and I’ve spent meaningful time in both, but I don’t feel at home there in quite the same way.

We share more than many people realize: wide spaces, natural resources, histories of colonization, deep indigenous and African roots, and also early catastrophes — disease, exploitation, and loss. Those things shaped us differently, but they also connect us.

There’s another reason I feel at home in this hemisphere, and it has to do with language.

In much of the Americas, it’s possible to communicate with most people using just three languages: English, Spanish, and Portuguese. That doesn’t mean everyone speaks them — and of course there are many other important languages — but together they create a shared linguistic space. That shared space makes deep communication across borders more possible than many people realize.

Europe and Asia are incredibly rich linguistically, and I love both. But they are also much more fragmented. Even though many people speak English, if you want to communicate intimately — about family, identity, fear, or hope — you would need to speak many more languages.