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Originally Posted by Lil Sis  That is what I was saying (in my mangeled way) .. the lack of respect.
Yes, it is difficult to adjust to different cultures.. but weren't all of our families from other countries.. also.. in Miami's case .. a lot of people moved here because of survival.. not because they really wanted to leave their country. |
I'm from South Florida too and I don't think the problem is adapting, it's more an artifact of convenience. Where I grew up, there was not a single place that I would go where everyone didn't speak Spanish. The grocery store workers, your local Wal-Mart, even the DMV etc. When my mother and father first moved here they both had different "career paths" so to speak. My mother was mostly a stay at home mom because raising her children was her top priority while my dad worked as a mechanical engineer for a company. To run errands my mother never needed to learn English. Also, because all of the teachers at my schools were mostly Spanish speakers, she did not need to learn English in order to communicate with my teachers about my performance in school. My father on the other hand because of the nature of his work and the clients, was forced into a situation where he needed to know English in order to communicate. When times were more difficult and my mom wasn't able to stay at home, she worked in factories, cleaning hospitals, etc all jobs that did not require English speaking skills. So, I now have two parents one who speaks English pretty well (my father) and a mother who partially understands English but does not speak it well. My mother is an extremely hardworking woman in the sense that when she couldn't afford to stay at home with me, she would work one or two jobs if necessary and gave it her all, but given the circumstances (and quite frankly lack of time and transportation) she did not have a chance to devote her time into learning English. Especially since she never struggled with not knowing it. So, what I'm trying to say is that I think most people are rational and will do what is necessary to thrive. Because Miami has such a large Spanish speaking community they do not find it to be necessary to speak the language. I think that given the choice if learning the language was costless (in other words you were exposed to the language on a daily basis in your surrounding area) most South Floridians would speak English fluently. I don't think not knowing speaking English is a way to reject American culture, it's just an artifact of the neighborhood and surrounding communities. If my family had moved to another city I'm pretty sure that both my mother and father would speak English well.