Miami Job Language issue? (Kendall, Sweetwater: apartments, insurance, how much)

[FLBoy123]

Hi I just posted about the Kendall apartments. Because I will be attending school down in that area I was wondering how much of an issue this language thing will be for me. I am transfering to the location in Kendall. I am a certified pharmacy tech and insince I do deal with customers won't this be a problem insince I don't know spanish? I mean the company I work for has no problem with me transfering to that area but never asked about spanish language. But I know alot of people have problems getting jobs cause they don't know spanish. I hope they don't end up firing me. lol But thanks for your opinions. Any Pharmacy people out there that may help me out with your experience? Thanks

[Marlin331]

Where in Kendall will you be working? Overall, most people in Kendall speak English... the area has a large Anglo population as well as a large Hispanic population, and although lots of older Hispanic people don't speak English well, virtually all younger Hispanic people speak English fluently. In East Kendall I'd say that you will run into a few people who speak little English, but not that many. In West Kendall, you will run into quite a few people who speak little English. Overall, you should be fine... Since I know the area very well, let me know if you have any more questions.

[DCkid]

No it's a myth. They tell you in the job description if the job requires you to be billingual. But if your dealing with clients primarilly in the United States all business will be done in English.

[JacobMAX]

Originally Posted by FLBoy123

Hi I just posted about the Kendall apartments. Because I will be attending school down in that area I was wondering how much of an issue this language thing will be for me. I am transfering to the location in Kendall. I am a certified pharmacy tech and insince I do deal with customers won't this be a problem insince I don't know spanish? I mean the company I work for has no problem with me transfering to that area but never asked about spanish language. But I know alot of people have problems getting jobs cause they don't know spanish. I hope they don't end up firing me. lol But thanks for your opinions. Any Pharmacy people out there that may help me out with your experience? Thanks

Probably will not be a major problem that you don't speak spanish, because most of the hispanics in Kendall speak english; but I always go to a Navarro pharmacy here in Kendall ( in Central Kendall ), and the majority of the customers and employees speak spanish, but also I always go to a CVS pharmacy in Dadeland ( Downtown Kendall ) and the customers/employees almost ever speak english.

And I agree with crisp444 that depends of which specific area in Kendall you'll be working.

[Besitomio]

You'll do fine!
It is helpful but definitely not a necessity.
Good luck in your new position !
(and finding the right palce to live for yourself, as well!)

[gbugmiami]

Originally Posted by DCkid

No it's a myth. They tell you in the job description if the job requires you to be billingual. But if your dealing with clients primarilly in the United States all business will be done in English.

Which Miami do you live in?
And for the record, if there is any confusion. Bilingual in South Florida doesn't mean you speak 2 languages. It means you speak English and spanish. I have a friend that speak vietnamese and English, and she flat out had a manager during the interview scratch out her checked 'bilingual' box on there application. 2 Languages only count if 1 is spanish.

If you are in the hospital setting, I'd think you should be able to function in english for the most part. Money transactions and Insurance questions will be part of the job I assume? Some older customers simply wont be able to communicate with you, hopefully you'll have help if need be. They will want their meds and I'm pretty sure make an effort! Now, outside of work. If you have an apartment and the AC breaks? You better speak spanish. Car breaks? Spanish. Need roofers? Spanish. Yard dude? Spanish. Plumber? painter? Hoping to negotiate for a better price on roughly anything? Spanish. Try to explain to the person (who spoke reasonable english when you made the deal), why something they did was done wrong/didnt work out? Yup. They may not speak the englie well enough to understand any more. Theres a dude i work with that can speak damn good english. When he needs something. When he doesn't want to deal with the problem and just wants to pass it off to me, I can barely understand him. I think it just depends on whether he wants to accomodate me in whatever is it I'm doing (for him to be able to keep his job).. It always works too as I can't battle the interpretation and the problem at the same time and end up fixing it myself.
In my work, english too is the spoken language. (only understanding spanish but not speaking it has REALLY limited what I could do and where i could work of course). However. Every subcontractor we hire doesn't speak english. (these are mainentance type folks). NONE of those deals to hire these companies are made in english. Its not just a matter of saying 'people dont speak english'. Its not that simple. The people that may, are simply more comfortable communicating in spanish. If you are loooking to build business or personal relationships down here, it will simply be LOTS easier if you speak the language 80% of the people down here are comfortable speaking in. And its not english. When you deal with more professional type folks, that is generally always done in english, but again, personal relationships that can make all the difference in making a deal work, comes down to communication/trust/etc. And you are already at a disadvantage. Just my experiences here. If its temporary (not 4 years) Id say come experience it yourself. If its a 4 year commitment, check it out first. Good luck.

[DCkid]

^^lol. I worked for a company based out of Colombia in West Flagler on 107 ave just outside of Sweetwater and I'm far from fluent in Spanish. Now if I can get a job near Sweetwater (over 90% spanish) for a Colombian based company (dealing with clients in Colombia), I'm sure others can get by. Because me speaking spanish sounds like some spanish people trying to speak english. I guess it depends on what you do, really. I was working in finance at the time so it might be a little bit different. But I dealt with Bancolombia and Banco Santeder and all of our meetings with these companies were conducted in English.

[itlchick]

When I lived there, I did run into a few situations where the person only spoke Spanish. But there are so many bilingual people that hopefully some one else who works with you will be willing to help.

[rogerbacon]

Unless you are working alone you will surely have a coworker who can speak Spanish. You won't have any problem but it may get irritating having to call him/her over to translate for you ever so often. Welcome to Miami, or as the Japanese say "Miami ni Youkoso" (that doesn't count as bilingual either)

[kevinkagy]

You'll be perfectly fine, you don't need to know Spanish. If you want to learn Spanish anyways, you can, but for your job, you'll be fine, don't worry. Best of luck!