Can you get by in San Antonio not speaking Spanish? (Brownsville: to live in, best)

[SanAntoQT]

Originally Posted by Tasksgirl

Sorry to bring up an old post but is there really even a 'hispanic' community in SA? Or is it all just 3rd generation hispanics who look at you dirty if you speak Spanish or have dark skin? I'm 'white' but my husband is from Mexico and I would like our kids to know both cultures.. Are hispanic holidays and traditions celebrated in SA or only as it relates to 'tourist' events ..? A main reason I want to move to SA is because I wanted an active and vibrant hispanic community.. Now I am worried would we be looked down on not just from 'whites' but also from other hispanics just because my husband was not born in the U.S. (but he was raised here) ?

No worries. There is definitely a Latino community in SA. People will not even blink if you speak Spanish, code-switch, use Spanglish, Tex-Mex or any variation of the language. Diesiseis de Septiembre and Cinco de Mayo are celebrated with as much festivity as 4th of July. Add Fiesta Week on top of that and you're good to go.

[Chakapu]

Originally Posted by Tasksgirl

Sorry to bring up an old post but is there really even a 'hispanic' community in SA? Or is it all just 3rd generation hispanics who look at you dirty if you speak Spanish or have dark skin? I'm 'white' but my husband is from Mexico and I would like our kids to know both cultures.. Are hispanic holidays and traditions celebrated in SA or only as it relates to 'tourist' events ..? A main reason I want to move to SA is because I wanted an active and vibrant hispanic community.. Now I am worried would we be looked down on not just from 'whites' but also from other hispanics just because my husband was not born in the U.S. (but he was raised here) ?

I'm sure you can find plenty of upper crust hispanics who look down their noses at the darker skinned or more recent arrival Mexicans if you look for them, but it's not likely you'll encounter them everyday unless you're working in the service of one...

i.e., such types exist here, I've met a few, but it's not something you'd have to deal with daily. The hispanic community here is very vibrant, and very diverse.

And pretty much everyone seems to speak Spanish in my part of town. It's not a necessity for living in San Antonio, but neither is it frowned upon.

[BenjaminNicholas]

You CAN opt to not speak, but it's much easier when you can.

I especially get a kick when people see me coming and switch to Spanish, thinking I don't understand a word. Especially interesting when I can usually speak it better than they can, thanks to learning the language in central Mexico.

How useful is it REALLY? 50/50. SA is still an english speaking city in the United States of America.



BN

[valleygalbabs]

Originally Posted by passitup

Chakapu,
I finally had some time to respond... actually, I know for a FACT that not being bi-lingual hurt my kids... my daughter's supervisor is a personal friend and she told me that it is just the plain truth of the matter. Also, as I said before, maybe it depends on what part of town you live in... I was up at the Shops at La Cantera and every single store I went into, salespeople were speaking Spanish. Sometimes, they will switch to English when waiting on me; sometimes not. Your comment about the US not having a national language is the kind of attitude that is allowing this country to fall apart. The more languages the better? Give me a break.

Passitup. The Shops of La Cantera cater to a large population of affluent Mexican shoppers who live in Mexico and come to San Antonio for shopping. Look at the license plates on the cars. And while your children may have been hurt by not speaking spanish, there are plenty of jobs that do no have this requirement.

I do agree with you that English should be the language of this country and that it should be the only language requirement of a job.

However, I would never put San Antonio in the same category as Los Angeles, Miami where being addressed in Spanish rather than English is the rule or many other cities in this country for that matter.

I do feel and will stand by the thought that English must be the only language in this country and the demise of it parrellels the demise of the mid class

[irnag]

Originally Posted by Eleanor Rigby

The ability to be multilingual is a sign of a quality education. People should be demanding that their children become at the very least bilingual, if they want them to be able to compete in a world economy changed by globalization. I speak three languages and am working on a fourth whenever I get a scrap of time. It's done nothing but help me in my life, and it certainly doesn't hurt the US for our population to be multilingual. A mutilingual population is better able to compete in a connected, global economy.

.

I totally agree.

Let's face it, the world is becoming smaller everyday. Businesses in order to survive have to be agile and expand globally and spanish is a dominant language in many parts of the world. I work for a major Phama company in Indiana and you can get many more opportunities in the organization if you are bilingual. I would think the medical community would be more sensitive to bilingual abilities of their hires due to dealing with people that can only speak spanish. A misunderstanding in this field could be disasterous for the patient.

Although I am a hispanic and grew up in San Antonio with spanish speaking parents, I did not learn spanish because back then you were frowned upon if you had so much as a spanish accent. So I can speak perfect english (at least a lot better than these Hoosiers I am surrounded by) but not any spanish. I can't blame my parents for this, at the time they felt they were doing the right thing. But that's not preventing me from learning spanish now.

The long and short answer is YES you can survive in San Antonio just fine speaking only english. But to get ahead, being bilingual can be a useful tool to open you up to more opportunites not just in SA but everywhere.

[traveler guy]

There are lots of new arrivals that live here just check out the west side were a lot of them live in fact I was just talking to some of my family members from Mexico that live here now just 30 min ago so yeah it's pretty diverse.

[SanAntoQT]

Originally Posted by irnag

Although I am a hispanic and grew up in San Antonio with spanish speaking parents, I did not learn spanish because back then you were frowned upon if you had so much as a spanish accent. So I can speak perfect english (at least a lot better than these Hoosiers I am surrounded by) but not any spanish. I can't blame my parents for this, at the time they felt they were doing the right thing. But that's not preventing me from learning spanish now.

This was my problem, too. Back in the mid-60's, when I started elementary school, we were absolutely forbidden to speak Spanish in school. If caught speaking Spanish in the lunch line, the punishment was that you would have to eat your lunch at a table set up on the stage of the cafetorium. Everyone would know why you were up there...very humiliating. My father never allowed us to speak Spanish because he knew the consequences we would suffer for doing so. Because of this, the only "Spanish" I learned was street talk. Because of this, my English is impeccable. My Spanish, however, suffered for it. Now I can say that I'm fully bilingual, but it wasn't an easy task.

[Dopo]

During the week I go to work and HEB and I'm a "normal american"
During the weekend, I take my "normal american" costume off and become... "Don Ramon / Ron Damon"?

Ok, it's not really like that,
I'm an engineer and during the week I go to work and maybe HEB and it's all english (there's a few people that can speak spanish)
During the weekend I take my kids out to the park, library, etc.
And that's when I say "Holy ....., there's a lot of people that speak spanish here" (keep in mind, I'm from Missouri)

I could easily go for a long time without speaking any spanish.
But if I wanted to, I could speak spanish with at least 1 person in every single store that I go in.

I love it here, that's all I know
(Frustrating from living 15 years in Missouri, my 1st language is spanish and my kids are 3 & 5 and don't speak spanish)

BTW,
if you don't have a diploma and are looking for a decent job, I really doubt you are gonna get anything without speaking spanish (clerk, waiter, etc)

[Dopo]

Somebody "revived" this threat,
that's why I answered

[majormadmax]

Originally Posted by Dopo

Frustrating from living 15 years in Missouri, my 1st language is spanish and my kids are 3 & 5 and don't speak spanish

If I may be so bold, are you not planning on teaching your kids Spanish? If not, could I recommend otherwise?

My mother is German and didn't really teach much of the language to us as kids. I learned it somewhat later on; but it would have been much better had I learned it as a child.

Being multi-lingual is one of the best assets a person can have! A while back, I read an article that said after an education and military experience, speaking another language is one of the most desirable traits employers look for in a prospective employee. And that is at all levels of employment.

Cheers! M2