Is there more english speaking families or spanish speaking families on san antonios hispanic west side? (Austin: appointed, houses)

[supfromthesite]

Yep, people got very upset in this thread when it was posted

[malcorub16]

I am not sure about the west side, but I can speak for the south side. I would say most younger people in SA don't speak Spanish very well, even the ones who have parents that only speak Spanish tend to speak more of a Spanglish. I will use myself as an example, I grew up on the South side and my parents spoke mostly if not only Spanish in the house. When I was young boy and teen in the 90's, they would speak to me in Spanish and I would always respond to them in English even though as a toddler I mostly spoke Spanish because that is what they spoke.

When I went to live in Mexico for a few years in my 20's, I struggled quite a bit my first year not to use Spanglish words, it was difficult for me to only speak Spanish but eventually I got it and had a leg up over your average "gringo" in Mexico being that I knew the words. I think most young Hispanic people born and raised in SA would relate to my situation if they were placed somewhere in Latin America fully immersed in Spanish language.

I am 37 now and fluent in Spanish, when I am in SA and speaking Spanish I know there are certain common Spanish words people don't use there so I have to go out of my way now to remember which words are more common in SA as Spanglish as opposed to Spanish. But I suppose this could really happen anywhere you, you gotta know your environment.

[alwayssanantonio]

Yet, you still remain stupified? It is redundant.

Originally Posted by River City Rocky

Well, I just noticed nobody was a giving straight answers, like people were being overly sensitive about it.

[River City Rocky]

Originally Posted by malcorub16

I am not sure about the west side, but I can speak for the south side. I would say most younger people in SA don't speak Spanish very well, even the ones who have parents that only speak Spanish tend to speak more of a Spanglish. I will use myself as an example, I grew up on the South side and my parents spoke mostly if not only Spanish in the house. When I was young boy and teen in the 90's, they would speak to me in Spanish and I would always respond to them in English even though as a toddler I mostly spoke Spanish because that is what they spoke.

When I went to live in Mexico for a few years in my 20's, I struggled quite a bit my first year not to use Spanglish words, it was difficult for me to only speak Spanish but eventually I got it and had a leg up over your average "gringo" in Mexico being that I knew the words. I think most young Hispanic people born and raised in SA would relate to my situation if they were placed somewhere in Latin America fully immersed in Spanish language.

I am 37 now and fluent in Spanish, when I am in SA and speaking Spanish I know there are certain common Spanish words people don't use there so I have to go out of my way now to remember which words are more common in SA as Spanglish as opposed to Spanish. But I suppose this could really happen anywhere you, you gotta know your environment.

Do you think in other cities people hold on to the Spanish language more and generally speak it better?

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by River City Rocky

Do you think in other cities people hold on to the Spanish language more and generally speak it better?

Something has to be said about the culture of the language. For families that are recently arriving from central America some of their kids are being placed in bilingual classes to maintain the language. Families that are a few generations in the United States had to go through having Spanish basically being ripped out of their mouths.

[malcorub16]

Originally Posted by River City Rocky

Do you think in other cities people hold on to the Spanish language more and generally speak it better?

Yes, in my optinion Mexican Americans in border cities like El Paso and San Diego many times have ties to the other side of the border and therefore hang on to Spanish as a 2nd language pretty well. Cities like Miami and Los Angeles that have had massive amounts of immigration from Latin America also tend to hang on to it very well.

I'll also use radio stations as an example, SA has radio stations on FM in Spanish and has had them since the mid 90's but they seem to be geared toward the older generation. Recently there are stations for the younger generation that play mostly reggeton but even those station's DJ mix English and Spanish. I would say if you are hearing younger people speak pure Spanish they are visitors from Monterrey or somewhere else in Mexico.

Originally Posted by ashbeeigh

Families that are a few generations in the United States had to go through having Spanish basically being ripped out of their mouths.

Yes, growing up in SA remember speaking a language other than English being highly discouraged. In my view that changed around the late 90's or so.

[supfromthesite]

>Yes, growing up in SA remember speaking a language other than English being highly discouraged. In my view that changed around the late 90's or so.

I'm curious if it was ever like that in the border towns?

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

>Yes, growing up in SA remember speaking a language other than English being highly discouraged. In my view that changed around the late 90's or so.

I'm curious if it was ever like that in the border towns?

Yes. It was.

[Azure110]

I guess the OP is not coming back to check this thread again but I have to wonder what is the point of this thread and why does it matter?

[supfromthesite]

Perhaps he was moving to that zip code and wanted there to be a bunch of Spanish speakers.
Maybe he wanted there to not be a bunch of Spanish speakers.