Puerto Rico and language (house, to buy, movies)

[spikeboy25]

I just want to say that I'm not really trying to ask if one can get by with simply English on the island of Puerto Rico. I have visited the island numerous times throughout my young life, staying always with my grandfather and his wife retired in Arecibo back in 1996. My uncle (who was raised in New Jersey) decided to buy a house down there a while back.

My grandparents both speak almost entirely Spanish. My uncle (due to his upbringing) speaks both Spanish and Englihs depending on the person he is conversating with.

But I would like to get a feel from the people who either live and/or have lived in PR and ask about what will Puerto Rico look, or to be more accurate, sound like linguistically in the future. I know both Spanish and English are the official languages on the island and that most young people can at least read or write in the latter (though from personal experience, verbal abilities seem to vary). But do you think that English is taking over Puerto Rico or do you see a society sort of like what parts of Europe where natives are bi-or-multilingual but still retain their native language?

The reason why I ask this is because I feel I cannot get an accurate gauge of this situation since I have never lived there, and that there seems to be a good argument on both sides as to whether or not Spanish is dying on the island or not. On the one hand, being a U.S. commonwealth (and the ever present possibility that it could become a state) has shown how English and has influenced the island greatly in the past few decades. On the other hand, Spanish is one the most spoken languages in the world and is not dying out globally, like say, Hawaiian did after statehood since only people in Hawaii speak in that language.

[WIHS2006]

Yes, you can get by on English alone - I will personally attest to this. Despite popular belief, most Puerto Ricans speak enough English to handle a transaction at a store or take an order in a restaurant. Alot of Puerto Ricans are more than happy to speak English to mainlanders because it's a good way for them to improve their English. I find this especially true of the Puerto Ricans in my age group (20 somethings).

[leenma78]

I'm 33 and I've lived here(Puerto Rico) all my life. (Now I'm planning to move to US)

I think, no matter what happen with the political status here, Spanish will never die. We love our culture and traditions and our language. But on the other hand, I believe that more and more people are becoming bilinguals. In metro area you will find many bilinguals. More you explore "beyond the shore", less bilinguals you will find. I'm from a small town that we don't have many tourists here. But my experience is that since English is a requirement in school (K-12) we have a base to work on. It is not enough, but it is easier for our children to learn english faster. I'm from public school and I had a couple of good english teacher that encourage me to learn english. How I did it? Music and cable tv. Back in my school years I didn't have cable tv, so it was a little difficult.

But taking my 12 years old nephew as a reference, I have to tell you that he is almost in my level already. He needs more practice, but he is pretty good in english. (I'm so proud of him!!!) So I think that kids nowadays have so many resources to become very good in english (cable tv, video games, music, internet) He is a normal kid, so I believe that most of the kids in Puerto Rico could be very good in english. We have some bilingual schools too.

Other example are my parents. They are well educated people but they are not bilinguals. Since they got retired, they have more time to watch tv and I'm amaze that they can understand tv shows and movies, etc, very well.

So I think that, not so soon, not so far in the future, Puerto Rico will have a very high percent of bilingual people. I don't consider myself fully bilingual, but as you can see, I can defend myself pretty well!!! :-)


But spanish will never die!!!!!!

[efrenb5]

Having lived all my life on the Island, I have to say that Spanish is here to stay. Most people here speak Spanish and when you hear somebody conversing in English most of the time you can notice they are not from the island.

About how many people here speak English, I still have to say that most people cannot speak it good enough to carry on a long conversation. Sure you can get services and get by in a restaurant speaking English only, but carrying on a long conversation is a completely different thing, which you will find very rare in PR.

I'm guessing that, the older the person, the less likely that person will speak English. The new generation coming up is starting to learn more English than generations past, so young adults nowadays could be able to keep a longer English-only conversation going.

It would seem that parents have noticed how important learning English is, so they try to make their children learn it. I think that this is true for middle class people or higher. The less money a family has the less likely it is for the offspring to learn English because they usually end up in the public school system, which is still struggling in the island.

[WorldTravelingYogi]

Originally Posted by efrenb5

I'm guessing that, the older the person, the less likely that person will speak English. The new generation coming up is starting to learn more English than generations past, so young adults nowadays could be able to keep a longer English-only conversation going.

That is actually not true. When Luis Munoz Marin was the first elected mayor in the 1950s he changed the official language of education from English to Spanish. So many older people learned Spanish in school but the language of instruction was English. So before the 1950s the children were studying history, math, and all the other subjects in English. So you will find that most the older generation speaks perfect English.

My personal experience since I moved here 6 months ago is that almost everyone speaks English. There is the rare occasion you are in Kmart or Pep Boys and you start speaking English and the person puts up a finger to say hold a moment as the run off to find an English speaker. My first Bachelors was in French but I never studied a word of Spanish until I arrived in PR. I find, I can read almost anything but the spoken language I cannot understand at all. Although little by little I am understanding more and more.

I find that everyone understands English because they start learning it in school at age 5 but many people do not feel comfortable speaking it. So I speak in English, they understand, and then they reply in Spanish. At the beginning I had no clue what they were saying. This situation happens at my yoga studio with the receptionist. Now I know a bit more Spanish and I know her. So if I am not sure what she said I will repeat what I think she said in English and she will confirm or deny it.

But yes everyone understands English and most people speak English.

[WIHS2006]

Originally Posted by WorldTravelingYogi

That is actually not true. When Luis Munoz Marin was the first elected mayor in the 1950s he changed the official language of education from English to Spanish. So many older people learned Spanish in school but the language of instruction was English. So before the 1950s the children were studying history, math, and all the other subjects in English. So you will find that most the older generation speaks perfect English.

My personal experience since I moved here 6 months ago is that almost everyone speaks English. There is the rare occasion you are in Kmart or Pep Boys and you start speaking English and the person puts up a finger to say hold a moment as the run off to find an English speaker. My first Bachelors was in French but I never studied a word of Spanish until I arrived in PR. I find, I can read almost anything but the spoken language I cannot understand at all. Although little by little I am understanding more and more.

I find that everyone understands English because they start learning it in school at age 5 but many people do not feel comfortable speaking it. So I speak in English, they understand, and then they reply in Spanish. At the beginning I had no clue what they were saying. This situation happens at my yoga studio with the receptionist. Now I know a bit more Spanish and I know her. So if I am not sure what she said I will repeat what I think she said in English and she will confirm or deny it.

But yes everyone understands English and most people speak English.

Correct, until the 1950s and 60s the colonial administrations in US territories encouraged the speaking and teaching of English as a means of integrating US territories into the nation as a whole. This is why virtually nobody speaks Spanish in the Philippines anymore.

Interestingly, Puerto Rico was the world's first colony to be granted internal self government (in 1952).

[silverkris]

You will find some locals speaking English with a New York City accent. This is because a lot of Puerto Ricans live in the greater Tri-State area and often divide their time between the island and the mainland.

[Bluefox]

Yep, when I was in San Juan almost everyone I met was bilingual. In the more rural areas, it seemed less so but not much less.

[jamesd1967]

I was in a volunteer agency in Haiti for almost eight years and would travel via Air France, American Airlines, or Air Guadaloupe to San Juan two times a month. My grandmother lived there until her passing. Almost everyone in San Juan speaks English. There is the rather rare occasion when you may encounter a person every now and again who speaks mostly Spanish; however, it is rare these days. Puerto Rico is just like another US state. There is Wal-Mart, Kmart, Sam's Club, a huge mall, Walgreen's, CVS, name it, it's there.

[Sandhillian]

It's very rare to hear people conversing in English in Ponce but many people understand it and often will speak it if an "Americano" tries to speak to them in Spanish.