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precisely, I have familia and a second home in PR.
In the SJ metro area, larger cities and tourist areas just about everyone speaks English.
Matter of fact when I am approached by locals, they almost always want to practice their English on me..just as I always try to bone up and improve my Spanish..
Most Puerto Ricans can even tell what part of the CONUS you are from by your accent. (when you are speaking Spanish, English or Spanglish.)
^ this
I've had people speaking English to me before I can even open my mouth. But of course, Puerto Rico is foreign
precisely, I have familia and a second home in PR.
In the SJ metro area, larger cities and tourist areas just about everyone speaks English.
Matter of fact when I am approached by locals, they almost always want to practice their English on me..just as I always try to bone up and improve my Spanish..
Most Puerto Ricans can even tell what part of the CONUS you are from by your accent. (when you are speaking Spanish, English or Spanglish.)
Then why do Americans consider it "foreign"? Did you watch the news on CNN during the hurricane? Notice all the reporters were bilingual on CNN. Notice how many they interviewed couldn't speak a word of english?
I've had people speaking English to me before I can even open my mouth. But of course, Puerto Rico is foreign
Did you bother to read the link I posted? Americans just don't consider it America, and don't really care what happens to the place, outside of Americans whose families came from there.
It is foreign in the sense that the predominant language is unquestionably Spanish... and culturally Puerto Ricans ARE different from mainlanders. I grew up in New England, but did undergraduate studies at UPR-Rio Piedras (had family in the area). U.S. Anglo-American and Puerto Rican cultures are different universes... how people interact and communicate, values, friendships, a whole host of characteristics. Puerto Rico is de jure a part of the U.S., but not culturally a part of the U.S. Culturally, it is Latin American or Hispano-Caribbean to be more precise. From a business or economic perspective, the influence of the U.S. is much more firmly entrenched in PR, however.
It is foreign in the sense that the predominant language is unquestionably Spanish... and culturally Puerto Ricans ARE different from mainlanders. I grew up in New England, but did undergraduate studies at UPR-Rio Piedras (had family in the area). U.S. Anglo-American and Puerto Rican cultures are different universes... how people interact and communicate, values, friendships, a whole host of characteristics. Puerto Rico is de jure a part of the U.S., but not culturally a part of the U.S. Culturally, it is Latin American or Hispano-Caribbean to be more precise. From a business or economic perspective, the influence of the U.S. is much more firmly entrenched in PR, however.
Quite frankly, as a Long Islander/New Yorker I could say the same thing about Alabama or Mississippi ... especially regarding views of the role of religion, the role of government, and cultural values. Aside from speaking English and holding the same nationality I have little to nothing in common with an Alabaman. To be honest, I'm more at home in Puerto Rico than in many places on the mainland.
People have this view that there is a singular American identity and everyone is exactly the same. That really isn't the case, especially with the polarization of politics and the "culture wars" over the past 15-20 years. Immigration is also rapidly changing things, there are many places on the mainland that are just as Hispanic as Puerto Rico.
Quite frankly, as a Long Islander/New Yorker I could say the same thing about Alabama or Mississippi ... especially regarding views of the role of religion, the role of government, and cultural values. Aside from speaking English and holding the same nationality I have little to nothing in common with an Alabaman. To be honest, I'm more at home in Puerto Rico than in many places on the mainland.
People have this view that there is a singular American identity and everyone is exactly the same. That really isn't the case, especially with the polarization of politics and the "culture wars" over the past 15-20 years. Immigration is also rapidly changing things, there are many places on the mainland that are just as Hispanic as Puerto Rico.
You make an excellent point about the diversity within the U.S. When I first went to live in PR, I had only lived in New England -- so my memory is of that PR-New England cultural contrast, which, IMO, is vast. I've also since lived in South Carolina, Louisiana, and Georgia. They, too, are very different culturally from my native New England.
I frequently go to the Lower Rio Grande Valley. It is a hybridized place -- a mix of Mexican and U.S. influences -- unique in the country. However, even in Brownsville, which is 93% *Hispanic*, everyone born and raised there speaks perfect American / Texan English. Many don't know any other language. It is a bit isolated, but not nearly as much as PR.
Puerto Rico has voted for statehood. It needs to walk the walk to be admitted as the fifty-first state in the union and take care of its business as a state.
No they haven't........if you look at every referendum on the status on Puerto Rico since 1967, the majority of the voters voted against statehood or boycotted the referendum by voting for "none of the above" (actually, that was a choice in 1998 and won) since then I gave up and moved on and since then I have seen the anti-Americanism in the island grow and in the universities in the island with the younger generation and way to the left. You have the mayor of San Juan who is very anti-American and won re-election. SAN JUAN!!!!!!! That was a very pro statehood and pro United States city for decades before I was born.
That's why I don't want to hear any Puerto Rican in the island complain and cry that they don't have the same benefits and are not equal as the states. If congress gave them statehood on a silver platter today, they would reject it in a referendum and then later complain that they don't have the same rights as the states and blame the "gringos".
IMHO if PR become a state it would dig itself into such debt that it would become a nightmare. PR if I'm not mistaken already has one of the highest marginal tax rates. Can you imagine the outrage it would cause if PR became a state and its residents were also responsible for federal taxes on their personal income.
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