Brownsville, TX (Tyler, Post: fit in, camps, title)

[misshannajo]

Hi,
I recently moved back to the valley and I've noticed an interesting phenomenon and wanted to see if there was anyone else out there that had experienced the same thing.
I work in an educational setting and I have noticed that it is difficult for me to connect with my coworkers and the students. After receiving some feedback, I was told that it might be due to the language I choose to speak on a day to day basis. Although I know Spanish, I primarily speak English. I don't use both languages (Spanglish) in conversation and if I do it's very rare.

If I am speaking with a person who ONLY speaks Spanish then I too will speak Spanish. I don't mind speaking Spanish, but I think in English and it is just an easier language for me to use, especially at work.

It was brought to my attention that people do not speak to me because I only speak English even though I know Spanish, and that it can be misinterpreted as being disrespectful (especially because I myself am Hispanic). Although I respect the culture here and understand that speaking Spanglish is a part of the culture, I am having a hard time finding solutions for the issue. Other than speaking Spanglish, which I will admit I have started to do more of in order to fit in.

I also have a hard time speaking Spanglish because I don't feel there are many other places (even in Texas) that you could do that, especially in an educational/professional settings.
Has anyone else experienced this? And if you did, how did you handle it?

[gabetx]

Brownsville is 140 miles to the south of CC. You should have posted this in the Texas forum. I don't understand why people keep posting Valley threads in the CC forum. Since when did CC become a part of the Valley?

BTW, there isn't a problem of this in CC. The only places you might hear people speaking Spanish over English is on the west side or in a taqueria.

[misshannajo]

Thanks for that info. I've never posted on here before so I wasn't sure where to include it. To be honest, the only reason I posted this under CC was because I saw other valley locations there as well.
Posted under TX now

[jbtx]

misshannajo

I'm an Anglo raised in TX, so I speak both English and Spanglish. I've spent most of my professional life in both camps, whenever necessary I just switch gears and run with whatever language that works. My experience is that the Hispanics working for me who are not totally fluent in English are relieved to know they are at least understood.

If you are working in an academic situation where folks are reluctant to speak English, or look down on you for choosing to speak the recognized national language, that's a problem. You might remember that language is what unites us, if we refuse to speak a common tongue we can never be, "E pluribus unum".



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[NewTexico76]

To be blunt about it, why is there no Rio Grande Valley category? If the great metropolis of Tyler gets one...shouldn't a region with over 1.3 million people get one.

Well I know this is not a question for this board, and since most categories are named after specific cities, there is probably no consensus on which city should be in the title category.

[Dr.Mcninja]

North Carolina has a category for "Coastal".
No reason there shouldn't be one here for "RGV".

[Marlow]

Originally Posted by NewTexico76

To be blunt about it, why is there no Rio Grande Valley category? If the great metropolis of Tyler gets one...shouldn't a region with over 1.3 million people get one.

Well I know this is not a question for this board, and since most categories are named after specific cities, there is probably no consensus on which city should be in the title category.

You an ask the moderators to set up an RGV sub-forum if you want one. That's what someone did a couple of years ago to start the CC sub-forum.