New to Catholic schools down in Miami and Coral Gables area

[bale002]

I really don't know what some of you people are talking about.

Perhaps anecdotal, but my experience and observation is that young people born in Miami speak mostly English and their parents, either born in Cuba, elsewhere in Latin America or first generation Miamians, struggle - struggle - to have these young children maintain Spanish.

I remember one scene at a poolside where a Cuba-born mother who came to Miami very young, perfectly bilingual, was pleading to her young daughter (about 11) and her friends to speak in Spanish to another young girl who spoke only Spanish, but the girls refused, continuing to speak and play in English only, and the girl who spoke only Spanish felt left out (I actually felt sorry for her).

Anyway, it reminds me of European immigrants to the US northeast a century or so ago: foreign-born immigrants never learn English or very little; first generation born in US is bilingual, basically for life; second generation struggles with grandparents' language, some retain it, some don't; third generation speaks English only, may learn great-grandparents' language out of interest and educational vocation.

The Cubans are about half-way, maybe a bit more, in that cycle, while other Latin Americans in Miami are about a quarter way, maybe less.

I would expect in Coral Gables that all, or at least most, school children speak English first.

Hope this helps.

Good Luck!

[cojoncillo]

Bale

Back in those days it was different. For example, any Italian/German/French that comes into the US nowdays will do his best to preserve language and culture. They will do their best so their children are perfectly bilingual or trilingual.

Any Cuban that does not teach Spanish to his children is suicidal. Any Chinese that does not teach Chinese to his children is suicidal.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by cojoncillo

Bale

Back in those days it was different. For example, any Italian/German/French that comes into the US nowdays will do his best to preserve language and culture. They will do their best so their children are perfectly bilingual or trilingual.

Any Cuban that does not teach Spanish to his children is suicidal. Any Chinese that does not teach Chinese to his children is suicidal.

I understand that, and actually you reinforce my point.

But many Hispanics from Miami are already moving to Broward County, Palm Beach County, and even places like North Carolina. You'll see what happens to them linguistically in the second and third generation: exactly, they will have to do their best, they will have to struggle - struggle! - so that their children are perfectly bilingual, and it won't be by osmossis as it is between the immigrant generation and the first generation.

And, like I said, even in the heart of Miami-Dade County I see first/second generation parents struggling - struggling! - to maintain Spanish among their second/third generation children (I've seen this film before).

Europeans nowadays who come to the US are by and large professionals working in top cities, and/or have "get-away" apartments or vacations homes in places like Miami Beach (or somewhere in Brazil for that matter) who do not plan to settle two or three generations and beyond. If they do, the same cycle will repeat.

Of course it is possible to maintain language and culture across generations (think Jews and Greeks, for example, in the US), but osmossis no longer works after the first generation, it takes planning and effort, and not everyone cares or is up to the challenge, so, instead, by osmossis they are absorbed into the wider society, and both are transformed in the process.

I agree, however, that this time around US society in general is being more transformed by immigration than 100 years ago when immigrants were more transformed by US society in general.

In any case, I think that the OP and his children will be just fine in Coral Gables and any other relatively well-to-do neighborhood of Miami-Dade County, e.g. the metrorail corridor running downtown/Brickell-Coconut Grove-Coral Gables (UM)-South Miami-Dadeland and as far south as Pinecrest, coastal neighborhoods from Miami Beach to Aventura, Doral, maybe a few others.

Good Luck!

[cojoncillo]

It all depends on the cultural level, of course. If the parents of the child are professional, have college education, they know that the child will fare better knowing correct Spanish.

Not only Jews and Greeks, there are Spanish speakers in Louisiana that have been speaking Spanish since 1770. There are also Spanish speakers in Tampa and Key West that have been speaking Spanish during the last 150 years. I remember that old Miccosukees spoke Spanish, they probably lost it.

I think that Spanish is increasing its importance in the US, not the other way around.