What is in practice Miami's lingua franca; English or Spanish? (Tampa: real estate, brokers)

[Redrum237]

What in Miami is essentially the language of business and commerce and overall the main lingua franca nowadays? I've heard some reports it's become Spanish, others that it's still English. As a comparitive example, Ottawa would be a bilingual city where the lingua franca is English, Montreal is a bilingual city where the lingua franca is French. Miami is somewhat of a bilingual city too, but I've heard reports that unlike other English-Spanish bilingual cities in America (ie Los Angeles), in Miami, Spanish actually takes precedent as the lingua franca in business and such (largely due to the influx of wealthy Cubans). Is that true?

[FlyMIA]

It is no longer because of a new influx of wealthy Cubans. The wealthy Cubans have been here for decades and the vast majority speak English. It is the influx of wealthy South Americans. At the same time this is still the United States so things are still in English like contracts. Plenty is done in Spanish yes, and Spanish is an official language of the county as well and Haitian Creole for things like Voting and anything the county gives you can be found in Spanish and Creole.

Many clients may be speaking Spanish only or prefer Spanish but all the professionals speak English too and many speak only English. I have met plenty of Bankers and Attorneys who can't speak Spanish for their life and they do very well.

So when it comes to talking to clients and such then yea some stuff is certainly done in Spanish. But actual business, its still English and always will be.

I think one exception is real estate, for some insane reason I think you can have a real estate contract in Spanish. Of course if there are ever any legal problems with it you would have to get it translated to English etc.. It is fairly rare to see from what I hear.

[unquiltom]

I'd have to say it depends on the neighborhood and the people doing business. Most Spanish speaking people will communicate with each other in Spanish, even in businesses that are supposed to be English speaking, but since the majority are bi-lingual, (in bigger business, not so much in the small businesses) you'll hear both spoken all the time.

[Redrum237]

Originally Posted by FlyMIA

It is no longer because of a new influx of wealthy Cubans. The wealthy Cubans have been here for decades and the vast majority speak English. It is the influx of wealthy South Americans. At the same time this is still the United States so things are still in English like contracts. Plenty is done in Spanish yes, and Spanish is an official language of the county as well and Haitian Creole for things like Voting and anything the county gives you can be found in Spanish and Creole.

Many clients may be speaking Spanish only or prefer Spanish but all the professionals speak English too and many speak only English. I have met plenty of Bankers and Attorneys who can't speak Spanish for their life and they do very well.

So when it comes to talking to clients and such then yea some stuff is certainly done in Spanish. But actual business, its still English and always will be.

I think one exception is real estate, for some insane reason I think you can have a real estate contract in Spanish. Of course if there are ever any legal problems with it you would have to get it translated to English etc.. It is fairly rare to see from what I hear.

Say for instance if you were in a big office building in downtown Miami; what language would mostly be used in business? In boardroom meetings, office communiques, etc

What language would be more detrimental not to know, for being employed in Miami, if you were a white collar office worker; English or Spanish? What about for blue collar work?

Overall, if you knew only one or the other, which would be more likely to get you ahead in the working world of Miami? English or Spanish?

[Acajack]

So do cops write out reports in Spanish?

If you go to Home Depot, can they print out plans for a deck or a shed in Spanish for you from their computer?

Can you get your phone bill, cable bill, power bill in Spanish?

I am pretty sure I know the answers to all of these BTW...

[Pizarro]

Juat a matter of time... another questions are translations. If they are going to translate Englihs into pidging sausero Spanglish, lets leave it in English. I bet there are literate peple, let them do the translation and not the fist salvatrucha flipplig papusos or whatever.

[FlyMIA]

Originally Posted by Redrum237

Say for instance if you were in a big office building in downtown Miami; what language would mostly be used in business? In boardroom meetings, office communiques, etc

What language would be more detrimental not to know, for being employed in Miami, if you were a white collar office worker; English or Spanish? What about for blue collar work?

Overall, if you knew only one or the other, which would be more likely to get you ahead in the working world of Miami? English or Spanish?

You need to know English no matter what this is the United States. Laws are in English, Contracts are in English, everything is in English. The things that are done in Spanish is just communicating with clients and sometimes other workers. If you know only Spanish you can't get hired for a professional job. First of all many of those jobs requrie licenses like Brokers, Attorneys etc..

Blue Collar it really depends on what neighborhood you are working in and what you are doing but blue collar can certainly get by on mostly Spanish.

Originally Posted by Acajack

So do cops write out reports in Spanish? NO Again this is the UNITED STATES.

If you go to Home Depot, can they print out plans for a deck or a shed in Spanish for you from their computer? Probably not

Can you get your phone bill, cable bill, power bill in Spanish? Not that I know of, so I am going to say No.

I am pretty sure I know the answers to all of these BTW...

There are plenty of people I know that do not speak a word of Spanish who are doing very well in Miami. There are many people who speak both Spanish and English who do very well. There are very few people who only Speak Spanish who do well.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Un Poquito Mas

No you don't because some are yes and some are no.

Everything is in English but you can still get utility bills and many government documents in Spanish.

Government documents I know of but utility bills? Really?

[Acajack]

Sounds like Spanish is used in conversation a lot but as soon as you write something down even semi-officially it is more likely than not going to be in English.

[doom1001]

You need English,people might talk Spanish and lately even Portuguese from the Brazilians coming in but this is still the United States,English is the one that you better know.The Cubans have been here since like the late 50's-60's,most of them along with their kids and grandkids probably have English as their primary language by now even though they might also speak Spanish at home or with friends.The amount of Spanish being spoken will probably diminish after a generation or two,Tampa for example had Cubans come over decades before they came to Miami and you'll see a lot less Spanish being spoken by them and their offspring.It'll never get to the point in Miami as Miami is a lot more bilingual with people coming in from dozens of countries as well as the recently arrived Cubans,but there are Cuban kids from Cubans who have been here for decades that barely speak Spanish.Look at me my parents are Cuban and I was born here,I'm bilingual with some Spanglish thrown in but my writing skills in Spanish are pretty bad.If anybody is reluctant to do business in English right now it's probably the South Americans coming in,but like I said this is still the U.S so English will always and should be the primary language although you may enter some businesses and only hear Spanish,it just depends where you go.