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Old 03-04-2020, 04:12 PM
 
Location: Frisco, TX
1,879 posts, read 1,532,694 times
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A personal misconception was that outside of El Paso, the boarder "towns" are podunk places. Cameron and Hidalgo counties in the Rio Grande Valley combined probably make the fifth largest metro in Texas and about the size of some medium sized Midwest metros like KC or Columbus.

I had a meeting down there a couple of months ago, and as we were landing, I couldn’t believe how built-up the area is.
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Old 03-04-2020, 07:54 PM
 
Location: Houston
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Another thing to be aware of is that one can rely too much on generalizations. I run into a lot of affluent Mexican citizens here in Houston that speak excellent English. Also a lot of Guatemalans and other Central Americans who speak better English than Spanish, since their home languages are Quiché or other Mayan languages.
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Old 03-05-2020, 12:26 AM
 
738 posts, read 752,590 times
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Laredo is one of the oldest cities in the U.S. so it's fairly East Coast centric to think it isn't "American". It's older than any Midwestern city or Washington D.C.

I think the biggest misconception is these are "small" places. Typically they are in reality the smaller and richer part of a metro area that stretches into Mexico itself. They aren't so much extensions of Mexico but the Mexican sides are extensions of them. To continue the Laredo example Nuevo Laredo (New Laredo) was established 100 years after Laredo by families that wanted to remain Mexican nationals. They moved across the river and started a new town.

There are over five million people living in cities on the Texas Mexican border. Both the El Paso and Brownsville-Mcallen areas are larger in population than the Austin area. Any place that big has it's own unique culture. Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Nashville and San Jose are similar in size and all have very distinct cultures different from the others. Doesn't make any of them more or less American.

They ain't towns in other words.
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Old 03-05-2020, 06:43 AM
 
Location: New Orleans
1,545 posts, read 3,001,193 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jackalope48 View Post
Laredo is one of the oldest cities in the U.S. so it's fairly East Coast centric to think it isn't "American". It's older than any Midwestern city or Washington D.C.

I think the biggest misconception is these are "small" places. Typically they are in reality the smaller and richer part of a metro area that stretches into Mexico itself. They aren't so much extensions of Mexico but the Mexican sides are extensions of them. To continue the Laredo example Nuevo Laredo (New Laredo) was established 100 years after Laredo by families that wanted to remain Mexican nationals. They moved across the river and started a new town.

There are over five million people living in cities on the Texas Mexican border. Both the El Paso and Brownsville-Mcallen areas are larger in population than the Austin area. Any place that big has it's own unique culture. Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Nashville and San Jose are similar in size and all have very distinct cultures different from the others. Doesn't make any of them more or less American.

They ain't towns in other words.
Yes indeed. The whole region still has an image problem, even a self-esteem problem if I dare say so. In addition to possibly feeling out of place for other reasons, some non-Mexican transplant might turn down that job offer in Laredo or the RGV because it seems like a very isolated place, which is only partially true. Sure, you´re defintely outside of the Texas Triangle, but is it that cut off from everything?? McAllen is an hour to South Padre Island. Laredo and the RGV are about the same distance to both San Antonio AND Monterrey, Mexico, the latter being a hell of a city in its own right. It´s all about perception.

El Paso? Sure, it´s a hell of a drive from other big cities in Texas, but you´re talking about the gateway to the west. One of the reasons why EP is so high on my list is that it´s right next to New Mexico, not far from Arizona, and is in fact closer to San Diego than it is to Beaumont. That´s all good to me.
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Old 03-06-2020, 05:27 AM
 
6,219 posts, read 3,537,301 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
I have always gotten the impression that by speaking to them in Spanish you're reminding them (often unwittingly but they feel it anyway) that they're not fully American. A touchy issue for many of them.


I can speak basic Spanish and try to use it in heavily Hispanic parts of the U.S. and it seems like any Latinos who have at least one foot planted on U.S. soil (either as a citizen or a resident) are extremely hesitant to answer back to me in Spanish. Some are even a bit hostile.


The only people who answer me back in Spanish in the U.S. seem to obviously be tourists from Latin America, often with English skills that are shaky to nil.


On the other hand, my Spanish is at least good enough that in countries where it's the official language even people with English skills will continue in Spanish with me about 90% of the time.
I can see that being the case with US born Latinos, but if you're going to a taco truck where the workers are obviously immigrants, I don't see why they would think that. But that being said, they do usually respond to me in Spanish in places like that.

I don't even bother speaking Spanish with US born Hispanics, I don't like being judged about having an accent of a non Native speaker. I had this "friend" growing up who is American, born to two parents from Central America. I was in high school and really into Spanish at the time, so I would practice by talking to to his mom and he would get soooo mad and I didn't understand it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
While Laredo and Brownsville are certainly different and feel way more Hispanic than, say, Burlington, Vermont, one can't be very well-travelled at all if you think that in terms of "feel" they're basically interchangeable with a random Mexican city.


I have always said that when I go to these places, what surprises isn't how much Spanish is spoken, but how much English is spoken.
Could it be that they see a bunch of Hispanic families, hear some Spanish (not necessarily more Spanish than English), and assume that the place must not be very American?
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Old 03-06-2020, 05:59 AM
 
Location: 78745
4,481 posts, read 4,536,058 times
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I think one of the biggest misconceptions about the Texas border towns is they are not safe towns, when the reality is they are relatively safe. Most of the cities have murder rates on par with many - if not most - of the smaller metros in the Midwest.

Another misconception is most people don't speak or know English, when the reality is almost everyboy does speak Spanish as a 1st language but a high percentage of the natives can speak English as 2nd language.
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Old 03-06-2020, 05:54 PM
 
23,690 posts, read 9,251,463 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Foamposite View Post
I see on the general US forum all the time, people claiming that the border areas (such as El Paso and RGV) are basically an extension of Mexico and not Americanized. Meaning that you hear much more Spanish than English.
I even see this claim about San Antonio to a lesser extent. Which is weird, because Dallas and Houston seem to be more of a magnet for Latin American immigration.

But my mom just spent 2 weeks in El Paso and didn't find that to be true at all. One of her remarks was that the city seemed to mostly be Americanized Hispanics, and coming from New York, she wasn't used to that besides Puerto Ricans (the Mexican and Central American population here is overwhelmingly immigrants and 2nd gens under 25).

I was always skeptical of claims that say, El Paso and McAllen are culturally extremely Mexican and have mostly non-English speakers. I've always known Latinos born in the US to talk to each other 99% in English, even if both of their parents are immigrants.
i think one misconception is that they are dangerous
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Old 03-09-2020, 10:42 PM
 
638 posts, read 561,606 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Foamposite View Post
True, but does El Paso have so many Mexican shoppers that it would make you hear more Spanish than English?
The language not important.Texas Mexico has a language they both get.Texas and Mexico communicate easily. You live in Texas or Mexico you will have a language you understand.Texans get Spanish. Its our second language.
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Old 03-09-2020, 10:53 PM
 
638 posts, read 561,606 times
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I was a fan of Plainview women. They were scientistists protectors of mankind. My favorite was Ann. So brillant and loving of man.
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Old 03-09-2020, 10:57 PM
 
638 posts, read 561,606 times
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I was fan of Plainview women in truth. They were brillant scientistist and protectors of human beings.
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