How many people do not speak Spanish that are Hispanic or Latino?
I am half Filipino and half Puerto Rican and was raised in the US. Both my parents speak Spanish fluently and I understand it. I however, don't speak Spanish I don't have much of an accent when I speak. Whenever someone that speaks Spanish finds out that I don't speak Spanish fluently they look disgusted. Like now I'm not Puerto Rican enough. Anyone have the same experience?
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Tags: accent, parents, puerto rican
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:42 pm
I’m half Chinese and half Puerto Rican. I speak more Chinese than I do Spanish. But even my Chinese isn’t enough to be "fluent". And like you, I’ve had the same experiences- people tell me how wrong they think my family is for never teaching me how to speak Spanish or Chinese. But they find it interesting when I tell them that I am fluent in sign language!
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:42 pm
I’m half Hispanic & half white. My dad can speak Spanish fluently & so can all of my relatives on his side of the family. I don’t know Spanish. I can’t speak it, nor understand it. I get the same sort of reaction from people that you do. In fact just two days ago I was told by another Hispanic that me not being able to speak Spanish "was just wrong" and that I shouldn’t change who I am for other people. I didn’t change, considering I didn’t know Spanish to begin with, but I don’t see how it’s wrong not to know that language. If I have to know Spanish because I’m Hispanic, then shouldn’t I follow along with all other customs? I don’t understand the reasoning behind it all.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:42 pm
I am Mexican and do not speak ANY Spanish. I understand the basic "hola" and "adios", but nothing much beyond that. People have said the craziest things to me, such as, "If you’re Mexican, why don’t you speak Spanish?!" I go ahead and tell them how it was three great-grandparents that came from Mexico and settled in San Francisco (the other was born here).
It does get frustrating. I don’t like being expected to speak Spanish, and I definitely don’t like being looked down to when I say I don’t. I only feel bad when people are looking for a translator and I can’t come through.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:42 pm
I’m Chinese, but since I was born and raised in Peru, I can only understand a little Cantonese. I’m pretty fluent in Spanish and English though
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:42 pm
First hi!! Well I’m Half Puerto Rican and half black but I speak spanish and english!! There is so many people out there that are Latinos and don’t speak spanish. In some way I think that’s wrong because you should atleast know most of the language. Well I have older brothers and sisters and they were also raised and born in here. They speak both languages fluently. My dad would make them speak spanish in the house and english when they were at school. That’s how they learned. I learned my english in 8 months and I still speak spanish but I practice my english at home even though part of my family speaks spanish. We all are Puerto Rican. Well good luck hope it helps!
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:42 pm
I have the same problem. I used to live in Colombia until i was 11 but then after that i moved with my parents to the Philippines and lived there for 6 years, and I’m starting to forget Spanish and it is really embarrassing. And now that i moved to Japan to study I’m afraid i might forget English and Tagalog.
good luck.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Portugueses and Brazilians don’t speak Spanish. In latin America there are many regions where people only speak indian languages.
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:20 pm
hey ! well my dad is 100 percent mexican and my moms is white i dont speak spanish at all and i get sooooooooomany people telling me its not ok and every one i mean every one always talks to me in spanish before english even if i say what they usually repeat themselves in spanish. My dad never wanted me to learn spanish i use to ask all the time. then as a adult i tried to learn it but found that any time i said some thing that was not exactly correct accent wise the mexicans i would talk to would be so rude and make fun of how i talk which got me not even interested in the language. my husband speaks french and i have picked it up and when i speak with french people there always more then happy to help me or correct me if needed. I would have liked to learn spanish but i dont want to get all the negative feed back from spanish speakers when im tring to learn so im just sticking with the nice french pepople! anyway thats just my exsperience. and by the way i dont consider my self mexican or white just human cause truley i dont fit in either catagorie im too dark to be white and i dont speak spanish so i cant mix in with the mexicans :S:S:S:S:S:S
March 30th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
I am puerto rican. My mom is full puerto rican, born there but raised in the states since she was 2. My dad was born in the states but lived in puerto rico for about 5 years. I grew up talking spanish but i quickly forgot about it as soon as i started going to school but till this day I speak very little spanish though i understand it pretty well. I don’t feel comfortable speaking it because i feel like im going to be make fun of for the way i speak it.
I don’t feel people are disgusted with the fact that many latinos don’t speak the language but they think into the future about 5 to 10 years and see spanish slowly disappearing. The hispanic youth these days that live in the united states know english and spanish as basically a second language. We also have to carry our culture with us, be proud of who we are, have meaning to our past. I recently started looking into Puerto Rico because some day i hope to go speaking spanish fluently and knowing the culture more to show my people all Puerto Ricans in the states aren’t the same and their are many of us willing to learn.