Comments on: How many people do not speak Spanish that are Hispanic or Latino?

By: jacquelita

jacquelita — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:14:59 +0000

my dad is a spanish mestizo but his family and his first generation cousins all born and raised in philippines while my mom is filipina. although i knew little spanish when i was young because i hear my dad and my grandma on dad’s side would speak some spanish however i couldn’t speak it that much & although my family were able to preserve the hispanic traditions in our family despite living in a far away country like the philippines, i felt it isn’t enough & that there was lacking in me. with that i started befriending more hispanics but of course i didn’t do it only to practice well my spanish. with their help, now at least i know some conversational spanish although i still have some errors but i don’t care. as the saying goes “practice makes perfect”

By: Luis Yale

Luis Yale — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 22:21:13 +0000

First off I just wanna say that I am 100% Peruvian but I was born and raised in Boston and then Florida so Spanish doesn’t necessarily have to be my native tongue. On the other hand I can speak some Spanish but with an accent and it pisses me off on how people and sometimes family mock me because I can’t talk like the rest of them. Right now I’m taking Spanish classes and it’s embarassing but it’s for the best I recommend it.

By: Kaitlin Mag

Kaitlin Mag — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 03:57:00 +0000

My mother is a 2nd generation NYrican and my father is Filipino..I am somewhat fluent in spanish but that is because most of my friends are hispanic and I had to basically teach myself more or less due to my job….But growing up in my house we spoke English.

By: nataly

nataly — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 17:12:24 +0000

Well I think It’s not your fault at all it’s your parent’s because they didn’t take the advantage of teaching you spanish.

By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:12:47 +0000

It is simply common place. If I meet a Chinese person, I would expect that person to know the language that Chinese people speak. I suppose it should not be done.

On the other hand, language is a part of one’s culture. In recent years, I’ve been trying to relearn Spanish. Both my parents are Hispanic but I had limited conversations with my father in Spanish and my mother always spoke to me in English when I was growing up.

Now, I’m going back to relearn the language because I don’t want to forget it. It is a part of me. Plus, it feels good learning. I also started learning French along side Spanish and I was surprised how similar, yet different the two languages was. If I had to rate my fluency it would be English>Spanish>French. I understand Spanish and I can read it, but speaking and writing it are more difficult since my vocabulary is limited. especially the latter. Anyway, don’t let it get to you.

By: Jose

Jose — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 03:08:41 +0000

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.

By: kitty galore

kitty galore — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:20:04 +0000

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

By: mysticmagic21_2001

mysticmagic21_2001 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:42:10 +0000

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!

By: lucidassembly

lucidassembly — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:42:10 +0000

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.

By: rebecca m

rebecca m — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:42:10 +0000

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.