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May 16, 2008 3:11:42 AM CDT



Miami Needs to Study Spanish  

Posted Mar 3, 08 1:30 PM CST in US    Most Covered

(newser) – Miami's role as an international city—the "financial hub of Latin America," as one businessman calls it—is threatened by its residents' declining Spanish skills, the Miami Herald reports. Many descendants of the Cuban entrepreneurs and businessmen who flooded South Florida in the '60s and '70s speak only "kitchen Spanish"—good enough to talk to grandma, but not for business transactions.

The school system focuses on making English the dominant language, not on cultivating Spanish skills. Nearly 1,200 multinational corporations operate out of South Florida, but finding bilingual employees is more and more challenging. Of course there could soon be a new source:  "Fidel dies and a million people are going to show up here,'' cultural critic David Rieff quips.

Source Miami Herald

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Miami Needs to Study Spanish
You have to wonder about its future as "the capital of Latin America," said John Echevarría, president of Miami-based Universal Music Latino.   (Shutterstock.com)
Miami Needs to Study Spanish
"We have no hard data, but we can extrapolate from anecdotal evidence that when the people here are talking to the people there, they are doing so mostly in Spanish," said WorldCity president Ken Roberts.   (Shutterstock.com)
Miami Needs to Study Spanish
MIAMI - AUGUST 2007: Pedestrians walks past a store that displays the U.S. and Nicaraguan flags August 9, 2007 in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, Florida.   (Getty Images)
Miami Needs to Study Spanish
Students sit in class as they learn how to speak English at the English Center June 16, 2006 in Miami, Florida. Many find that the need to improve Spanish skills in the second generation gets lost in...   (Getty Images)
Miami Needs to Study Spanish
Students sit in class as they learn how to speak English at the English Center June 16, 2006 in Miami, Florida. Many find that the need to improve Spanish skills in the second generation gets lost in...   (Getty Images)
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immigrant   Miami   language   Latinos   Spanish   Hispanics   bilingual education   Cuban Americans



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