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Miami Needs to Study Spanish

International financial hub finds Latinos' language skills lagging

By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 3, 2008 1:30 PM CST
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(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.

You have to wonder about its future as the capital of Latin America, said John Echevarría, president of Miami-based Universal Music Latino.
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)
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.
"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 - 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.
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)
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 the focus on teaching immigrants English.
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)
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 the focus on teaching immigrants English.
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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