On the bus ride from Puerto Vallarta to Sayulita, I made some light conversation with a young Mexican woman. I made a comment in Spanish about the bad traffic and to my surprise, the response was in English with barely a hint of a Mexican accent. The story was similar in Sayulita itself. Many of the servers at restaurants and bars could have almost passed for native born Hispanic Americans. I could be wrong, but I assume that they have lived in Mexico for their entire lives and received a bilingual education. Indeed, I did see an advertisement for a bilingual school in Sayulita. While I certainly applaud people for learning a second language, I would encourage you NOT to lose your native accent when speaking English. I love to hear almost any accent and much prefer it to reporters and wanna be Valley girl talk.
With all the mass migration, I can envision a world in about 500 years in which everyone speaks the same language in the same neutral dialect. Also, everyone will have a similar ethnic mixture with some African, European, Asian and Native American DNA. Of course, I’ll be long gone before that happens, but I see some pros and cons to that type of world. The first big pro is that there will be no racism. Though there may be some variation, most people will have a similar light brown complexion with dark hair and brown eyes. Another pro is that most likely, it will be a more peaceful world without various ethnic conflicts. The BIG negative would be the utter lack of diversity. In addition to everyone looking the same and talking the same, all children will be taught to think the same as well. There will be immense pressure to conform to societal norms and if you stand out in any way, you will be ostracized. Also, it will probably be a one world government. No Thanks. Glad I’ll be gone before that happens.
If you move to the USA before you turn 13-14, you will probably lose your foreign accent and may pick up the local dialect. I befriended a Polish immigrant who was adopted around the age of 10. When we met in 6th grade, he still had a thick accent but lost it over the next couple of years. By the time we got to high school, he had forgotten most of his Polish and many people didn’t even know that he wasn’t born in the USA. I’ve met several Asians with southern accents, but all were born in raised in the South. I had a bit of a crush on a girl who was born in Venezuela but immigrated to South Carolina at 7-8 years of age. She still spoke fluent Spanish, but her English was always Southern American style, which I thought was really cool.
I want to highlight 3 celebrities that I enjoy hearing: They are Sofia Vergara from Colombia, Salma Hayek from Mexico and Arnold Schwarzenegger from Austria. To my knowledge, Arnold made no attempt to lose his trademark accent. Vergara tried but found that she struggled with auditions, so she gave up. Interestingly, Nicole Kidman from Australia and Charlize Theron from South Africa are able to pull off standard American English. I’d rather hear their natural speech. I saw a few interviews with Salma Hayek from back in the late 90s in which she had a light Mexican accent. Nowadays, she lays it on thick. Good for her! Be proud of where you were born and raised. You don’t have to be like everybody else. I’ve gotten several compliments on my Spanish even though it is spoken with an American Southern accent. A Dominican driver told me that it is clear and easy to understand because it is spoken slowly. A girl from California said it was “beautiful” and there is no reason to try to lose it when speaking Spanish. I follow a Peruvian Spanish teacher on YouTube and though her English is heavily accented, it is clear and easy to understand. I think it’s beautiful and have binge watched her videos to listen to her talk. Most young Europeans have a working knowledge of English and have been taught it from a young age. I follow a German woman and a Swedish man who make travel videos on YouTube. Both could almost pass for American. Especially in large cities, I doubt that you will find many Germans who speak English like Arnold Schwarzenegger. IMO, that’s a little sad.
My views on immigrant assimilation have evolved in recent years. I remain opposed to open borders but do not support mass deportation. I still believe that all immigrants must learn English and should speak it in public as well. When I was younger, I believed that they should fully embrace Americanism and drop the hyphenated labels. I no longer feel that way. In fact, I would encourage you to embrace your heritage by continuing speaking your native language at home and with friends and relatives as well as to teach it to your children. If I were a Mexican immigrant with native born children, I would designate weekdays for English and weekends for Spanish at home or vice versa depending on schedules. Many Americans take 2 or 3 years of a foreign language at school then never speak or study it again. As a result, they only remember the very basic phrases. I regret that I stopped studying Spanish in my 20s and 30s but it’s not too late to re-learn.
Bilingual education in the USA? If you grew up here but English is not your dominant language, I don’t think it’s a good thing, so I would not go that far. Exposing children as young as 6 years old to multiple foreign languages? I’d be all for that. Hire a teacher who is a polyglot and give him or her an hour with every grade level. Then, offer languages as an elective in middle school. I, for one would have preferred a Spanish, Latin or French class over an Art or Shop class in middle school. I certainly would have performed better in the foreign language. That’s for sure.
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