Languages Other Than English Spoken in Colombian
Communities in New York
Michelle Boisson and Peggy Madrid
One can define Colombians through many
different traits: their patrimony, music, food, tradition, religion and
language. However, when it comes to language, a symbolic trait of
ethnicity, Colombians share Spanish with many other nationalities. In
fact one fourth of New York households speak Spanish when only a small
percentage of the population is Colombian. The area that we chose to
explore is Jackson Heights Queens, specifically down Roosevelt Avenue.
Roosevelt Avenue has all the typical
elements of any vibrant and diversified community. Along the blocks were
the street venders the sounds of Cumbia, Salsa, Vallenato and Merengue
coming out of the local music shops and passing cars, employees handing
out flyers to promote businesses such as restaurants or schools that
guarantee an individual can learn English within 6 months. Flags of every
nation proudly waved from car antennas, apartment windows, and business
establishments. The different dialects of Spanish coming from the local
people only emphasized the diversified environment that surrounded us.
Roosevelt Avenue is a large street lined with all types of businesses.
Restaurants, banks, clothing stores, music stores, schools sit alongside
one another along, sometimes one above the other. Almost all the
businesses along Roosevelt Avenue have signs in Spanish that appeal to the
large Spanish speaking population that currently resides in Jackson
Heights. The avenue is covered with a shadow cast by the towering and
roaring rails of the 7 train. One of the most unique traits of this
community is its large Colombian, Ecuadorian, and Mexican population that
is evident among the faces of all its inhabitants.
The goal of our mission was to identify the
elements that strongly represented the presence of the Colombian community
in New York City, and to explore to what extent Spanish had permeated in
this region. We had no problem finding the influence of the Colombian
community in Jackson Heights.
Our initial interest in this project was to
investigate the languages other than English spoken in certain
communities, but as we went more and more into our research we realized
that Spanish is one of the strongest ties that exist among the inhabitants
of this community. Luckily, one of us, Peggy, is a fluent Spanish speaker.
She is a New York-born Colombian who is completely bilingual. Her
knowledge on Colombian culture and language not only helped us with the
project, but it was enriched with new information. On the other hand, I,
Michelle, am a Haitian-American native to Queens, with only a working
knowledge of Spanish. Spanish is in fact my third language, with English
and French being my first and second respectively. We learned that Spanish
is not only a way of communication, but it is a way in which the
Colombians preserve their heritage. It is the carrier of tradition and
culture and the link that bonds and keeps this community together and
connected with its distant homeland.
During our investigation, we visited an
elementary school, certain city and community organizations, private
businesses, and places of entertainment in the hopes of learning what
roles does the Spanish language play in this community. We encountered
many unique features in Jackson Heights, such as a movie theater that
played movies with Spanish sub-titles, many different restaurants with
names such as Tierras Colombianas, Mi Pequeña Colombia, and
Casa Colombia, bilingualism in school and other interesting places
and people which we will describe in more detail later in the paper.
PS 19: an Establishment where English is taught for free
On 98 Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson
Heights we visited the local school P.S. 19. We interviewed a counselor
that worked in the area of parent development. Mr. Armand La Grange is
also in charge of the adult ESL programs that take place in the school. He
told us that there are about 4 adult ESL classes that take place from 8:40
in the morning to 10:00 a.m. In total, there are roughly about 250 adults
enrolled in that program provided absolutely free by the school. Mr. La
Grange also told us that over 25% of the children in the school are
enrolled in the ESL program, which are roughly about 500 to 600 students
out of 1,800 students in the school. In P.S.19 any child that is enrolled
in a bilingual program has to take mandatory ESL classes in order to
master the English language. About 85% of the students that are enrolled
in the ESL program are of Hispanic descent. According to Mr. La Grange,
approximately about one fifth of the students enrolled in the ESL program
are Colombian. Mr. La Grange told us that in the past children born in the
United States of immigrant parents were sometimes enrolled in the ESL
program, but that now only children native born of countries other than
the United States can be enrolled in the ESL program. "In this school
there is a great demand for bilingual staff members among them teachers
and counselors that assist in the education process of these children that
are taking English as a second language," stated Mr. La Grange a bilingual
speaker as well. The large Colombian, Ecuadorian, and Mexican presence
that exist in Jackson Heights, Queens has definitely altered the
traditional American educational system in this area, to the extent that
there are bilingual staff members and ESL programs to cater to the largely
Hispanic population.
Local Businesses: Bilingual and Spanish-only Services
All along Roosevelt Avenue, we were
bombarded with businesses that tried to market their products mainly in
Spanish, in this section we will talk about three different businesses
that spoke, in one case, just Spanish alone and in other cases, both
Spanish and English. As we walked down Roosevelt Avenue, we were
immediately struck by the loud melodies of Cumbia, a Colombian trait,
blasting from this small music shop. In the front of the shop, there were
many posters of Spanish artists and the official T-Shirt of the Colombian
National Soccer Team on a mannequin. We entered and interviewed the young
lady attending the business establishment. The young girl is a
Colombian-born 24-year-old named Carmen Elena Morales. Carmen was the
person attending the shop at the moment, because of her lack of knowledge
of the English language we had to conduct the interview in Spanish, which
is the only language that she knows. She told us that a Colombian born
gentleman that is fluent in both Spanish and English owns the business.
According to Carmen the majority of the customers that come into the music
shop are Colombian and Ecuadorian. She told us that almost all the
customers that came into the shop spoke Spanish and purchase Vallenato,
Cumbia, Salsa, Spanish Rock, and some Merengue. She noticed that she
rarely ever encountered a customer that only spoke English.
The second business that we went into was a
Chinese restaurant located between 103rd and 104th and Roosevelt Avenue.
The front of this establishment read: Comida China y Latina, or
Chinese and Spanish food. As we looked at the menu, we saw the usual pork
fried rice, chicken wings, low mein, chow mein, soups, yet the deeper into
the menu we looked, the more spanish it began to seem to us. It soon
started to read: Chuletas, Maduros, Arroz con habichuelas, Arroz Moro, and
Tostones. The menu was written in both English and Spanish, which
demonstrated to us the accommodation made by the business owner to the
Spanish-speaking community. We interviewed the owner of the restaurant,
who happened to have a very unique ethnic background. At first sight the
owner seemed to appear Asian, but when we asked him where he was born he
responded Venezuela. We were in utter shock, because this man did not seem
like he was from Venezuela. But he eagerly revealed to us that his
parents are from China, but that he was born and raised in Venezuela, and
that is why he has a Chinese and Latino restaurant all in one. His father
used to be a chef and that is how he learned how to cook Chinese food.
The owner's first language is Spanish, his second language is Chinese, and
his third language is English. The majority of the customers that come to
his restaurant were Colombians, Ecuadorians, and some Mexicans. All his
staff members were fluent in Spanish even though none of them seemed to be
of Hispanic descent. He told us that Spanish food is sold just as much as
Chinese food in his restaurant.
The third business that we visited is a very
popular food chain that is familiar to everyone: McDonald's. The
McDonald's located on the corner of 104th and Roosevelt seemed like any
other McDonald's franchise from the outside, but once we stepped inside,
we realized this McDonald's was slightly different to the McDonald's found
in most parts of NY. The first thing that we noticed about it was the
Salsa music playing in the restaurant. One of the customer representatives
told us that they offer services in both English and Spanish to the
customers of Jackson Heights. The representative also told us that the
majority of the employees at that McDonald's are Colombian and Ecuadorian.
It was a unique experience for us to be in a McDonald's with Spanish music
playing, this only shows the amount of influence that the Colombian
community has had on this area.
Another establishment that we will briefly
touch upon is a Medical establishment, which we found on 95th and
Roosevelt Avenue. This was a private Medical facility that was covered in
signs purely written in Spanish. There were absolutely no signs written in
English. We asked the secretary if they offered services in Spanish and
she told us that the majority of the doctor's that practice in that
facility know English, but they are native speakers of Spanish, and they
mainly cater to the Spanish speaking community in Jackson Heights, Queens.
City and Community Organizations and their almost English-only
Policies
Of all the places we visited, City
organizations were the less assimilated to the Spanish speaking community.
The United Stated Post Office on 104th and Roosevelt Ave. and the
Independence Bank on Gleane Street and Roosevelt Ave. were less
accommodating to the non-English speakers. Though both businesses had at
least one translator, the bulk of the signs and services were strictly in
English. This was a great contrast to rest of the community that surrounds
them.
In the Post Office, the first thing that we
noticed were the hand written signs next to the bold, print signs in
English. These hand-written signs were to guide the English-illiterate.
However just the fact that they were hand-written suggests that these
signs were either done in haste or that the Post Office did not deem it
necessary to print out signs in Spanish. We also found no trace of
translated pamphlets or forms, except for one, cambio de dirrección
(change of address). This was quite surprising to us: an establishment in
the middle of an almost monolingual Spanish community did not provide many
services in Spanish. We were unable to speak to the translator at the time
because of the long line of customers. However, when we asked one of the
customers how he coped with the linguistic difficulties, he answered, in
Spanish of course, "It has become routine to me whenever I need the post
office. I don't even need to read the papers I'm filling out. I just fill
them as I normally do. If anything new comes up, I just hope there's
someone there to help me at the time."
A similar situation was found in the
Independence Bank. No flyers or pamphlets had been translated into
Spanish. Nor were there any signs indicating services in Spanish or second
language speakers. We had to ask the security guard, if the bank provided
any translators or business conducted in Spanish. He then pointed to
Customer Service and said that there were people over there to help the
non-English speakers. Nonetheless, it is obvious that a certain amount of
English proficiency is needed to use the bank. Perhaps the reason for this
is the more popular use of Latin American banks, such as Banco Popular,
instead of American banks in the area.
As for community organizations, churches in
the area are dominantly Catholic and bilingual, meaning they perform Mass
in both English and in Spanish at different times of the day. Usually the
first mass, whether it is in the morning or the evening, is in English,
directly followed by a Mass in Spanish. The church also holds Friday night
bingo sessions, and every Saturday and Wednesday afternoon they hold choir
practice, in which they practice singing mainly Spanish religious songs.
At the church we found no specific Colombian club or church group. We
came to the conclusion that they did not have these groups because the
majority of Latin American countries are predominantly Catholic.
Movies and Dance: Two ways for Colombians to entertain themselves
On 103rd and Roosevelt Ave., right next to
the Post Office, the Plaza movie theater advertises the most recent
movies. What's really special about this theater is that it is the only
theater in within a 100-block radius to play American movies with Spanish
subtitles. So strong is the influence of Spanish in this neighborhood that
the owner of this theater decided to make his living using the language
that surrounds him. The Plaza Theater is obviously very popular with the
people of this community, especially those whose English comprehension may
not be adequate enough to follow an entire feature film. It also
familiarizes them more with the English language, a practice that is hard
to come by in Jackson Heights where almost everything is literally done in
Spanish.
Another form of entertainment well know to
Latin Americans is dance. Colombians in particular are known for La
Cumbia, a sensual movement with a strong historical background that dates
back to the slavery period in the Americas. The dance originated by the
African slaves in Colombia, consist of short steps and sensual hip
movements that originally was a form of flirting. The women used to flirt
by waving their long skirts and the men demonstrated their strength by
waving their huge machetes in the air. Today couples with Cumbia music and
sometimes in traditional costumes perform this dance.
Luckily for us, we found A&M studios, a
dance and music school on 86th Street and Roosevelt Ave.. After searching
desperately for the entrance to the 2nd floor studio, we staggered up a
pretty grimy staircase and walked into a much more attractive studio lined
with pictures of dancers and several small awards. We had noticed a sign
offering clases de Cumbia and decided to ask the clerk about their
dance classes. The clerk was on the phone when we had arrived and told us,
in Spanish, that he would be with us shortly. In the meantime, we watched
as dancers and musicians ran back and forth through hallways, while our
impatience was quickly put to the test. We could overhear the clerk
struggle to place an order in the best English he could, which was not
quite fluent at all. It was obvious that A&M did not receive many
non-Spanish speaking students; it was being spoken all around us. Finally
the clerk was ready to speak to us. We approached him in English, since
both of us were more comfortable with it. However, since he was probably
tired from all the effort he put on the phone, he quickly asked if we
could speak Spanish. Somewhere along the interview, a communication system
was set up so that we questioned in English while he answered in Spanish.
When we spotted the studio, we were so
excited to have found something as specifically Colombian as La Cumbia,
that was not food. However, once we began our questions we noticed that
Colombians had very little to do with the school at all. A&M Studios
offers private lessons to mostly adults at $20 an hour. They receive
approximately 50 students a week coming for either dance or music lessons.
The owner is Ecuadorian; most of the students are either Ecuadorian or
Mexican. All instruction is done strictly in Spanish. And the Cumbia, what
we thought was the dance of Colombia, was being taught by a half
Puerto-Rican, half Colombian, to the surprise of both of us, teaching
Mexican Cumbia. "Mexican Cumbia?!!" we both exclaimed, "Does that exist?"
With all the mixes of Latin American cultures in Queens, and in Jackson
Heights in particular, it was no wonder that such a thing as Mexican
Cumbia would some day be created and would in fact be more popular than
Colombian Cumbia. Who would have thought?
After a long walk down Roosevelt Avenue,
Peggy suggested we satisfy our
appetite with a meal in one of the Colombian restaurants that she
regularly visits, Tierras Colombianas on 82nd street and Roosevelt. As we
sat down to eat we noticed the decoration of the restaurant was very
traditional with many elements of Colombian ethnicity. We quickly learned
that the owners of the restaurant were a partnership, which consisted of a
Colombian female and a man from Greece. The manager of the restaurant
explained to us the history of the restaurant and told us that the meat
was seasoned with the Greek spices and the rest of the food was
authentically Colombian. This once again showed us exactly how culturally
diverse this region in Queens is, even the restaurant had a little Greek
mix in it. Peggy highly recommended that we order one of the most
traditional Colombian culinary specialties named "La Bandeja
Campesina" which basically means "Country Platter". This dish
consists of steak, rice, red beans, corn bread, eggs, sweet plantain,
avocado, and "chicharon" or fried pork. The dish was somewhat on
the expensive side, but after we saw and tasted this it, we were delighted
and completely satisfied. We remember reading a quote on the front of the
menu that read "El tipico sabor de nuestra Patria lejana" or "The
typical flavor of our distant country". This quote has a lot to say
about the Colombian community that has been able to come to a new country
and establish themselves, their culture, and their language as a way to
keep their distant country close to their hearts.
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