Mexican American Communities in New York City
Mynor Gonzalez and Nancy Levine
In the following pages we have organized our
research on the linguistic habits and patterns of the Mexican community
located around 116th Street and 2nd Avenue. Our focus is on the primarily
languages used for everyday interactions, weather it be for social or
business reasons. Most of our research is based on interviews of a
diverse group of people living and working in this primarily Mexican
community. It is collaboration between us, two students of different
ethnic and linguistic backgrounds
I, Mynor Gonzalez, am a fluent speaker of
Spanish and English, Spanish being my first language. I was born in
Guatemala and grew up in New York City. Through the city's school system
I learned English. From personal experience I can relate to families with
students in NYC's "English Language Learners" programs. My fluency in
Spanish enabled us to broaden our research by talking to the people of the
community in their native language.
I, Nancy Levine, grew up speaking English at
home, however I do have an intermediate command over the Spanish Language.
This comes from a variety of different sources: living in California,
growing up with and going to school with Mexican immigrants, and living in
Cuzco, Peru for a semester. My background allowed me to follow the
interviews we conducted in Spanish; however, my response was limited.
Because I traveled with Mynor when we did our field studies and because it
was obvious to the people that I had some kind of command over their
language, I never felt like our participants were prejudice towards me,
being a non-native speaker.
From our observations of schools, government
services, businesses and community centers, we have found that this
community favors Spanish speakers, and accommodates English speakers. The
total population of the area between E119th and E111th streets and 1st and
3rd avenues is around 6,471. Mexicans make about 34% of this population .
The following pages present our findings in categories we felt were
covered in our community.
Education
New York City (NYC) schools use both
"English as a Second Language" (ESL), and "bilingual education," programs
to educate "English Language Learners" (ELL's). ESL is a modified English
immersion program for speakers of many languages, wherein the student
takes special courses to help them advance in English skills while they
take a rather traditional curriculum in English. Bilingual education
programs on the other hand, allow the Spanish-speaking students to take
their courses in Spanish, while learning English in a special class.
Typically, bilingual education students spend as little as 120 minutes per
week in English classes. NYC aims to have students spend no more than
three years in ELL programs.
The public schools located in our selected
region of study included Manhattan Center High School and James Weldon
Johnson Elementary. Both schools have an overwhelming Hispanic population,
which makes up approximately 60% of its student body. Even though recent
immigrants (those immigrated to the U.S. within the last three years)
compose about 3% of the student population in each school, bilingual
education and ESL are offered in both schools; approximately 11% of the
students at J.W. Johnson, and 10% of those at Manhattan Center are
enrolled in the ELL programs . Most of the students in the schools are
comfortable learning in English; however, English and Spanish are not the
only languages spoken by the students of these schools.
We interviewed two elementary school children, Arlene and Nuria, who
attended J.W. Johnson Elementary. Arlene was enrolled in the bilingual
education program and then immersed into regular English classes in the
5th grade, while Nuria is currently taking bilingual classes. Nuria
attends five days of English classes, five days of class in Spanish. They
mentioned that most of the students were of Black and Hispanic descent;
however, they did acknowledge that there was an Asian population. The both
observed that the Asian students spoke in their native language to one
another, and would use English to speak with non-Asian students.
I (Mynor Gonzalez) am a former student of
Manhattan Center. My experience is similar to that of Arlene and Nuria in
that the school was composed mainly of Hispanics and African Americans,
while Asians and Whites were in the minority. Mostly English was used,
but nearly all of the Hispanic population was bilingual. The Asian
population spoke to one another in their native tongue, and organized an
"Asian Club" in the school. It was not until I befriended people
belonging to the club that I learned Chinese was the language that they
spoke.
Based on our interviews and information
gathered about the local high school, we believe that most of the students
of the public schools in our area are either English only or bilingual
speakers. Hispanics are the dominant population in the schools, which
corresponds to the census data about the general population. Going in to
further depth with our interviews we observed a developing pattern between
the communication between bilingual students and their families.
Family Dynamics
The ages of the bilingual students
interviewed in ELL programs range from 10 to 19 years old. Through the
interviews, it has come to our attention that they choose to speak in
English with their peers, while speaking only in Spanish to their elders.
For example, Haronil Estevez, a former student of Manhattan Center, a
bilingual speaker (English & Spanish), and a resident of the neighborhood
for almost 5 years, is inclined to speak in English with his siblings, yet
he uses Spanish when speaking to his mother regardless of his mother's
proficiency in English. All of Haronil's siblings are also bilingual; he
has observed that they have a tendency to use English first when
conversing with other Hispanic youths, and Spanish first to talk with the
elders of the community. He summarizes, "English to the young, and
Spanish to the old."
We also interviewed a number of parents
whose children are either still in the public school system or have
graduated from it. In order for their children to communicate with them
they insist on them speaking Spanish. The parents seem to believe that
this is a way to maintain some of their cultural roots. For instance, one
parent whose child is not yet old enough to join public school mentioned
that she would put her daughter in bilingual class in order to learn
English and maintain her ability to speak Spanish. In analyzing the median
family income of this neighborhood , this region can be classified as a
working class neighborhood, therefore making it difficult for parents and
adults to find the time and patience to learn English.
Sunday masses in the local Christian
churches are presided in either Spanish or English. In the Spanish Mass,
the readings and preaching are predominately done in Spanish, however the
Father would switch between languages, with translation. Parents typically
attend the Spanish mass and bring along their children who are likely
bilingual speakers. Perhaps switching back and forth is the Father's way
of connecting with bilingual children who, for the most part, speak more
English than Spanish in their everyday lives. After the Mass,
announcements about activities/social gatherings intended for the children
are usually made in English first and then repeated in Spanish. In the
English mass, the switching of language is very unlikely.
Other Languages
Of course the primary language in the
Mexican community is Spanish; however, other foreign languages could be
found lurking in the businesses. The first was a Guinean man who owned a
street-side store selling souvenirs and miscellaneous clothing and
accessories. Surrounded by other Spanish speaking vendors, this native
Guinean spoke foremost French, English by necessity, and knew select
Spanish vocabulary words that he was able to pick up from his working
environment. Simple numbers and nouns helped him to communicate with his
patrons, who, for the most part, were Spanish speakers.
In "La Pharmacia" we found the owner/pharmacist was a French African man
who did not speak any Spanish. He has been in the United States for three
years and speaks fluent English, which he learned in school and perfected
in the states. In order to communicate with his patrons he keeps a
Spanish-speaking employee in the front of the store. This is sometimes a
problem, he told us, because patrons often want to speak directly with the
pharmacist about their medications. The young woman in the front of the
store was a native Mexican who spoke little English. The pharmacist
commented that sometimes she had trouble communicating to Spanish speakers
of a different country; she argued that she never has had a problem.
To our even greater surprise, two other
languages we found were Arabic and Italian. We walked into a tiny deli in
the community to hear Arabic being spoken between the two men working
there. We found that these men speak Arabic in their homes, but had
studied English in school. Like the street vendor, they had picked up some
Spanish just from working in the community. We also found an Italian
newspaper among the other Spanish and English newspapers for sale, but
never encountered any Italian speakers. In fact, Italians were not even
included in the Manhattan Demographic Statistics done by the libraries in
the area.
Some of the Mexicans of the community also spoke their indigenous tongue,
Zapotec. The first time we discovered Zapotec was in the neighborhood
video store "Videos Mexicans". The woman working the cash register was
from Pueblo, Mexico, and has been in the States for seven years. She spoke
no English, but mentioned that she spoke Zapoteco, what she defined as a
dialect from Pueblo. Technically we found that Zapotec is a living
aboriginal language of Mexico, much like the Aztec and Mayan native
languages. It is quite different from Spanish in that it is a tonal
language, richer in sound and pronunciation than the European romantic
languages. After speaking to the woman from Pueblo, we recognized it
being used on a sign for the barbershop "Xochitl". Presuming it to be some
form of indigenous dialect, we went inside to question the origin of this
word. After speaking with a barber, we found that Xochitl is a
Zapoteco word, which translates to "flor" in Spanish or "flower" in
English. The barber was from Mexico and spoke Spanish. Although he himself
did not speak Zapotec he knew people in the community who did. He also
joked about having trouble communicating with Dominicans in the community
because of the ways in which they speak Spanish in contrast to his manner
of speaking.
Government Services
Around 116th and 2nd government services
such as Hospitals and Police departments have to accommodate Spanish
speakers. We chose to interview local Hispanic business people and the
elderly about the support of the above-mentioned services. None of them
expressed frustration with government services when questioned about the
institutions' ability to communicate with Spanish speaking individuals.
The major hospital servicing our area is Metropolitan Hospital; they offer
translators for Spanish speakers. It is unknown if the hospital offers
assistance in any other languages besides Spanish. The same people were
asked about the local police department, and similar answers were given.
The local bank, a Citibank branch, was like
the other services: Spanish speakers are once again obliged. There were
signs in both English and Spanish, however other languages seemed to be
overlooked. Those individuals who speak another language besides Spanish
must be forced to use English in order to communicate in such places.
Community Services
The major community center in the area was
"La Guardia Memorial House". This center offers many services particularly
for Spanish speaking families. The programs include: literacy classes,
math classes (in Spanish), job searching, foster care, and after school
programs for students of all ages and levels. The after school programs
are split by age and focus. For ages 6-12 they have what they call a
"preventative" program, "upward bound" for 13-19 year olds, job training
for 20-29 year olds, and Casita Maria is the senior center affiliated with
La Guardia Memorial. The programs are funded by a variety of different
sources, some federal, some state, and some city money goes into the
center depending on the program. The administrator we spoke to reported
that about 50% of the staff was bilingual, and that their focus was
English immersion. Arlene and Nuria, our students from J.W. Johnson
Elementary attended the after school program there.
Another private service in the area was the
neighborhood Vet clinic. We were able to speak to the doctor on duty
during that time, which was fortunate because the clinic is only open a
few nights a week, and on the weekends due to low overhead. The vet
himself did not speak any Spanish, but says he has used translators from
the downstairs pet store. For the most part the patrons bring in cats and
dogs, and they are able to communicate what the problem is. Nevertheless,
he felt strongly that people in general should have command over the
native language of the country and insisted, "...it could save lives".
Conclusion
In our study of the Mexican community around
116th Street and 2nd Avenue, we observed that most of the residents were
fluently Spanish speakers. As a result, monolingual Spanish speaking
consumers would reasonably have no difficulty purchasing goods or
services. If, occasionally, businesspeople were not able to communicate
with their customers, there would likely be a translator available or have
helpful signs. We found this to also be true for all the government
services we investigated. We were surprised to find other languages such
as Arabic, French and Italian in the area, because we were unable to find
families or residents (who were not business owners) who spoke these
languages. We did not find Asian-owned markets or residences despite a
small but significant Asian population in the public schools. Through
our interviews we infer that most of the children who have spent some time
in the public schools in the area are bilingual (Spanish & English)
speakers. As a result, these children tend to speak in English to one
another, and because for the most part their parents lack English
proficiency, they must speak Spanish to their parents. This also ensures
the parents that their children will be forever connected to their
culture.
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