Posted on 12/14/2014 5:20:18 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Jeb Bush does. The Democrats’ Castro brothers do not. Ted Cruz knows ‘Spanglish.’ But fluency and being able to talk to Hispanics are two entirely different matters.
The ability to speak Spanish is a prized commodity on the campaign trail, a way to prove your bona fides with Hispanics—the fastest-growing bloc of voters—and to show your inclusiveness in a rapidly changing country. Lots of Anglos are proficient in Spanish. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a potential presidential candidate, speaks nothing but Spanish at home, and has for years. His wife, Columba, is from Mexico.
A more recent phenomenon in the political universe is politicians of Hispanic heritage who are not fluent in Spanish. Maybe this shouldn’t be surprising. Many first-generation children of immigrants don’t speak their parents’ language. The urge to assimilate is strong, and it’s a way for kids to rebel and build their own lives in America.
Still, it came as a shock to many Democrats when they learned that two of their most prized new-generation stars, the 40-year-old twin brothers, Julian and Joaquin Castro, are not fluent Spanish speakers. Raised in San Antonio by a single mother who was a political activist and ran unsuccessfully for the city council, the brothers grew up in an environment that prized political engagement, but didn’t hone their Spanish skills.
With Julian a member of Congress representing San Antonio, and Joaquin in Obama’s Cabinet as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the political bright lights are beckoning. The twins recently appeared together at the annual Gridiron Dinner where they shared the podium and did a shout out of Spanish phrases, taking turns to see who was making more progress in learning the language.
Turning what would otherwise be an embarrassment into a joke had everyone at the dinner laughing and declaring the brothers first-rate political performers. When one (you can’t tell them apart) shouted out “Ted Cruz,” the other responded, “That’s not Spanish. That’s Canadian.”
Speaking of Ted Cruz, he’s candid about his Spanish-speaking skills. He declined an invitation in 2010 to debate his opponent in Spanish, telling Univision that, “My Spanish is a situation many of your viewers will recognize, which is that as a second-generation immigrant, my dad came from Cuba when he was a teenager not speaking English. And I grew up here speaking Spanglish,” a combination of Spanish and English words. “That’s the world in which I grew up, and that’s a world in which a lot of second-generation immigrants find themselves.”
Another prominent Latino politician who doesn’t speak Spanish is Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, who just won reelection and is likely to challenge Democrat Harry Reid for the Senate in 2016. If Sandoval weren’t pro-choice, he would be talked about for the national ticket in 2016.
Whether Spanish proficiency matters depends on where you are, says Jack Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College. “If you’re in Los Angeles County, where a substantial number of voters speak Spanish at home, a politician who can speak to them can campaign here in a way that other Republicans could not. That’s not to say Jeb Bush can carry Los Angeles County. If you’re a Republican you’re not going to carry the Hispanic vote, but if you’re Jeb Bush campaigning in Florida, you may pick up a few points, and that could make the difference.”
Any conversation about Spanish-speaking politicians leads back to Bush. His fluency “will help him communicate his policies on Telemundo and Univision,” says Sam Popkin, a political-science professor at the University of California San Diego. “There’s a divide in the Republican Party between keeping the country as what it was, and living with what it becomes.” Bush’s progressive stance on immigration is future-oriented, and could position the GOP to regain the 30 to 40 percent share of the Hispanic vote that George W. Bush received, and that Ronald Reagan got when he was governor of California in the ’70s.
Reagan used to say that Hispanics are conservatives, they just don’t know it yet—a view that Popkin echoes. “There’s a lot of middle-class, small-business-oriented Hispanics… But you can’t just eat a taco and give a speech in Spanish. It’s about your policies.”
The consensus appears to be that if you’re Hispanic and don’t speak Spanish, there’s no penalty. There’s even precedence in California of Hispanic candidates who can’t speak Spanish running against non-Hispanics who can, and the winner isn’t decided on language skills.
Over time with inter-marriage, these distinctions will become even less important. Pitney points out that he has a great niece who is Hispanic on her mother’s side but has red hair, freckles, and an Irish surname. Popkin made the case even more personally, saying he doesn’t speak Lithuanian or Russian, his ethnic heritage. “I don’t even speak Yiddish,” he adds, “But I’m still a Jew.” In other words, Hispanics like every other ethnic group know who’s with them, and who’s not, and it has less to do with the language that’s spoken than with the message that’s conveyed.
Yeah but (like Al Hunt) she is dumber than you are
“Languages are hard. If you learn two languages, you’ll be half as fluent in either language.”
Americans are lazy about languages, so it may seem they are hard.
Most people in Europe are very fluent in two languages, at least.
And most offspring of immigrants that I know of, speak their parents language passably.
Back 100 years ago, immigrants wanted to “anglicize” as fast as possible, and distance themselves from the foreign identification.
Today it is cool, to have a foreign identity.
JUST ANOTHER REASON TO DISLIKE JEB!!!
Spanish is one of the easiest languages to learn. Here in Florida many households who speak English outside the home (work, church, socializing, etc) speak only Spanish at home. It’s easy and has few nuances.
If you really wanna wig out a Mexican, ask them why they speak the language of the invading army that destroyed their ethnic culture!
The majority do not know that “Spanish”, is not native to Mexico.
Jeb should run for president of Mexico. They haven’t had a Bush as president, while we’ve had two. Share the wealth.
“Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a potential presidential candidate, speaks nothing but Spanish at home, and has for years. His wife, Columba, is from Mexico.”
How p*ssywhipped does that make him, then?
Like many or most on the left, Eleanor Clift has a fascination for the Balkans and is attracted to the diversity of that region.
No. Not at all. My husband grew up speaking four fluently, and two more passably.
Once you have mastered two, the third and subsequent usually come pretty easily if you’re young.
I have only English and Spanish. Working on Mandarin slowly and wish I’d started much earlier.
No es importante, a mí.
Just English and Norwegian for me. The latter is a relatively easy one to read, since it shares so much with English as a fellow Germanic language. A bit tougher to speak convincingly.
yep...........
Mexicans have a very distinct accent....almost6 like singing. Plus never confuse a Tex Mex with mexicans...............not even from the same planet.
Perhaps this is where Karl Rove got his idiotic idea of "Hispanics as the Republicans of the future." Sounds wonderful until the idea hits reality.
(1)There are vast differences of race, class, and education among Latinos, just as in other populations.
(2) There are very real national differences between Cubans, Argentines, Ecuadorans, Mexicans, and Guatemalans etc.
(3)So far, Latinos in the US have shown great social mobility ... in both directions: down, to compete with lower-end Negroes for welfare benefits, illegitimacy rates, criminal behavior, drug use etc., and up, to compete with others on the various Affirmative Action Gravy trains, and
(3) to integrate into American life and culture as the Cubans have done in Florida and elsewhere.
However, except for those Cubans of largely European extraction who have done so well integrating, the Latinos have been turning into perfect Democrats by an overwhelming majority.
The political life of the country will be affected as Hispanic populations increase to over 30% of the electorate. Just how the changes will come and what they will be is the question. Intermarriage is already well underway, Part Irish, Part Italian, Part Cuban Cruz is an example.
Hope it all works!
That, my FRiends, is what all the pandering is about. Unless the borders are controlled, and immigration laws are enforced, though, you ain't seen nothin' yet. So far, we've seen massive immigration from Mexico, and a building influx from Central America. But there are easily 100 Million more from South America getting ready.
A criminal case in Miami was dismissed by the judge when the legal staff couldn't find an interpreter for the defendant's Guatemalan-indian language. :-/
Believe me, I’ve been educated on that fact. She did understand the dialect better than the guy who spoke formal Spanish though.
Now that ALL of the GOP Rinos came out of the shadows and voted with the Democrats to prop up Obama and do the bidding for Wall Street we can be assured that there will be plenty of part-time jobs available at minimum wage for ALL!
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