I worked with a Hispanic engineer who lived in Florida. There were times I had to ask him to send me an email (I was in California at the time) because I couldn’t understand his heavy Spanish accent over the phone. I finally asked one of his co-workers how long the guy had lived in America.
“Well, since he was born, and he’s in his 50s...”
She also said he didn’t allow English spoken in his home unless they had a visitor who didn’t speak Spanish.
“didn’t allow English spoken in his home”
Just the opposite in my house.
My mother was of full Mexican descent. She was born here in the US, but her parents were born in Mexico.
She spoke perfect Spanish, but refused to speak it in our house. My father was of Scottish descent. (or white)
She did not want my sister and I to learn Spanish. She was adamant about it. She would say “This is the United States, we speak English”.
When I asked her why, she said she didn’t want her daughters dating or marrying Mexican men. She wanted her daughters to have no part of that culture. Now keep in mind we were living in El Paso, TX, so keeping us very “American” was hard to do.
So here I am, woman in my 40’s, looking like I speak Spanish but do not. I don’t even have a Mexican accent. I now wish I would have learned it, but I understand her point.