Every day we speak less Spanish

🗽 Dominicans abroad

Dominicans abroad Over the past decades, Dominicans have chosen to leave their home and travel to other horizons, with the most popular destination being the “United States of America.” Yes, many emigrate in search of the American Dream to achieve a better quality of life.

The largest population of Dominicans is located in the city of New York, and many of them reside in “Little Dominican Republic” in northern Manhattan.

Families share their culture and traditions with other citizens of the city, which is why it is possible to find a wide variety of Dominican restaurants, shops, and bars in Manhattan. It is very common to hear people speaking Spanish or Spanglish on the streets of Washington Heights.

😲 Third country with the highest number of residency visas.

This is an image from Visual Capital that shows that the Dominican Republic is the third country to receive the most residency visas for the United States.

Why does my family speak less Spanish every day?

My family has immigrated to the United States since the last century. I have many first and second cousins who possess U.S. citizenship, either because they were born there or moved at a young age. It is important to note that all of my grandfather’s siblings have lived in the United States, so subsequent generations have grown up there.

Currently, I have more relatives in New York than in Santiago de los Caballeros, therefore, the new generations are bilingual. Many of them understand Spanish perfectly, but not all speak it fluently. It is common to hear people conversing in both languages at family gatherings.

My niece on her first day of school.

She can speak both Spanish and English with great fluency.

So, as the new generation increasingly practices English, our mother tongue is being lost day by day. It is a very sad situation because over time, in addition to the language, some traditions and cultural celebrations will also disappear.

The questions I ask myself are: What are we doing as a family to preserve our heritage? Why aren’t we teaching Spanish to the new generations? Is it appropriate to maintain Dominican culture or is it necessary to adapt to American culture? These are questions that raise many reflections.