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Blog
Speaking Spanish
April 7, 2008
The other day I popped into my favorite Mexican eatery, Mi Pueblo, on Cleveland's west side. I felt lucky for two reasons. One, I was with my oldest daughter who, in two days time, would leave town to start a consulting job in Washington, D.C. (By happy coincidence, she's working with the USDA on food safety issues.) Two, I'd get the chance to practice my halting Spanish.
It's the native language of all the workers at the restaurant. True, some speak fluent English; yet, if you speak even a smidgen of their language they will happily help you to speak more. I love that about the place.
Las salsas (rojo y verde) y las zanahorias en Mi Pueblo
What also made that lunch significant was a story I was researching at the time about labor trends. It concerns where operators will find workers -- hourly and managerial -- in the next 10 to 20 years. Given the nature of the business, I got the impression a lot of operators aren't thinking that far ahead; they'd like to know now where large labor pools of willing workers exist. The lack of foresight may ultimately work to their detriment but, on the other hand, a lack of staff on a busy night provides its own definition of detrimental.
One thing is for sure, Mexicans and other Spanish speakers will play a large role in the years ahead. (They already do if you're counting, oh, 12 million undocumented workers.) The Pew Research Center released a study in February that predicts about one in five Americans will be immigrants by 2050, compared to one in eight in 2005. Of that group, the majority (29 percent) are Hispanics (blacks and Asians make up the rest). This year already, the election could turn on the Hispanic vote because of their prevalence in four "swing" states.
But here's the thing. Will these Hispanics speak English? My server at Mi Pueblo, who said she'd been in the U.S. for eight years, didn't speak it well. Plus, she added, she couldn't read English. No big deal; I got to practice Spanish with her. Anyway, if la senora has access to the Internet and TV she can keep up-to-date with events.
Yet from available evidence employers cannot count on the new arrivals to learn English quickly. Again, it's not a big deal if they are working back-of-the-house, on loading docks or sweeping up the place after hours.
Their kids are another story. My server told me her children speak English well. Good for them. However, a 2005 study by the National Assessment for Education Progress showed nearly three-fourths of Hispanic boys and girls designated as "English language learners" were behind in math and reading by the eighth grade.
If that isn't worrisome enough, consider the implications of a budding trend that isolates Hispanics and black children in the nation's 94,000 public schools. Increasingly, so-called all-white schools are disappearing. A diverse school population might seem like a good thing; white, brown and black children should get to know each other. It could turn out, however, that diversity is good for whites but not for the others. If true, that can't be good for future labor pools, either.
Posted by David Farkas on April 7, 2008 | Comments (1)
In response to: Speaking Spanish
Bob commented:
When I go to various Chipotles in Cleveland's eastern suburbs, I actually prefer the locations with a higher percentage of Mexican workers. I guess it gives the restaurants and extra South-of-the-border feel (even though in the end everybody is wrapping the same burritos).