South Floridians say they do not think the explosion of cultures and languages during the past decade has made the area a better place to live, nor have they become more accepting of other languages, according to a poll of 600 residents conducted for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and NBC 6.

Among the survey's findings: Language barriers are perceived to have remained the same or become worse in the past decade. Those who speak only English are the most negative about the demographic changes. Hispanics and non-Hispanics perceive the social rules of language, such as whether it is rude to speak in a foreign language in front of others, very differently.


The biggest split was in the area of assimilation. Half the respondents said Hispanics in South Florida are trying to assimilate and half disagree. English-only speakers strongly disagree.

Not all the news is negative.

The younger you are, the more likely you are to embrace change, the poll shows. Those ages 18-49 are more likely today to have friends who speak a foreign language than they had a few years ago. Compared with a similar survey conducted for NBC 6 six years ago, far more non-Hispanics now speak Spanish well or fluently.

And, for Hispanics who don't speak English well or at all -- a quarter of those surveyed -- South Florida is an easy place to live, with an overwhelming majority saying they can get along without English.

The poll by Research 2000, a Maryland-based firm, consisted of phone interviews from April 16-23 with 300 Hispanics and 300 non-Hispanics randomly chosen in Broward, south Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

The language issue is critical as more non-English speakers call South Florida home. About 45 percent, or 2.1 million, of the almost 4.7 million residents over age 5 speak a language other than English at home, which is among the highest rates in the nation.

Only 10 percent of poll respondents who speak only English said they think such diversity is good for the community.

"Some people feel they are defending their turf," said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., think tank. "It's a culture shock to them."

The future should see more South Floridians embracing multilingualism, said George Wilson, a University of Miami sociology professor.

"Once something becomes part of your life experience, you can adjust to it accordingly and it's not as great a threat," he said.

Added Thomas Boswell, a UM geography professor and immigration expert: "I have never met a Hispanic who didn't want to know English. But I know a lot of Anglos who don't want to learn Spanish and resist it because they see Hispanics as being interlopers and the language as the manifestation of their prejudice."

In addition, children of immigrants are more likely to speak English. The future should see more South Floridians embracing multilingualism because they grew up with it.

"Once something becomes part of your life experience, you can adjust to it accordingly and it's not as great a threat,'' Wilson said.

TOLERANCE VARIES

The poll shows women and young people tend to be more tolerant of other cultures, while men and older people tend to resist change.

Debbie Adams, 33, a Davie mother of two who speaks only English, has been surprised by all the languages she hears since moving here from Georgia two years ago. "I don't mind it at all," Adams said. "It makes you wish you knew more languages so you could communicate with them."

Respondents between ages 18 and 34 are most likely to have friends who speak a different language, to feel a greater need to learn another language and to be comfortable when people speak a foreign language around them.

"I've met people who hang with their own little group, but I've mixed with a bunch of different people," said Kuo-Hsiung "Steve" Kim, 22, a native of Taiwan who lives in Coral Springs and graduated last week from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. "I hang out with a lot of Spanish people, whites, Haitians, Jamaicans and Vietnamese. We speak English together."

Although government agencies and private businesses have spent millions of dollars translating everything from election ballots to advertising, almost one in three people believe language barriers have gotten worse, the survey shows, with fewer than one in four saying they have improved.

"Things would be much worse had we not made these kinds of expenditures," said Dick Ogburn, principal planner for the South Florida Regional Planning Council. "Have we spent all that we need to? Probably not."

Although they might hear more languages more often, the poll shows three of four respondents are not more comfortable about it. Demographers attribute that to a feeling by some people of being overwhelmed and frustrated by the magnitude of change and their inability to control it.

Wendy Jardine of Coral Springs, who speaks only English, knows the frustration.

"I find most stores have Spanish employees. A lot of them don't speak English or speak some basic English," Jardine said. "So if I have a question, they can't answer me.''

Non-Hispanics and Hispanics view the etiquette of language differently, the survey shows.

Half of all non-Hispanics said it is bad manners to speak in a language others around them don't understand. Only a third of Hispanics consider that behavior rude.

Almost half of the non-Hispanics said employers should be allowed to require workers to speak only English on the job, although such a rule would be illegal under federal laws against discrimination. Two-thirds of Hispanics oppose an English-only requirement.

"They want me to speak English on the job, and sometimes a customer will speak to me in Spanish, and I try to speak to them back in English because I'm supposed to," said Astrid Castanaza, 23, a native of Guatemala who lives in North Miami and works at a retail clothing store at Pembroke Lakes Mall.

She said she has friends from Argentina who don't speak any English, even though they are working as waitresses and waiters in Miami. "It's amazing to me that they have jobs and they don't speak English," she said.

ASSIMILATION

Hispanics and non-Hispanics also disagree about assimilation. More than half the Hispanics surveyed said they believe Hispanics are trying to assimilate. Two-thirds of non-Hispanics disagreed with that statement.

Perception is the key to their differences of opinion, experts said. In addition, a person who hasn't had to adapt to a new culture may not understand how hard it is.

"I'm surprised there isn't more acceptance of this process of Hispanicization because it's been going on for 40 years," UM's Boswell said.

Sol Rivero, 46, a Miami resident and native of Venezuela, said she believes Hispanics, including herself, are assimilating, although she doesn't speak English well after eight years in South Florida.

"I'm accustomed to life in the U.S., but with a Latin sense of family," Rivero said.

More than half the Hispanics polled said they have experienced discrimination in the workplace or couldn't get a job because they do not speak English well. Only 3 percent of non-Hispanics who don't speak Spanish perceived job discrimination.

Getting by day-to-day without speaking English isn't a problem for 83 percent of Hispanics who don't speak it well or at all.

Bernardita Fallas, 36, a Boca Raton mother of two boys and a Costa Rica native, speaks very little English after a year here.

She uses an interpreter to communicate with school officials to find out how her children are doing.

Still, she concedes in Spanish, "It's difficult to keep track of their progress when you don't speak English."

But the lack of English ability frustrates some long-time South Floridians.

"You're here. I don't speak your language. Learn my language," said John Gidley, 57, of Plantation, who picked up a few Spanish words from his employees when he ran a commercial printing company.

HISPANIC INFLUX

The flood of Hispanics into South Florida might be responsible for increasing bilingualism.

Six years ago, almost three-quarters of non-Hispanics in the NBC 6 survey said they didn't speak Spanish at all. Today, a third of non-Hispanics said they speak enough Spanish to get by. Three of four Hispanics said they speak English well or very well, compared to nearly half in the earlier NBC 6 poll.

Still, two-thirds of those surveyed said they aren't sure they need to learn another language.

Fred Denis, 62, speaks English, Creole and French, and has picked up enough Spanish to communicate with customers at the pool supply store in Davie where he works. But he doesn't try speaking Creole to his three adult children, who speak English. Only his oldest daughter can speak it.

"The other two just didn't want to learn it,'' he said.

Staff Writer Sandra Hernandez contributed to this report. Robin Benedick can be reached at rbenedick@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7914.

Back to Public Opinion