In the United States there is a growing social push towards politically correctness, and of course, the rules are expected to be followed by everyone, regardless of whether they are first generation citizens or descendants of immigrants who came many generations ago.

The widespread ignorance about cultural differences can often be shocking. The problems that emerge from this ignorance could fill up an encyclopedia of misunderstandings. In our experiences as interpreters and translators we are aware of the huge gap between cultures, especially between people who come form Spanish speaking countries (generally called Hispanics in the US) and people born and raised in non-Hispanic, English-speaking cultures.

Many of the efforts of the United States government to benefit immigrants are lost in a sea of errors. For comparison:  there are efficient programs for helping people with disabilities. The disability needs to be confirmed by a physician early in the bureaucratic process of attaining the benefits. Appointments with physicians, aided by a language interpreter, must frequently be scheduled far in advance. Nonetheless, the programs do exist and benefits for the disabled can be obtained.  But society overlooks the fact that, for very poor people, urgent priorities like earning money for food, taking care of children, or even addressing their own illness can not be “scheduled” several weeks in advance.

So in the majority of cases when the beneficiary can’t show up, the money is spent by the government anyway, and statistics can be corruptly manipulated to inaccurately reflect that Hispanics, or other minority group, are not responsible or trustworthy about their own financial management.

For Latin-Americans, people being considered Americans along with everyone else is very important, and they are offended when it seems apparent that to a mainstream North American, the term “American” has only one meaning, and it doesn’t include them. Although both public and private school systems maintain a focus on not offending any minority of any kind, they overlook teaching that there are “other Americans” that have never set foot in North America.

In the 1950s the new immigrants were eager to integrate themselves in the glorious and triumphant United States, and holding onto their roots was not a priority to them. They didn’t try to retain their language for their children to learn, and the names they choose for their children were always Anglicized names.  Now, the world has changed, and everybody knows about the social issues that North American culture is facing. The immigrants are aware that to speak several languages provides numerous advantages.

They are proud of their heritage and try to keep the best aspects of it.

It is quite common to find people with Spanish names who speak perfect English.

They know all about American customs, but chose to keep for their family’s own unique values. For instance, they would be unlikely to send their teenage children to a far away college, choosing instead a local one. The fact that there is a “better” university in some far away state is not enough reason for them to separate teenage children from their parents at a too young age, in their opinion.

Hispanics (also called Latinos) come from many different countries and backgrounds, but almost all of them come from places where politicians and advertising are not trustworthy. So, the Hispanic market is not easy to penetrate with messages that are ordinarily very successful for the rest of the population.

This explains the successful survival of plenty of little ethnic shops that sell the “good things” from home. The types of businesses with whom they have grew up. These businesses are ones with the right message for them. And, it is not a question of not understanding the labels, as almost every label nowadays is translated. It is a question of respecting different values about the meaning of food in a family’s life.

And, by the way, it is very difficult to find a lonely Hispanic person. If they don’t have their real families with them, they create new ones, with new loves or friends or compatriots. And, food is always the glue that keeps them together.