According to 2013 Pew Research Center figures, more than half of the Hispanic market in the United States is bilingual / bicultural.
Editor's Note:
Maria Twena has more than 30 years in marketing, a career that began after achieving her postgraduate degree in Psychology and her Master's in Mass Communications.
After two decades in the marketing area, she decided to focus on the 1.5 / 2.0 generation segment of Latino consumers.
She is currently in global charge of Consumer X on 9th Wonder.
(CNN) -
We find ourselves at that time of year, when fall heralds its arrival in the Northern Hemisphere and the yellow school bus begins to appear in our neighborhoods (in some places).
Announced by both, there is also the sound of the enthusiasm of the children engaged in their animated conversations, and the appearance of the lonely boy with a curious and fixed gaze from the window of the school bus.
We also celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month in the US, between September 15 and October 15.
I have always thought that the dates for this celebration are a bit strange.
I understand that they represent the independence days of several Latin American countries, but I think it is the only month of celebration that begins and ends in the middle of the calendar month, interposed over two periods of lunar phases.
The paradox is that, at the same time, I find this phenomenon quite appropriate, since according to figures from the Pew Research Center from 2013, more than half of the Hispanic market in the United States is bilingual / bicultural, intertwining two languages, but, what is most importantly, two cultures.
Born in the United States and descended from Cuban and Spanish immigrants, according to the census I am considered a second generation American.
My older siblings, who came to this country very young, represent generation 1.5 (an immigrant who comes to the United States at the age of 10 or less).
As socialized children, we live in a hybridism in this country that few can really discern.
We are both Hispanic and American, existing in a fluid reality that at times is more Latino, and at others, more American, depending on the actors and the situation.
Raised in New Orleans in the 60s and 70s, my home was more Hispanic (I spoke Spanish with my parents and English with my siblings, and we followed Hispanic traditions and customs), even though we lived in a neighborhood and attended an American school.
I knew I was different from everyone else and I felt like a stranger at school and at home.
Language differences were always easy to understand.
Cultural differences were only expressed through yelling and tantrums, because there was no context to distinguish them, and yet they were my greatest source of confusion and distress.
Today, I can count it because I can identify them.
We teach Spanish as a second language, but we fail to teach immigrants the most important lesson: America is a second culture.
There are two great principles or ethics in the world: collectivism and individualism.
Hispanics come from collective cultures, which teach them that the family and the community are more important than the individual.
Individualistic cultures, such as the American one, value self-efficacy and independence (life, freedom, the pursuit of happiness), but not interdependence.
In writing, this seems clear and palpable.
But when you live these opposing cultural values as a child, without context and without years of wisdom, they are difficult to overcome and can have disastrous consequences, making some individuals feel like strangers in their own home and in society.
These cultural conflicts are expressed in different ways, some serious, others with humor.
As a child, when I was acting independently and self-reliant (which I was taught in school), one of my parents (the most collective) would say, "You're being selfish."
Today, as you remember, think about the mixed messages we had as children.
They taught us to be self-reliant at school, they rewarded us for it, and then that same behavior was criticized at home.
As children, appearances are of the utmost importance.
The collectivist does not dress for comfort, as we Americans do.
They dress for appearances, because their self-esteem is connected to the collective or what others think of them.
Americans dress more for comfort and much less for appearance because they are not interdependent, but rather independent.
If I made 25 cents every time we struggled with that dilemma as a child ... honestly, even as an adult.
There was also laughter.
When my older sister told us she was going to her friend's house for a garage sale, the reply was: “How are they going to sell only the garage?
I thought they had to sell the whole house. "
Hispanic households do not have garage sales.
It does not exist in your vocabulary.
Why?
Because they come from collective cultures in which many times all the clothes, appliances and furniture are given to the next family in need.
One of the understood rules of the collective culture, share everything (remember, the family and the community over the individual himself).
Finally, like all children of immigrants (regardless of whether they are Latino or not), we also assume the role of guides or mentors of our relatives who were born in another country: as translators of the language or as interpreters of American principles (self-reliance) , informing in the purchases of brands and products and demystifying services and technology, etc.
We also do it as adults, taking the role of influencer or main navigator.
So, as we celebrate all Hispanics during US Hispanic Heritage Month, let's not forget our bilingual / bicultural Hispanics, the majority in today's market, and our master navigators.
If I could speak to all of you, including everyone who might be riding the school bus this year, my message would simply be this: embrace your biculturalism and duality.
It will become your super power.
Hispanics in the United States