The stats show that only 58.5% of Dade County residents speak Spanish. Since many non-Hispanic residents of that county speak Spanish, and since Hispanics make up only 60% of the county, it must be true that a fairly significant percentage of Hispanics do not speak Spanish at all.

That seems like a very strong indicator of assimilation.

I am not talking about a 1.5% difference. That is not what I am talking about.

Penelas isn't mayor of the City of Miami but of Miami-Dade County. Miami's mayors since 1985:

You got me! But of course Mayors of the constituent municipalities have little power since consolidation.

The UNITED States of America- R.I.P.

Did I miss a secession?

We don't know what "speak Spanish" means (from the Census Bureau's point of view) either. Does it mean native speaker? Primary Spanish? True bilingual? Any Spanish at all? A quick look at the Bureau's web site didn't help me out there much.

I think it's more than likely that Spanish-English bilinguals (probably many in the population in Miami) are not counted as Spanish speakers. We just don't know from the information given so drawing conclusions probably isn't terribly prudent.

Additionally, were the statistics derived from mailers (probably) or live census takers? Mail-in questionnaires are probably not reliable under the circumstances. There might be problems with live census takers as well. Will respondents give reliable information to the census takers?

Could you expound? Which statistic sounds like "margin of error", and which sounds like "study flaw", and for why do they sound that way?

Thanks

At least 1.5% of Hispanics do not speak Spanish at all, but the actual number is obviously much higher, since many non-Hispanics speak Spanish.

Therefore, there must be some significant percentage of Hispanics who do not speak Spanish at all. That sounds like assimilation on steroids to me.

I don't doubt that plenty of Cubans are assimilating into the culture and learning to speak English. One would presume that the vast majority are doing that by the third generation.

The problem is how many aren't assimilating. That Miami is still "Little Havana" half a century after the wave started is problematic. Half the Hispanics don't speak English well by their own admission, despite most of the immigration having come before 1980.

Of greater concern is that English-only speakers are unable to get around and are being discriminated against for jobs. The article is anecdotal (I skipped the first several paragraphs when excerpting) so it's not clear exactly what the breakdowns are.

I recall being rather irked in the mid-1980s that I had to spend hours in City Hall Miami trying to find someone who could/would speak English to me.

It's not like I refuse to learn a second language... I've three I'm very comfortable in and another two I can get by in. None of them happens to be Spanish, however, as my life led me to other parts of the world.

I'm considering taking a Spanish course--the only one I had was in 6th grade. But the Spanish I'll be learning is Mexican-based as this part of FL has nearly no Cubans.

What was surprising to me was that there are apparently less Spanish speakers in Dade County than Hispanics! It's hard to argue that Latinos are not assimilating when, apparently, they are losing the ability to speak Spanish.

From the stats cited in the posting above it's impossible to say how many Hispanics fall into the category of "non-spanish-speakers", but here's how it appears to break out:

1) 60% of residents are Hispanic.
2) 58.5% of residents speak Spanish (including, presumably, some non-Hispanics like myself.)
3) Therefore, there must be some significant percentage of Hispanics who do not speak Spanish at all. That sounds like assimilation on steroids to me.

Alex Penelas was born in Miami. So that makes one mayor since the 1960s to be born in Cuba.

Penelas isn't mayor of the City of Miami but of Miami-Dade County. Miami's mayors since 1985:

1985-1993 Xavier Suarez
1993-1996 Stephen P. Clark
1996 Willy Gort (Acting)
1996-1997 Joe Carollo
1997-1998 Xavier Suarez
1998-2001 Joe Carollo
2001-Present Manny Diaz

I can't find any info on Gort, but he was a short-term fill-in for Clark after his death in office. Carollo and Diaz are both Cuba-born.

They’ve been electing Hispanic mayors almost exclusively since 1973 and all their first-time mayors since 1985 have been Cuban-born.*

Not true. Alex Penelas was born in Miami. So that makes one mayor since the 1960s to be born in Cuba.