Buenas, ¿cómo está?

This is my usual greeting when I see some employees in many of Duke’s dining facilities. From the Loop to the Dillo, and sometimes in the Marketplace, the Great Hall or McDonald’s, when I go eat I know that most of the time I’ll be able to find someone behind the counter with whom I can speak Spanish.

But given the statistics, this is not a surprise. According to the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau, 15.4 percent of the U.S. population is of Hispanic or Latino origin. That is more than 40 million people—pretty much the entire Republic of Colombia. In Durham County, the estimate is 12.3 percent. For the same area and the same year, 13.9 percent of the population speak a language other than English at home. Though this doesn’t necessarily mean that the language being spoken is Spanish, the correlation between the numbers is striking.

Whatever the numbers are, the reality is that knowing how to speak Spanish today in North Carolina is a major advantage. For me, Spanish has been a key element in getting to know many of the employees I usually talk to. And even though I know many others who are not Hispanic, Spanish has facilitated the beginning of many good conversations and great friendships.

Nate Uhlenberg, a 26-year-old native of Chapel Hill and a manager at The Loop, also recognizes the advantages of speaking Spanish. His initial reasons to learn the language were, however, somewhat more pragmatic. He started five years ago at the register and it took him two years to become a manager, a position that he knew, he would only get if he spoke Spanish. Today Uhlenberg is close to being fluent and even though his grammar is not perfect, he can get his points across.

I was curious to hear about Uhlenberg’s experience. One day when I was in line to order my food, I heard him speaking in Spanish. I had been noticing for a while that other non-Hispanic employees at the Loop and the Dillo communicate in Spanish with the Hispanic employees—which makes up a great portion of the kitchen and cleaning staff in these two restaurants. And I was curious to know whether their working environments had made them learn the language or if they knew it beforehand.

When I asked Nate how many years he studied Spanish, he smiled: “Spanish 1 and 2 in high school plus one semester in college,” he said. I responded that it is quite impressive that he knows the language so well, after such a short period. Then he laughed again, and told me his secret: “Well, I took Spanish 1 in high school, failed it and took it again. Then I took Spanish 2, failed it and took it again.”

The truth is, however, that Uhlenberg has been able to practice the language and become more fluent in Spanish due to his job. When I ask him what the advantages of speaking Spanish and English at a job with numerous immigrants are, his answer goes beyond mere practicality. Uhlenberg sees himself as a bridge between those employees who don’t speak Spanish and the immigrant workers who are just now learning English.

“Sometimes people think there are tensions between them, but it is a lack of understanding in terms of language that triggers some of these tensions; rather than an actual difference in thoughts or personality,” he said in mildly broken Spanish, after he paused to put his thoughts together.  

Listening to Uhlenberg’s experience and his use of Spanish as a tool of cultural understanding is only one example of the dramatic changes in cultural dynamics that the U.S. is undergoing. My own experience as a new comer was very eye-opening. When I first came to this country, more than a year ago, I was highly surprised by the fact that all the signs at Newark Airport in New Jersey were both in English and Spanish. I hadn’t realized the magnitude of the Hispanic migration phenomenon. It is so influential that Spanish has almost become a second official language in certain areas. And there are many questions to be raised: What are the implications for local Americans who don’t speak Spanish? For other racial communities? Or for the immigrants themselves?

Go to the Loop or to the Dillo. It seems that some of these questions might be answered while you eat.

Andrea Patiño is a Trinity sophomore. Her column runs every other Tuesday.