Latinos And The Spanish Language Essay Samples

While I was growing up, I always believed that all people of Latino heritage speak the Spanish language. A great part of the reason for this stereotype was because, as a small child, a family of Mexican-Americans babysat me on a regular basis. Everyone in this extended family spoke fluent Spanish. In fact, they taught me how to speak and understand many Spanish words and phrases. However, as I grew up, I learned that my belief that all Latinos are fluent Spanish speakers was, in fact, a stereotype.
When I met my girlfriend, who is of Mexican descent, I automatically presumed that she spoke Spanish. I even tried to begin a conversation with her in Spanish. For example, I stated: "Me gustan las peliculas pero me gusta leyendo en tanto." Translated, this means "I like movies but I like reading as much." However, I am still not quite certain that this is the "proper" way to express my preferences in Spanish. Nonetheless, my soon-to-be girlfriend did not understand me. Actually, she politely asked me to re-state my sentence in English, and she explained to me that she was not a Spanish speaker. The only language that she speaks is English. Her revelation to me came as somewhat of a surprise.
I had never even considered that my false beliefs about Latinos and their ability to speak the Spanish language were based on a stereotype. Moreover, I thought that I was enlightened about the dangers of stereotypes, prejudices, and biases. However, on that particular day, I learned something about stereotypes. I learned that a stereotype in one's self is very hard to detect.