In a ranch-style house in Town 'n Country, the Ruiz family converses over arroz con pollo in Spanish about the struggles of learning English.
The Venezuelan-Colombian family is a blend of native English speakers and Spanish speakers trying to learn or perfect the English language.
Family matriarch,LigiaZarate, is 71 and has a great fear of learning the language, even though she has a desire to learn it.
鈥淚鈥檓 afraid that I don鈥檛 learn anything,鈥� her daughter Carolina translates for her. 鈥淭hat I can鈥檛 learn.鈥�
She moved to Tampa three years ago from Colombia to be closer to Carolina and her grandson, Johan.
She's not alone in her fear of learning to speak English though. According a study by the Pew Research Center, 21 percent of Hispanics 65 years or older don鈥檛 speak English at all in the U.S.
When she has to run an errand,Zaratedepends on Johan to be her translator.
鈥淲hen we're going to the supermarket, I help her,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檒l tell her like, 鈥極h, do you want to buy this?鈥� and she's like, 鈥榊es,鈥� so then I tell them what she wants to buy in English because she only speaks Spanish.鈥�
If she鈥檚 out somewhere alone,Zaratewill use another form of communication.
鈥淚f I鈥檓 in a place where nobody speaks Spanish or I don鈥檛 speak English, so I try to make people understand me, by movements or signals,鈥� she said through her translator.
Carolina, 37, empathizes with her mother. She was fearful of speaking when she moved to the States from Colombia in 1995.
So she didn鈥檛.
鈥淚 was very afraid to speak,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 knew how to write, I understood reading, but speaking is very hard for me because of my pronunciation and everything.鈥�
When she moved to Tampa, Carolina essentially became the family translator.
It wasn鈥檛 until she was passed over for a job that she realized she needed to master the language.
鈥淚 wanted to work in a place, you know, they need people who speaks fluent English,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ometimes when you don鈥檛 sound as good, they think that you don鈥檛 know or that you don鈥檛 understand.鈥�
So she enrolled in the English for Academic Purposes program at Hillsborough Community College. Now when she鈥檚 home, she'll practice English with her son, and her nephew.
Andres Ruiz, 17, has studied English his entire life in Venezuela. Nothing prepared him for conversational English when he arrived to Tampa 10 months ago.
鈥淭he first time, someone said, 鈥楬ey, what鈥檚 up,鈥� I was like, 鈥榃hat? I didn鈥檛 learn that. I didn鈥檛 learn that at my
school,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淲hat is that? 鈥榃hat is up?鈥� I don鈥檛 know. The sky?鈥�
He also empathizes withZarate鈥檚fear to learn English, especially with the difference in age.
鈥淢aybe it's hard to try and change your way of talking after so many years,鈥� he said.
John Ruiz, 50, is married to Carolina and is Andres鈥� uncle. He moved to Tampa in 1997 but originally came to the U.S. in 1988 from Venezuela.
He said the reason the majority of Hispanics don鈥檛 want to speak English is because of the fear of being mocked or laughed at.
鈥淭he scary part of getting to this country is when people laugh when you are saying something,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 can say 90 percent of the Spanish speaking would be scared of speaking because of that thing.鈥�
Zarate doesn't want to give up trying to learn English though. She plans to become a U.S. citizen in the next two years and it is one of the requirements for the test.
Maritza Chinea-Thornberry, 60, teaches Spanish at the University of South Florida. She鈥檚 a native Spanish speaker, from Puerto Rico, and said she completely understands why older adults are resistant to learning English.
鈥淚f I could speak Spanish my whole life in here, I would speak Spanish,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t's the easiest language that comes to you, it's what you grew up with and English it's not that easy, pronunciation wise it's not.鈥�
So what words of wisdom does Ruiz have for her mother and others learning a new language? Practice, practice, practice.
鈥淣ow I understand that if you want to learn any language you need to practice it,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 practice it, you will never learn it or master it."
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