As a Miami native and a Latina, I’m here to tell you about the real Miami and what it’s been like growing up and living here. To preface, this article is not going to be an itinerary for your girl’s trip to Miami, but instead a local’s perspective.
In a country where Hispanics are considered a minority, we are the majority in Miami. With such a dominating Cuban presence, I am able to celebrate my traditions and embrace the culture connected to my roots, especially through food. You won’t have to travel far to find a Cuban bakery; they’re usually within a two-mile radius of each other. So if you forget to order your croqueta to eat alongside your tostada, just know that another bakery is on the way to your destination.
Miami is the only place I know where it is common for you to talk in an establishment where the employees only speak Spanish, not English. To me, this was always normal. Since I am fluent, switching between languages is something I don’t ever have to think twice about. There are several places I can go to or call right now, including grocery stores, pharmacies, and doctor’s offices. I know I’ll be greeted in Spanish and expected to continue the conversation in Spanish.
Everyone always claims they don’t have an accent. Growing up, I always claimed that I had a “standard American accent”, whatever that meant. It wasn’t until I really started listening closely to my friends, teachers, and anyone else that I came across that I realized how distinctive the Miami accent truly is. Now that I’ve become self-aware, I am easily able to detect when someone is from Miami. When I scroll through my For You page on TikTok and come across a person narrating a video with keywords and phrases like “literally”, “bro”, and “no, it’s that…”, I can predict their bio will say “Miami, FL.” I say this because I am one of these people, and on occasion, I’ll get called out for my own accent.
Not only have I been called out for my accent, but for my writing as well. During my freshman year of college, I was working on an assignment for an English class, and autocorrect kept underlining one of my sentences for grammatical issues. I asked my professor for feedback, and the first thing she asked me was, “Is Spanish your first language?” After I answered yes, she went on to explain that people whose first language is Spanish often write as they would in Spanish. She then had me rephrase the sentence until it was grammatically correct. Though this seems like such an elementary mistake, I found it difficult to restructure my sentence because it was something I would’ve said out loud. This was a comment that has always stuck with me.
I may be biased, but I am certain there is no place like Miami. Though I am open to traveling and adventure, I would love to stay in Miami and continue to live my life here. I have expressed this opinion with others, and many disagree. Miami has its cons, the traffic being one of them; however, there is nothing like having a feeling of comfort, feeling at home, having a sense of community, and being close to family.