When my 3rd grade Spanish teacher first told me about Buenos Aires, Argentina, I fell in love with the city and knew that I would learn Spanish so that I could one day go there.
Unfortunately, when my high school Spanish teacher was a bit less dedicated to keeping our interest, I slacked off on my work to achieve that dream. I continued, however, to choose Spanish when choosing a language of study became necessary, and was able to build about half the foundation I needed to be able to speak to the Argentine I met in late 2004.
When this Argentine became my husband in 2005, the real work began. However, even at that point I could not imagine the number of cultural differences we would encounter; I may be even more surprised at the number of differences about which other Americans, who have not personally known Hispanics, are ignorant.
First of all, Hispanics are not all Mexicans. This may sound obvious, but the reality is that many people I know believe that all Hispanics share a common culture. This is so incredibly far from the truth; in fact, I have lived in London for a time and see many more similarities between our culture and that in the UK, than among different Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America. It is true that they share many cultural elements, but each country has its own very colorful history, of which its citizens are generally proud. Yes, this means that the rest of Latin America does not celebrate cinco de Mayo.
The accents are also very different between countries. For example, in Argentina, the "ll" sound sounds sort of like "sch" in English, whereas in most of the rest of Latin America the "ll" sounds like the English "y". Along with this, different countries have their own slang words. Many times, a Latin American from one country will not understand a slang word used by another.
Secondly, Latins have strong support systems that start with family. Family is the center of everyday life. Parents and children speak frequently. Parents take a strong interest in their children's activities and lives, and children frequently share what is happening in their lives with their parents. Furthermore, extended family usually lives close-by or gets together very often to share meals, talk, and sometimes dance. Friends or families that are close to the family will often join. Because of the amount of quality time spent together, strong bonds are formed. If one in a family is in need, someone in this extended network can help or knows someone who can.
This aspect has a strong impact on several areas of the Hispanic culture's life as we see it here. First of all, many of us are wondering why it is that Hispanics come here and do not learn English. The fact is that just as I could not learn Spanish in classes, immigrants here need to be surrounded by English to learn it. However, they also need these networks, and leaving the network to spend time with American friends (who often do not have such a strong network) may help the ability to speak, but hurt the ability to find help in other ways as needed. This is not to say that there is not a solution to this if Hispanic families were to reach out to American families, or vice versa, but crossing these cultural boundaries is extremely difficult.
Thirdly, Hispanics are celebrating people. Despite their situations, whether they are here in the US or home in Latin America, Hispanics take the opportunity to enjoy life. They are famous for dancing, yes, but many Latin American countries also have wonderful cafes, squares, and pedestrian areas in which people go to socialize and have fun. Talking to new people, laughing, and joking are very popular pastimes. This is something from which we can learn.
I did finally make it to Buenos Aires in May of 2005. Remembering what my Spanish teacher had said, I expected it to be a beautiful city. I will not say that it was not - I did not see enough of it. However, my entire trip to Argentina (as well as my 2nd trip in January of 2007) was spent in awe over the beauty of the people. I do mean physically, yes, as Argentine people are an interesting mix of Europeans sprinkled with immigrants from other Latin American countries and Natives. But the inner beauty of the people, the warmth, and the ability to seize the moment struck me with such a force that I will forever love the culture and seek to learn more and more from it.