The Collegian

Issue date: 10/30/08 Section: News

Media Credit: David Steffen Senior Sofia Juncadella sits with her parents during Parent Weekend. they flew in from Miami, Fla.

When senior Sofía Juncadella talks with her parents in Spanish during Parent Weekend, heads often turn as other parents and students listen with interest.

"When they hear us speak Spanish, they look at our name tags immediately," said Sofía's mother, María Juncadella.

Sofía is one of a few native bilinguals on campus and bonds with her parents on a level unfamiliar to most monolinguals. The Juncadellas, who live in Miami, know English and try to speak it in the presence of "Anglo" Hillsdale College families. But speaking their native language together helps them bond and feel at home.

"Whenever I've been able to speak in Spanish again, it's so refreshing to me," Sofía said. "It's a feeling of family."

It is also part of her family fabric.

"For us, it's more comfortable to speak in Spanish," said José, Sofía's father. "We've been speaking Spanish for so long."

Sofía's Cuban-born father and Nicaraguan-Costa Rican mother moved to Miami in the 1970s. They raised Sofía and her two brothers speaking Spanish. Sixty-five percent of Miamians - including the Juncadellas - speak Spanish at home, in part earning Miami the nickname "The Capital of the Americas."

"It really is kind of instinct when we speak in Spanish," María said. "It's been the way we related with them since they were born."

Sofía regularly speaks Spanish at home and in Miami's streets, but among the youth, English and "Spanglish" are the norm. She said she always spoke to her little brother in English, until he began attending college in Boston this year. Now, Spanish helps the siblings remember home.

"Language is so powerful," she said. "Now, we speak in Spanish. Even though we spoke in English at home, now we speak in Spanish."

During emotional moments, Spanish takes over.

"If we pray together, we'll pray in Spanish," María said.

"It's more threads that connect us," Sofía said.

María said Spanish emerges while expressing a variety of emotions.

"If I scold her, I scold her in Spanish," she said, laughing.

She has even facilitated electronic Spanish communication with her daughter.

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