Obama Sets record for Deportation of Illegals

I referred to Spacemonduke above as Spacemonkey. I apologize, and no slight was intended. I had the wrong name in my head.

Quote:

Originally posted by EricLindros

The last few posts have been more EL responding to spacemonduke, Tarquin adding a different side to the argument, and moss cheerleading spacemonduke for saying things he agrees with but is unable to articulate himself.

Which, you know, is not needed. Either add to the conversation or zip it. Saying, "Yeah, right on!" or whatever isn't adding anything, and so those posts, along with the responses to those posts, have been removed.

Hm fair point. That said, I didn't in my earlier comment. It's nice to see a fair legitimate debate that hasn't resorted to bashing yet as far as I could see.

Two places I've lived have had very large non-white communities and it's never once bothered me personally. I could care less what ethnicity someone is who is also living on my country insomuch as they are following the same rules as myself. I can't honestly say I know or have researched statistics into taxes or deportation or any other such field that might shed some light on the matter to be able to add to that. I'm probably one of the least racist people I know, that said, working in service industry jobs, I find I tend to struggle with patience when someone doesn't speak the language of the country they are in and they seem to be trying to get by with making everyone else work to understand what they want in those situations instead of themselves working to be understood. I don't care what country or language.

I feel if I decided to travel abroad and went places I knew people wouldn't speak the same language as me on a trip, that might be acceptable as a short term situation; but if I was planning on moving to a different country that didn't speak my language I'd want to learn enough to get by or be with someone who could do it for me if at all possible. More of a language issue than a race issue and it's an extremely mild frustration at that but eh.

I can't say I understand at all what people immigrating to my country does or doesn't do to my economy or strength of my country on a global scale or any other such matter though, though this is still an interesting thread.

Quote:

Originally posted by EricLindros

The last few posts have been more EL responding to spacemonduke, Tarquin adding a different side to the argument, and moss cheerleading spacemonduke for saying things he agrees with but is unable to articulate himself.

Which, you know, is not needed. Either add to the conversation or zip it. Saying, "Yeah, right on!" or whatever isn't adding anything, and so those posts, along with the responses to those posts, have been removed.

What he meant to say is "Those people who don't agree with me have been deleted"
That's what I warned spacemonduke about...

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Originally posted by moss

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What he meant to say is "Those people who don't agree with me have been deleted"
That's what I warned spacemonduke about...

Obviously, because EL deleted spacemonduke's responses. EL disagrees with him. So obviously his posts have been removed.

Except... hmm... wait. Something doesn't make sense here. Spacemonduke's post is still there... weird.

Jenn, I agree with you on the language point. I know the US doesn't have an official language but a majority of the people here have been speaking English for centuries. I'm not saying give up your culture's traditions, my family still speaks Spanish to each other, just learn English. I couldn't fathom moving to, let's say Brazil, and expecting everyone to speak to me in English. I'd pretty much have to learn Portuguese at some point.

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Originally posted by Davey45

Jenn, I agree with you on the language point. I know the US doesn't have an official language but a majority of the people here have been speaking English for centuries. I'm not saying give up your culture's traditions, my family still speaks Spanish to each other, just learn English. I couldn't fathom moving to, let's say Brazil, and expecting everyone to speak to me in English. I'd pretty much have to learn Portuguese at some point.

I kind of agree. I kind of disagree.

If I'm traveling someplace so that I can see a famous site, take in the local life, experience what that region has to offer, but I don't plan to make it my home... I don't really think I need to learn the language. I'm not going to be there very long, and I've got good money to spend in those places if they make me feel welcome.

If I was going to live somewhere however, I'd want to know more about the area and thus, the language. A language is an important part of a region's culture for starters. It tells you a lot about its people and its history. It also helps me feel comfortable, and it just seems like the right thing to do.

But the reality is that English is unlike most other languages, in that it is the world's language. French used to be used by almost every nation on Earth, even if the French weren't present, because it was the most commonly known language in the world among global nations, and France was an influential power.

Almost every treaty, trade agreement, peace agreement, alliance, and international business wrote their documents in French from about 1600 to 1900.

Modern English wildly eclipses the status of historical French, in that not only are both of the above true, but yet there's more. Dollars are the most commonly used currency in the world (for now - the Euro may top it soon). Aircraft pilots speak in English - in EVERY country in the world. Computer programs are written in English.

The entire world either speaks English, or is not a modern nation - and if they're not a modern nation they really want tourists and the economic boons that come with them.

This isn't "American arrogance." This is a reality of the modern world.

As a matter of coincidence, I am deeply infatuated with the Portuguese language. I wouldn't mind if French or Spanish, or Portuguese was the international language - but it's not. English is.

If you speak English, you can speak to the world. Thus, I don't feel bad when traveling somewhere and I speak only English.

If I was going to live someplace, I'd try to learn the language. But unless I'm making a life commitment to some new culture... Yeah, I'm probably not going to focus myself on learning that new language.

So no, I don't expect others to speak English in America. As Davey points out, it's not required. We have no official language here. They also may or may not be just passing through, or they may or may not have the resources it takes to learn English as a language.

I really don't mind either way, and frankly, I appreciate hearing other languages now and then. There's a Serbian deli in town where I live. Sometimes I go there because A: They have kickass coffee. B: I like to hear the locals talk. I understand nae shit of what they're saying, and for all I know they're conspiring to fuck my face. But it sounds cool. So I like to listen.

I don't mind that they speak a different language at all. I enjoy it, actually. If I didn't want to hear it, I'd go to a different deli.

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Originally posted by Tarquin

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But the reality is that English is unlike most other languages, in that it is the world's language.
The entire world either speaks English, or is not a modern nation - and if they're not a modern nation they really want tourists and the economic boons that come with them.

This isn't "American arrogance." This is a reality of the modern world.

Not sure where you get your numbers from, but English is actually only spoken by less than 6% of the world population (5.5%) Spanish is spoken by nearly 6% (5.8%) and Mandarin is spoken by nearly 15% (14.1%)...in fact, nearly as many people speak Hindi (4.6%) as English.

In principle....you're both on the money. In the capital and coastal cities of the world you can get by just fine with English. ( This fluency in English doesn't show up in your numbers SP.) If you are in business, then everything is done is both English and the local language. I am always shocked by the number of people that want to speak English to me when I travel on business. Thus I agree with Tarquin that "if you speak English you can speak to the world" . The argument that everyone here in SoCal ( 90% of them also speak fervent Tea Party lingo) that insists that all the Spanish speaking immigrants should speak English is just totally specious.

But here is another twist on the issue of English in an immigrant culture here in SoCal. http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Monterey-Park-bilingual-chinese-latin-alphabet-city-council-217309971.html

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Originally posted by Sugarpie

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Not sure where you get your numbers from, but English is actually only spoken by less than 6% of the world population (5.5%) Spanish is spoken by nearly 6% (5.8%) and Mandarin is spoken by nearly 15% (14.1%)...in fact, nearly as many people speak Hindi (4.6%) as English.

Quote:

Originally posted by Sugarpie

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Not sure where you get your numbers from, but English is actually only spoken by less than 6% of the world population (5.5%) Spanish is spoken by nearly 6% (5.8%) and Mandarin is spoken by nearly 15% (14.1%)...in fact, nearly as many people speak Hindi (4.6%) as English.

I haven't looked it up, but my guess is those numbers are for primary language. 7 billion people or so in the world, 6% of that is 420 million. There's about 350 million people just in the United States. Add in the uk, canada, Australia and New Zealand, that'd be about right for 6%.

English is definitely the most widely spoken language.

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Originally posted by litld

I've said it before and I'll say it again... I have worked in 48/50 states and along side all races and cultures. I have no problem migrating to the states as long as they register, work, pay taxes and live by the same laws as I do. I was born stateside but as with everyone pretty much residing here we are all immigrants.

agree 100%.

Quote:

Originally posted by Sugarpie

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Not sure where you get your numbers from, but English is actually only spoken by less than 6% of the world population (5.5%) Spanish is spoken by nearly 6% (5.8%) and Mandarin is spoken by nearly 15% (14.1%)...in fact, nearly as many people speak Hindi (4.6%) as English.

I'd echo what others have said, but I'd also like to point out that most English is interchangeable, while most other language dialects are not.

Naturally nations and cultures that greatly outweigh English speaking cultures exist.

You pointed at Mandarin. Mandarin is often misused as the term for "any kind of Chinese" when in reality, the many hundreds of different languages that exist within cultures that are heavily influenced by China are no more alike than English is like Spanish. They're actually not the same language at all, but since English and Spanish are both "Latin" languages, they'd be referred to by a universal term such as "Latin language."

The reality is that those two languages are not compatible. Someone who is solely an English speaker cannot communicate well with someone who is solely a Spanish speaker despite that they're both Latin. The same is true of Mandarin.

Beyond that, China has a population of over 2 billion people within its borders alone, but it only comprises one nation and let's be honest, though they are an up and coming world power, they're often excluded from world summits and the only reason they're included when they do attend is because of the massive buying power their population brings them.

Don't get me wrong, China's influential, but they're not a hugely influential power - rating below that of modern Russia in most cases, and that place is a disaster.

Hindi is most dominant in India. Last time I spoke to someone in India it was because of a computer problem. They spoke to me in English.

Spanish is a vast language and it covers much of the world's surface area. It's the dominant language in Spain, but that's hardly a world power. In fact, if they're not careful they're going to get kicked out of the EU soon which would then put them somewhere on par with Morocco as a "world power."

Other nations that speak Spanish are Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela, Peru, Argentina and Honduras. Most people can't even place those in the right hemisphere on a map.

And again, the difference in "Spanish" between a Puerto Rican and a Mexican are enormous, and they're only a few hundred miles apart. A Cuban and a Mexican have to speak English, because they don't understand each other's Spanish. An American from Washington can speak to an American in Hawaii or Alabama, or he can speak to a Brit, an Aussie, a Canadian, and a South African and they can all understand each other aside from colloquialisms. This isn't true in Mandarin, Spanish, or even Hindi.

Not many Spanish speaking nations are considered world powers. No Hindi speaking nations are considered world powers. There's only one marginal world power that speaks Mandarin.

There are several world powers that speak English - and most of the places where another language is dominant still speaks English in addition to their native language. For most of the major world players at least.

While other nations might speak a given language tree in greater numbers as a primary language, they can't always speak to each other in that same language tree.

And English dominates anything that goes international. While certain isolated cultures will still not speak English, if a nation is on the global stage, there is a big chunk of their population that is fluent in English.

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Originally posted by MissMia22

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agree 100%.

I also agree.
And....Immigration should be a controlled process so that it benefits the host country as much as possible. As far as fluency in English, it is important if you want to not only live in the US but do well. I work with a lot of people that originate from all over the world. Those that do the best have come here legally, have a skill, speak English as a second language, and have assimilated to our culture. It is called a melting pot for a reason. Those that do not do well do not learn the language (or try to) and cling to their culture and language at all cost. Many never learn English, speak their native languages both at work and at home, choose to live in neighborhoods that also do not speak English and as a result are stuck in low end occupations they will find it hard to escape from. They guy that empties my trash every night can say, “hi, how are ya”. That’s it! Over a year and still the same thing every night and believe me I have tried to expand on it. There are free classes available, you can also learn by immersion to some extent but in many cases that does not happen. A year from now guess who will still be emptying my trash? That’s if he is lucky, if not he may be bumped by another immigrant who does try to learn English and in turn does a better job.
As for an earlier comment that the new immigrant pays taxes to cover what services he uses. Forget that. In my town it costs $13,000 per student to go to high school. Taxes on a low end wage will not come close.

Substitute "English" for the primary language of any country. If I went off to some other country and made no effort to learn the language I would have no expectation of making anywhere near what I earn now.

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Originally posted by B0b11

Substitute "English" for the primary language of any country. If I went off to some other country and made no effort to learn the language I would have no expectation of making anywhere near what I earn now.

Neither do taxes on a high-end wage. Or a middle class wage. I don't pay $13000 a year in property tax (which as EL points out, is where most school funding comes from). You'd have to be a pretty wealthy person to have a property tax that high, or at least a damn nice patch of prairie to roam on. Even so, education doesn't remotely make up the majority of a property tax. In many cases education is on par with police and fire service. There are several other local government entities (roads, bridges, water, etc) that also get money out of that pie - so even if someone did pay $13000 a year in property tax, they wouldn't be sending it all to a student's tuition.

There really aren't very many people on the planet that can or do pay property taxes that high - even the 1%. As has been pointed out numerous times in the press, over 7,000 people in the US that did not pay taxes in 2012... Were millionaires.

No, your garbage man cannot afford to pay a student's tuition all by himself. Neither can many other people in the world. Of those who can, many of them don't.

Edit:

I have a 2200 square foot home. Fully finished.
3 Bedrooms
2.5 baths
300 square foot patio, covered, finished.

My "assessed" value of my home is roughly $9,600 a year, of which I pay a tax of around 3.5%

I am single, no kids, never married. I have no car payment and I have a lot of investments. Thus, I am worth 10X my yearly income, and thus I am considered "upper class" in terms of my wealth (I can survive for ten years financially just dandy if I opted not to ever leave my house or work another day).

And I will pay about $360 in property tax this year, which will be sliced and diced, and the schools might get a whoppin' $80 to $120 of my money this year.

No, your garbage man doesn't pay $13,000 a year in school taxes.

Neither does your CEO.

Quote:

Originally posted by Tarquin

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I'd echo what others have said, but I'd also like to point out that most English is interchangeable, while most other language dialects are not.

Naturally nations and cultures that greatly outweigh English speaking cultures exist.

You pointed at Mandarin. Mandarin is often misused as the term for "any kind of Chinese" when in reality, the many hundreds of different languages that exist within cultures that are heavily influenced by China are no more alike than English is like Spanish. They're actually not the same language at all, but since English and Spanish are both "Latin" languages, they'd be referred to by a universal term such as "Latin language."

The reality is that those two languages are not compatible. Someone who is solely an English speaker cannot communicate well with someone who is solely a Spanish speaker despite that they're both Latin. The same is true of Mandarin.

Beyond that, China has a population of over 2 billion people within its borders alone, but it only comprises one nation and let's be honest, though they are an up and coming world power, they're often excluded from world summits and the only reason they're included when they do attend is because of the massive buying power their population brings them.

Don't get me wrong, China's influential, but they're not a hugely influential power - rating below that of modern Russia in most cases, and that place is a disaster.

Hindi is most dominant in India. Last time I spoke to someone in India it was because of a computer problem. They spoke to me in English.

Spanish is a vast language and it covers much of the world's surface area. It's the dominant language in Spain, but that's hardly a world power. In fact, if they're not careful they're going to get kicked out of the EU soon which would then put them somewhere on par with Morocco as a "world power."

Other nations that speak Spanish are Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela, Peru, Argentina and Honduras. Most people can't even place those in the right hemisphere on a map.

And again, the difference in "Spanish" between a Puerto Rican and a Mexican are enormous, and they're only a few hundred miles apart. A Cuban and a Mexican have to speak English, because they don't understand each other's Spanish. An American from Washington can speak to an American in Hawaii or Alabama, or he can speak to a Brit, an Aussie, a Canadian, and a South African and they can all understand each other aside from colloquialisms. This isn't true in Mandarin, Spanish, or even Hindi.

Not many Spanish speaking nations are considered world powers. No Hindi speaking nations are considered world powers. There's only one marginal world power that speaks Mandarin.

There are several world powers that speak English - and most of the places where another language is dominant still speaks English in addition to their native language. For most of the major world players at least.

While other nations might speak a given language tree in greater numbers as a primary language, they can't always speak to each other in that same language tree.

And English dominates anything that goes international. While certain isolated cultures will still not speak English, if a nation is on the global stage, there is a big chunk of their population that is fluent in English.

I agree with all of this...except for the fact that we were never talking about super powers, economic powers, or doing business with other countries. We were talking about immigration and moving and living in other countries. So if you think you can move to any of he countries you listed (China, Spain Portugal, Mexico, India, etc) and be ok only speaking English, then you are seriously mistaken.

Quote:

Originally posted by Sugarpie

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I agree with all of this...except for the fact that we were never talking about super powers, economic powers, or doing business with other countries. We were talking about immigration and moving and living in other countries. So if you think you can move to any of he countries you listed (China, Spain Portugal, Mexico, India, etc) and be ok only speaking English, then you are seriously mistaken.

Not true. A great many Americans that don't speak Chinese or Japanese move to those nations and do just fine.

There are a lot of non-Spanish speaking Americans that retire in Mexico and other Spanish speaking nations.

I've also been in the middle east fairly extensively, and although many of the locals don't speak English, many do - especially business owners. This included the guy at a Radio Shack (yes, they have them), the cabbies, the bus drivers, the guys selling rugs and schwarmas on the street. The clothiers, the jewelers, and wait staff at most restaurants. I'm certain there's some variation of course. Israel is going to have many English speakers. Iran won't. But then again, Iran isn't an international player or a place I want to be. Their former President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, however, is fluent in English and spoke it on television and radio at times.

To re-cap fairly, as opposed to your assertion that I'm going down the rabbit trail, I asserted that English is the world's dominant language.

You stated that more people speak some other primary language than English. I think you're getting hung up on a technicality, or there's been a misunderstanding. That's really not the point and has been off base, as several other posters pointed out. English most certainly is the world's most dominant language, and almost anywhere an English speaker would want to be (and a lot of places they don't want to be) would do just fine with a person that only spoke English.

Vladimir Putin speaks English: . I assure you he didn't learn this as ruler of Russia so that he could bond with us. He's known how to speak English since before he was KGB. Obama does not speak Russian - and never will.

Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, speaks English. Publicly.

Angela Merkel is the Chancellor of Germany. She speaks English and has since before she was in college.

François Hollande, the President of France, speaks English.

Rafael Correa is the President of Ecuador - and he speaks English.

Each of these folks knew English long before they were even in politics. They learned them in school in their native nations. They weren't preselected to become Presidents, so my guess is that a lot of the upper class in their nations learn to speak English as a practice.

Diz-X is not an American, nor a Brit, nor an Aussie. He speaks English. He's not a noble or a President. He's clearly very smart, but I don't have any reason to believe he got a particularly different education than most of the peers in his nation. But he speaks English - and he speaks it well.

I could live in France, Germany, Portugal, Brazil, China, Japan, Israel, and many other places for the rest of my life speaking only English, and I'd be just fine. Hell, most of them would pay me a decent wage to teach English, even if I didn't have a teaching license in their nation. I know this because I am in fact, a former Social Studies teacher - not an English teacher - and was offered at least four different jobs teaching English oversees.

Google "Korea English Teacher Career" and tell me what you see.

Here's South Korea's official government website: http://korea.go.kr/eng/

What language is that written in? That's the English version of their website, which they made. Please link me to the Korean version of the White House's website.

Al Jazeera has an English website (which is blacklisted here for some reason). Please link me to CNN's Mandarin website. or the Hindi version, or Hell, even the French version.


English is indeed the world's language. No, you do not have to learn another language to live - and be successful - in most areas of the world where a person might want to go.

It's the polite thing to do - learn the native language - but no. English suffices just dandy in most places.

Once again you've misunderstood me I feel. I'm not talking about Prime Minsters and Presidents of nations...these people know english because they have to, they may have learned English in school, but they continued it because they wanted to or had to....maybe they took it in college when they already had aspirations of politics. I took 9 years of French in school and today I can't speak enough French to get by....why...because I don't need to use it.
Online newspapers and various other sites have english versions because there is a market for it....whether its for business or for tourism.

Quote:

Originally posted by Tarquin

I could live in France, Germany, Portugal, Brazil, China, Japan, Israel, and many other places for the rest of my life speaking only English, and I'd be just fine.

You will find people that speak English in these countries, I don't disagree with that, but to think that everyone in these countries speaks english is extremely naive and as you said earlier is in fact American arrogance. If you get out any of the major cities in these countries you'll find that the majority of people do not speak English. They're like me, they may have studied it, and may know some, but they certainly aren't fluent.

Quote:

Originally posted by Sugarpie

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I agree with all of this...except for the fact that we were never talking about super powers, economic powers, or doing business with other countries. We were talking about immigration and moving and living in other countries. So if you think you can move to any of he countries you listed (China, Spain Portugal, Mexico, India, etc) and be ok only speaking English, then you are seriously mistaken.

I have a friend that's lived and worked in China for 5 or 6 years now and only began learning the language after the first 4, didn't need it. That said, he was teaching ESL so was probably in a more English heavy environment than if some joe average North American moves to city x in china and tries to get by with straight English. In some of the heavier tourist cities in most countries of the world I feel a fair number of people would speak English as a second language, though that may be ignorance based from someone who lives in Canada, even though I don't intend it. I feel like the rate of people learning English as a way to globally communicate with English speaking UK and North America is only going to rise for as long they remain global superpowers both military and economy.

In reply to travelling or living abroad.... If I was just travelling I wouldn't bother learning the language, but if I was moving somewhere I'd expect to be held accountable to the same laws regarding taxes or whatever else, as well as I feel like I'd have to make a serious effort at working on learning the language. Which I suppose is why it bothers me some when people I know have lived in my country for years and years and come to a job I work at and have to serve them and they can't speak English to me and it makes my job that much harder. If they seem like a tourist or a new immigrant or I don't know better I tend to be a lot more forgiving. But eh. Might just be me.

Quote:

Originally posted by Sugarpie

Once again you've misunderstood me I feel. I'm not talking about Prime Minsters and Presidents of nations...these people know english because they have to, they may have learned English in school, but they continued it because they wanted to or had to....maybe they took it in college when they already had aspirations of politics. I took 9 years of French in school and today I can't speak enough French to get by....why...because I don't need to use it.

But that's the point. They had to take it. They had to keep up with it. That's not uncommon for people in other nations. Thus the assertion that you could get on just fine in most parts of the world knowing just English.

Quote:

Originally posted by Sugarpie

Online newspapers and various other sites have english versions because there is a market for it....whether its for business or for tourism.

It's also because that's the most commonly used language in modern nations. They could easily market to Europe and use French or Italian. They don't.

The point here is that they do in fact, print in English. Even if I went to South Korea or Abu Dabi, I could get my local newspaper in my native language, English. That's not true of any other language in the world.

Quote:

Originally posted by Sugarpie

You will find people that speak English in these countries, I don't disagree with that, but to think that everyone in these countries speaks english is extremely naive and as you said earlier is in fact American arrogance.

Then I'm glad I never said that everyone in every country speaks English. I think that you've fixated on a broad statement I made about how English is the global language and somehow you're interpreting that to mean that I think every child in Nepal is sitting there reading an English text book for kindergarten. I never asserted that and to read that into what I said would be quite a stretch.

Quote:

Originally posted by Sugarpie

If you get out any of the major cities in these countries you'll find that the majority of people do not speak English. They're like me, they may have studied it, and may know some, but they certainly aren't fluent.

I think it's more common than you think it is.

Again, I think you're interpreting what I said to mean that "everyone knows and speaks English." - that's not what I said, it's not what I meant, and I think one would have to be literally trying to find a reason to quibble to read that into any of my statements.

Enough people speak, read, write, and understand English in the world that an English only speaker could survive in most modern nations of the world.

I never said they wouldn't be better off if they learned the language of their location. I never said that EVERYONE EVER BORN is fluent in English. I said it was the most common language, the global language, and that in most cases an English speaker would be okay in another country, even long-term.

I totally stand by those assertions as well. To take my statements to mean that everyone, everywhere, speaks English like a native speaker with a Master of Language Arts would require a great deal of mental gymnastics in my opinion.

There are scenarios where one can move to another country and get by without learning the native language but it's not common. My sister has a friend who teaches in Japan and prior to that, Turkey. She works at an international school where everything is taught in English by English speaking teachers. She hangs out with other employees of the school and hasn't learned anything beyond basic Turkish or Japanese. She doesn't plan on being a life long resident there anyway.

However, I will stand by my statement that if you move to a country that speaks a different language and you expect everyone there to speak to you in your native tongue, you're kind of being a dick. I'm not talking about a vacation in Paris or major European city where lots of the people speak English, I'm talking about moving to a country, getting a job and living there with the locals.

Obviously, you can't force someone to learn English if they move to America but it's in their best interests to do so. Are there places in the United States where you can get by knowing only Spanish? Sure. Parts of Miami, the southwest, California and even the northeast have such a large Spanish speaking population that one could live their whole life there and never learn English. The only problem is, you'd be severely limiting yourself as to where you can live and what jobs you can get. The whole issue seems to work itself out though because as the future generations are born here, go to school here and immerse themselves in popular culture, they tend to learn the language. It's rare, even in Little Havana to find a Cuban under 40 or so who doesn't speak English. I own a small engine repair shop and deal with Spanish speaking landscapers every day. Most of them speak English well enough to communicate with a non Spanish speaker. Also, Cuban/Caribbean Spanish isn't that much different than Central/South American Spanish. There are some different phrases and accents but it's still the same basic language. It would be like comparing someone speaking English in America to someone in the UK, or Australia. Yeah, maybe someone with a very strong accent might be a little tough to understand completely but you can still get what they're saying.

Jenn brought up a good comment that got overlooked.

Move to China, India, Japan, Portugal, Brazil, Mexico only knowing english and then try to complete your tax return...then tell me how well only knowing english works out for you. Get into a car accident and have the other driver, the insurance company, the adjuster, and the body shop all understand you. Go to a doctor with a health problem and have the receptionist, the doctor and all technicians understand you. Go out for dinner and see if the hostess, the waiter, or the bartender all understand you.

There is a HUGE difference between traveling and just getting by, and living deeply immersed in a country and not knowing the language.