Miami has the largest Latin American population outside of Latin America, with nearly 65% of its population either from Latin America or of Latin American ancestry. Spanish is a language often used for day-to-day discourse in many places, although English is the language of preference, especially when dealing with business and government. Many locals do not speak English, but this is usually centered among shops and restaurants in residential communities and rarely the case in large tourist areas or the downtown district. Even when encountering a local who does not speak English, you can easily find another local to help with translation if needed, since most of the population is fluently bilingual. In certain neighborhoods, such as Little Havana and Hialeah, most locals will address a person first in Spanish and then in English. "Spanglish", a mixture of English and Spanish, is a somewhat common occurrence (but less so than in the American Southwest), with bilingual locals switching between English and Spanish mid-sentence and occasionally replacing a common English word for its Spanish equivalent.
Haitian Creole is another language heard primarily in northern Miami. It is common for a person to hear a conversation in Creole when riding public transportation or sitting at a restaurant. Many signs and public announcements are in English, Spanish and Creole because of Miami's diverse immigrant population. Unlike Spanish, Haitian Creole is generally centered among the Haitian neighborhoods in northern Miami. Most Haitians are more adapted to English than their Hispanic neighbors. Portuguese and French are other languages that may be encountered in Miami. These languages tend to be spoken mainly around tourist areas. Most speakers of these languages speak English as well.
The simplest way to get a response in English is to use the "approach rule," where most locals will respond only in the language spoken to unless they are not able to speak it. This rule can be used on anyone whether or not their first language is Spanish, English or any other language.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Miami
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Miami Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
