Culture entails the norms and values that define a certain group of people. As such, it is a way of life. Different people can be distinguished by their different cultural practices. Culture is normally passed down from one generation to the next through language, media, social relationships, and customs. Cuba has one of the richest cultures in the world. The unique culture of the Cubans resulted from the coming together of European, African, and North American cultures many decades ago. The dominant language in Cuba is Spanish. This is mainly because the Spanish speakers settled here first while exploring the area centuries ago. The Native Americans who already inhabited the area did not have any influence on the language as they were eliminated by diseases.
Cuba has three commonly used dialects, and they are thought to have originated before and after the Cuban revolution of 1959. The generic peninsular dialect is considered to be the most correct dialect followed by the Cuban pre. The Cuban pre refers to the dialect spoken by Cubans before Castro took over power resulting in a massive migration. Because the majority of the Cubans who left Cuba immediately after Castro took over were more educated and of a higher social status, their dialect retained the ‘s’ sound. Therefore, it is considered to be more formal. Those who migrated later used certain words, phrases and gestures, intonations, and phonological patterns that made them sound uneducated. Cubans are incorporating English words into their language, due to their interactions with English-speaking Americans. This is resulting in what is commonly referred to as “Spanglish”.