We had an influx here in Indianapolis of Hispanic strippers who could not speak English but it receded. The expectation here among the customers may still be that the strippers be able to converse with them in English. The non-English speakers failed to make money.
Is this different in other parts of the country where Spanish is more common? Do you personally care about being able to communicate with the girls at the strip club?
"Do you personally care about being able to communicate with the girls at the strip club?"
Yes, because most of my game relies on talking my way into a situation and price range I like. But "going to the phones" can be fun in a gambling kinda way.
I hate to sound like a stereotypical old coot, but you should have been here twenty years ago. The Pew Trust estimates that from 1990 to 2005, the US was gaining about 600,000 unauthorized immigrants per year. From 2005 to 2021, we lost a net average of 100,000 a year. (I couldn't find more recent data.).
Chelsea Massachusetts was one of the first sanctuary cities, and the strip club there saw a steady stream of hot young South Americans starting their careers. There's now nothing remotely comparable within my club orbit.
Does language matter? Absolutely! I speak Portuguese probably about at the level of a slow fifth grader, but that's enough to get me unrefusable offers from most Brazilians on the second dance.
Spanish is taught in high schools, or was in my day, so if you can't speak that, it's on you. Learn some, and ask the hottest Latina in the room to help you improve. It'll change your life.
if you can learn about 150-200 words in spanish along with basic conjugation many doors will open favorably. this will also help prevent the dependency on phones used for translation-i've noticed a few girls showed indications of impatience and annoyance. you want the interactions to flow smoothly as possible.
I speak pretty good tourist Spanish and was married to a Mexican for 27 years but when your 82 YO with medical limitations even with GOOGLE translate, It's just not working for me other than getting dances. I have to have an English speaker for VIP or OTC
Most of the Cubans at my club leave me alone because they know they are not getting me in VIP. Fortunately I have a few non Cubans to take care of me.
I think it's area specific. Around here, a lot of customers are Spanish speakers too, many exclusively speak Spanish, putting the English speakers at a disadvantage. In clubs with mostly English speaking clientele, many of them have learned to adapt. either they go out of their way to be friendly or accommodating in other ways.
I'd certainly prefer to be able to socialize more, and easier with strippers. And all other things being equal, I still go for the English speakers. But it's far from a deal breaker, and I'll often take a hotter Cuban over an average American girl.
Doc, it sounds like you had a wave of Cubans pass through your area. We had the same thing in Jacksonville some years back and, like Indianapolis, some stuck but many did not.
I have nothing against immigrants. Indeed as someone who cut his teeth clubbing in the NYC metro area, I'm accustomed to it. Heck a gorgeous Russian girl and a hot as hell Latina were among my all time favorites.
But unlike the immigrant girls I've enjoyed in the past, the Cuban girls overwhelmingly refuse to learn the language. Yes I know that learning English isn't easy, but if you're going to work in a service based business here in the U.S., you'd be well served to deal with it. They are surrounded by English speakers all day long, so with some effort and practice they should be able to learn. But they're just too lazy to bother.
Some people are better than others at learning a new language. I say that in defense of the Cubans who don't learn it; and myself, as I am pretty clueless.
And you can see that with people who spoke a different language as children, and do their damndest to learn English. Heard an Asian professor from an American university talking on the radio this week. He had the vocabulary, but his pronunciation was brutal.
However, if I was moving to Cuba, I would realize learning the new language would be part of the deal. And not only would I not be good at it, I fear most people would react to me with blank stares.
For Spanish speaking strippers, if they don’t want to learn the language it’s up to them. They’ll need to find other ways to sell dances. If they don’t, they can’t pay rent and will find another job. Perfectly competitive market conditions.
I do not recall a strip club ever being located in Chelsea. Never.
Nothing a few hand gestures and cash flashes can't solve.
I started learning Spanish about 2 years ago, before my first trip to Tijuana. I'm at a pretty solid intermediate level, which IMHO has been paying huge dividends not just in TJ but in other ares of the country where cubanas dominate, like SoFla. To OP's question, I do care about being able to converse with a dancer... that's a primary motivation for learning Spanish.
I'll second what Rattdog is saying, learning a couple hundred words goes a really long way. Like being able to say things like "De dónde eres?", "Cuanto cuesta?", y "Chupáme" pays tremendous value. You don't need to know a ton of Spanish to ask a few "get to know you" questions and then negotiate a transaction.
And for anyone looking to learn, I have a recommendation: ChatGPT. I was learning a ton with Babel but have since been neglecting the babel for tons of intensive learning with ChatGPT. If anyone is curious I could give you some prompts for getting started.
I speak Spanish pretty well but I get lost in idioms, slang, and cultural differences in words and accents. I can carry a conversation with 90% of the girls, but it's slower and requires more concentration. I club the most often with people on my team at work and they don't speak Spanish and they overwhelming prefer english speaking.
It's going everywhere. I don't want to go to hard in on it because when I'm outside the country I'm the dope that doesn't know that language. But it's nice to connect to a little bit.
big advantage learning spanish. i've still a long way to go... and it is difficult for me. 10 years of going to hk/ tj really hasn't helped like i hoped.
Quiet sex with no talk can be awkward and boring. Women love D but getting them to feel it on another level has to be done in their minds. So, some communication, even basic, will go a long way. This is assuming you're not into transactional, sterile sex with a girl who could be a bot.
I think there are at least two related issues here. One is, what's the story with customers learning Spanish to improve communication. Another is, what are the attitudes of non-English-speaking dancers.
For me personally, I've been decent at learning foreign languages generally, but I haven't tried Spanish lately. I picked up a lot of Spanglish on the sandlots playing soccer while growing up but I don't think it would serve me much in trying to negotiate service prices with dancers. "Izquierda! Derecha! Pelota! Penal penal golgolgol GOOOOOLLL ..." not.
I'm a bit disappointed when a dancer doesn't give a hoot about communicating. Or seems that way. Especially being in a club in the USA, it's reasonable to expect that most of her customers are probably English speakers. There's a type of mercenary coldness to any failure to even attempt English. I don't mind if the girl is simply unable or still a beginner, but I tend to be turned off if the girl is showing instead a disdain or refusal to try. Trying is cute! It's a sweet gesture! And really I'm always at the club in search of cute sweetness, not just mercenary service. Other guys may want something a bit more toward the wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am end of the spectrum, in which case their desires may be less hampered by language barriers. Or more hampered, since they can't adequately identify service and price? "Izquierda"?
Doc- There's been a big influx of Hispanic people nationwide who don't speak English, particularly in service industry and construction trades. Some is bound to seep into strip clubs. I haven't particularly noticed this in the clubs I've gone to.