Over two years after the release of the second season, Ramy is finally gearing up to release its highly anticipated third season on September 30, 2022. The Hulu original is a semi-autobiographical comedy series that centers on the life of actor/comedian Ramy Youssef and his family and has been hailed by fans and critics for its fresh comedy and positive representation of Muslim Americans.
Like many shows that center around hyphenated Americans, Ramy features characters speaking in both English and Arabic — often flowing between the two languages seamlessly. This is becoming more and more common in television, as shows are created around families and characters who are not monolingual, offering a more accurate representation of the American experience, and particularly of American immigrant life.
Fresh Off The Boat (2015 – 2020)
Set in the 90s, Fresh Off The Boat follows the Taiwanese-American Huang family as they move from their home in Chinatown of Washington, D.C., to Orlando, Florida, so their father can live out his dreams of opening a cowboy-themed steakhouse.
While the characters predominately spoke English, Grandma Jenny only ever spoke in Mandarin during the first six seasons of the show. Most of the time, when the family communicates with her, they speak in Mandarin, which is then subtitled for non-Mandarin speaking audiences to understand. The show is one of the few that featured Mandarin in nearly every episode.
Gentefied (2020 – 2021)
Gentefied is a Netflix original comedy series that ran for two seasons before getting canceled, despite fans wanting another season. It followed three Mexican-American cousins who are trying to chase their own dreams while helping their beloved grandfather keep his beloved family taco shop afloat in a changing community.
The characters in Gentefied are very proud of their Mexican heritage and regularly speak Spanish to each other, especially when they’re communicating with their grandfather and other elderly citizens in their town. The show also touches upon the issue that some Mexican-American families didn’t teach Spanish to their children, which is why Chris has a harder time communicating with his family because his Spanish skills are comparatively lacking.
Gordita Chronicles (2022)
Gordita Chronicles has joined the famous canceled after one season club despite being one of the freshest and funniest family sitcoms in a long time. Set in the ’80s, the series follows the Castelli family as they immigrate from the Dominican Republic to Miami. It’s narrated by the baby of the family, Cucu, who brings a fun, adolescent point-of-view to the show.
The Castelli’s regularly speak Spanish to each other when they’re in their home and communicating with family back home or their Spanish neighbors. However, the show also tackles the challenges of being bilingual, like when Cucu is reprimanded by her teacher for speaking “Spanglish” in class and made to feel bad about her bilingualism.
Jane The Virgin (2014 – 2019)
A telenovela for English-speaking American audiences, Jane The Virgin follows Jane, a young Venezuelan-American woman who goes in for a routine doctor’s appointment and is mistakenly artificially inseminated by the overworked doctor. Given that it’s the biological father’s only shot at having a biological child, Jane agrees to carry the baby, which complicates her life.
Given that the series is a satirical take on telenovelas and that the family is Venezuelan-American, it’s no surprise that Jane The Virgin regularly features characters talking to each other in Spanish. Like many shows with immigrant grandparents, Jane’s grandmother, Alba, exclusively communicates with her family in Spanish though she does understand English.
Narcos (2015 – 2017)
Narcos is an American-Colombian crime drama that aired on Netflix for three seasons. Set and filmed in Columbia, the first two seasons chronicle the life and rise of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar as he became the most successful drug kingpin. The third season continued to follow Pablo but focused on the aftermath of his death.
Unlike other bilingual shows that favor English, Narcos favored Spanish, with most of the dialogue being spoken in the native Columbian language. One thing to note of interest is that while the actors all speak Spanish in their real lives, most of them weren’t of Columbian descent, so they had to adopt a Columbian accent, which wasn’t always accurate, according to many Columbian viewers.
Never Have I Ever (2020 – )
Never Have I Ever is one of Netflix’s best original teen shows on the streaming service. The series centers on Devi, an Indian-American Tamil teenager who is determined to revamp her social standing and reputation in high school after a traumatizing freshman year that included her father suddenly passing away.
Though Devi mostly communicates in English, she has a tendency to sprinkle in words from the Tamil language, like many bilingual Americanized teenagers do. In addition, the Tamil language is spoken more frequently in later seasons, as her grandmother comes to live with her.
One Day At A Time (2017 – 2020)
One Day At A Time is a beloved family sitcom that many fans believed was canceled too soon by Netflix. A reboot of the famous Norman Leer sitcom, this version of the show centers on the Cuban-American Alvarez family, who is being headed by veteran and single mom, Penelope.
Unlike some shows that subtitle dialogue not spoken in English, the creators behind One Day At A Time decided not to subtitle the Spanish words and phrases spoken in the show. Instead, viewers were encouraged to use context clues to understand what the characters, such as Lydia, were saying in Spanish or turn to the internet, like creator Gloria Calderon-Kellet had to do when she was growing up watching English-only programming.
Ramy (2019 – )
Created by and starring Ramy Youssef, Ramy tells a semi-autobiographical story about Ramy’s life growing up as a first-generation American Muslim in a divisive New Jersey suburb. Like many first-generation Americans, Ramy finds himself in a constant struggle between wanting to honor his culture and traditions, while also wanting to experience American culture and traditions that often conflict.
When Ramy is at home or at church with his fellow Egyptian community, he often speaks in Arabic since that is what is expected of him. However, even when he’s talking with his friends who speak English, he continues to use Arabic phrases and slang in his vernacular.
Switched At Birth (2011 – 2017)
Switch At Birth is one of the best Freeform/ABC Family shows to come out of the cable channel. The drama centered on two sisters who were accidentally switched at birth, which led to them living very different lives. Bay gets raised by wealthy socialites while Daphne is raised by her single mother in a low-income neighborhood. In addition, Daphne is deaf, while Bay is hearing.
Given that one of the characters on the show is deaf, American Sign Language is used in every episode and in nearly every scene Daphne is in. Her biological family set out to learn ASL, so they could easily communicate with her without her having to read their lips. The series also marked the first time a mainstream television show featured entire scenes in ASL with no audible spoken dialogue.
The Americans (2013 – 2018)
Set in the 1980s, The Americans is a spy drama that follows two Soviet KGB intelligence officers who pretend to be an American married couple raising their family in Washington, D.C. It ran for six seasons and covered the time span between 1981 until December 1987, shortly before the US and the Soviet Union signed the nuclear forces treaty.
Given that the two leads are Russians pretending to be American, they rarely speak Russian in the early seasons. However, when more Soviet agents were introduced later on, many of the Soviet agents and immigrants did speak Russian, as they would have in the real world.
