Spanish is a romance language that did not evolve from English, so your translation of a phrase like "me gusta" into something that connotes lack of personal responsibility is incorrect. No linguist worth his or her salt would be able to defend such a translation of this phrase without getting laughed out of the room.
What you need to focus on is the legacy of Spanish rule in the Western Hemisphere. That will give you a much more profound insight into some of the things you are so clearly having trouble understanding-the shabby organization, the corrupt governance, the lying, dishonesty and evasion of personal responsibility and lack of punctuality that one encounters in everyday life-this has been the legacy of Spanish rule and it is ingrained in varying degrees in every country in Latin America.
And it was their culture expressed via deeds that had this profound effect. It did not germinate from their use of language but is a by-product of their culture. Even if you alter the way "me gusta" is said to connote a direct translation into English (which would not follow the grammatical rules of Spanish, aside from sounding intelligible), it would not alter the evasive nature many Dominicans engage in when articulating speech clearly meant to be evasive.
You and others are correct in your premise that language is more than a means of expression, but your issue seems to stem from not only a lack of cultural understanding but from a misguided intolerance of how Spanish is used to deflect and deceive. Believe me that is not an inherent trait of the language but of the speakers of the language. After reading your post a few times I believe that you are under the misguided notion that Spanish should be spoken as a direct translation of English to reflect and presuppose Anglo attitudes of directness.
Again, your problem here is cultural and not linguistic. In Germany, if you want to show disrespect to a person in an intimate setting relating to business or politics, you refer to them in the informal "du", which denotes the person being referred to is either a subordinate or clearly someone not to be respected.
These differences are subtle but strongly imply position, status and respect (or lack thereof). Every language has this.
The last time there was a financial crisis in the states, I remember vividly a conversation I had with a few of my friends who were in the corporate world. This was during the era of "downsizing", a word meant to deflect the reality of people getting fired. They told me that the average executive would rather take a cut in pay than a demotion in title. That title was their calling card at social events and gatherings, and it made them feel respected and respectable.
Here is another clear example of something that runs across all languages and cultures, but you misunderstand it to be particularly a Dominican trait. Or is it just more upsetting when they engage in it?
You may be correct in ascribing these habits, attitudes and speech patterns to "culture" however, this obviously does not diminish their negative impact on those who embrace them and who insist on perpetuating them.
I also find it natural to assume that we are all responsible for the cultures we choose to embrace, at least as soon as we are old enough to realize that our own is not the only one in existence.
And I think it is hasty of you to assume that because English and Spanish do not share all of the same common roots that direct translation between them is not possible. After all, the Spanish and the English share a continent and the influence of all European languages on each other is impossible to ignore.
It occurs to me that by comparing older English such as you would find in the King James bible and Shakespeare's writing you find sentence structure and grammar much more in keeping with modern Spanish, at least it is more similar to Spanish than modern English.
We even used to have a plural second person pronoun equivalent to "ustedes" without having to resort to using the slang contraction "Y'all"
Why did English change into what it is today? I think it is at least in part because the mindset of the people changed, they progressed, egalitarian values became more the norm (at least on the surface) and having phraseology that denoted superior and inferior people in a sentence wasn't comfortable to use anymore.
Avoiding responsibility for the smallest mistakes began to be rightly seen as immature and sneaky, and the ability to be clear and concise valued rather than seen as rude.
Finally, I don't think you can compare employees choosing a salary reduction over losing their jobs altogether to going out and printing business cards with your name listed as "college graduate John Doe" on them.
But basically, with all of this you are inferring that I am dis-favorably comparing Spanish to English and assuming that English is a superior means of communication.
And you are absolutely correct. I do believe that English is the most important language in the world though I admit I don't have all the reasons why worked out, I am working on that and so far things are falling into place nicely.
On a side note I realize it's unfair to compare the English language as a whole to Spanish as we hear it spoken in the Dominican Republic. Most of the people we interact with on a daily basis in the DR have a fairly poor (or extremely poor) command of the Spanish language, including many college graduates, so a comparison based on that alone is unfair I admit.
