Do you speak spanish?

[Jagmandave]

I used to live in San Diego and I wished I had learned it while I was there, but most of the people I did business with then spoke English just fine.
This has been an ongoing debate for years, and I generally fall into the "learn the local language" side of the question, meaning that if I lived in Mexico, I'd feel obliged to learn Spanish, not expect them to learn English to communicate with me, especially if I wanted to work there. Here, it seems we've bent over backwards to assimilate these people because we need them to do the work they do.......
I'd still like to learn the language, since most of the people I work with now, here in Kansas, speak Spanish and do not speak English!

 

[RobertN]

I agree 100%. With the expansion of trade and technology, and the tremendous growth in China, it is the language to learn. Even more important, is to think about the fact that China is a giant, just now awakening in the current world; there is a huge business growth coming in that area.

Every High School, JC, and College should offer Chinese language classes. To make a person marketable in the job market, it would be a good place to start.

I have worked in hi-tech for a long time. Most folks from China do speak english well. It makes them competitive in the Global market...

 

[Spiffy]

A good place to start would be Math & Science; else, it won't matter what global language is taught. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[Spiffy]

Estoy interesado en tractores. ¿Es usted?
/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Ja! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[BB_TX]

I am also of the opinion that if you live and work in the US you should speak english. But that does not change reality. There is a very large population around here that speaks little or no english.
I would very much like to learn spanish. I have found there are some places that teach conversational spanish but have not found one whose location or hours are convenient to where I live or work. And I want a conversational class, not one to teach me how to conjugate a verb in spanish. It is interesting to listen to local spanish speaking people as they may change from spanish to english and back several times in one sentence. I have a friend who works for a local company that does a lot of business in Mexico. The company hired someone to come in and teach a number of their employeess TexMex conversational spanish. In a fairly short time he became quite good at it.

 

[MossRoad]

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[MikePA]

I took German in high school and Russian in college. Plus English, of course. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Neither German nor Russian has done me any practical good, if you don't count not having to read all the subtitles when I watched "Das Boot". /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif My wife says my English skills are not much better. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I agree that learning another language is a good experience, but I've found if you don't use it, you quickly forget it. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[pennwalk]

<font color="blue"> my English skills are not much better. </font>
I was thinking the same thing about myself. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif It is pretty amazing that around Lancaster there are quite a few people who speak two languages. There is a large comunity of Puerto Ricans in town. At least I think they are Puerto Ricans. They have a big spanish american parade. How do you say lowrider in spanish. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gifMost of them speak english too.

Out in the country we have a big Dutch community. Among themselves many speak dutch (german) but they all speak english. It is really a trip to go to a country auction. Huh whatid he say? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Maybe the English thing is a matter of time. I'd bet that it was several generations before my ancesters stopped speaking german.

Chris

 

[rox]

MossRoad,
It appears to me that every immegrant family is the same. The parents struggle with the langauge, but the kids who grow up in the new country speak the anguage of the new country.

My daughter had a very good friend who is Puerto Rican, Enid is her name. She came to the mainland when she was in 3rd grade. I akded her if she thought it would have been better if she would have gone to a school that taught her in Spanish, there are schools that have english as a scond language.

Enid says that she remembers crying so hard when she first got to school here that she just didn't understand the langauge. She had to repeate 3rd grade. However Enid also says that although it was hard, it was much much better for her not to go to a school that taught her in Spanish becasue it forced her to learn the language. Sink or swim. Enid jsut got her P.h.D. in Microbilogy last year. I guess she figured out how to swim....

It is the young generation that does assimilate. I know for me living in a different country it is hard when you don't have the language skills, especially when I never studied it in school. But I am catching on, I answer the phone can even sell olive oil with my weak French. Im learning to swim as well. A lot o people who are living in acountry where the language is not their birth langauge, perhaps don't speak it to you because they kow how weak they are and they don't want to be embarassed. They probably know more of the new langauge than you think they do.

 

[JoeR]

Being bilingual is a blessing, but as a nation it is a curse. It will divide us if we try to maintain any two languages as a nation. Look at Canada and Quebec, or Russia and any of its non Russian speaking provinces. One culture wants to rule on its own since they have a tendency to become segregated. Instead of the U.S. being a melting polt, we will become like oil and vinegar. I think it is sad when people immigrate to the U.S. and choose not to immerse themselves into this great country. I am not attacking any language or culture, but pointing out that language can also divide a nation.

Joe