Learning Spanish

[Autumn Dusk]

I just moved to a new area and have discoverd a bit of a culture shock. Many of the people speak Spanish around here...and aren't proficient in English.

This has driven me to want to learn spanish. In HS I learned (but didn't understand) French and in College I took ASL.

However, in talking with my new neighbors and friends that I've met I've come up against a formidable opinion...that I have no right to learn spanish and further erode the very culture that my area was built on....that its "bad enough" that the immagrants speak spanish but for me to learn it would be betrayal.

I'm making a long story short and summarizing the reactions I got.

I still want to learn spanish, but I'm wondering if its the best idea. Of course I could keep it a secret but i'd feel really idiotic doing that.

[rhetoricfemme]

There's no reason in being ashamed of wanting to learn Spanish. There is no betrayal in that. And who knows, perhaps the Spanish-speaking folks who aren't too great at English are still learning themselves, and just trying to get out as much English as they can. Or maybe they're visiting their relatives who are bilingual, but they themselves have hardly been exposed to the English language.

My point is, is that no one can be entirely sure that the person they're talking to is making efforts to learn English or not, so to judge them by how good or bad their English is, is unfair. It's, well... Judgmental, lol.

I never took a bit of Spanish in my life, but then I moved to California and am now exposed to Spanish about as much as English, lol. Quite the culture shock! I took French and German in high school and college, but now for the first time in my life I'm considering learning Spanish, as well.


I'll pray for you and hope that you're able to make a decision that you're happy with about learning the language!

[Totus Tuus]

Grrr. English-speakers should NOT have to learn another language to communicate in their own country.

[KnightofChrist]

Vai Con Deus

[Selah]

ah, spanish. My second language.

It's a lot easier to learn then you may think. Several letters have only one sound. It's a really neat language. You'll like it

[CatherineM]

My Godparents were from Mexico, but they didn't speak Spanish at home. I loved them very much, and wanted to learn Spanish as a way of getting closer. I learned it from being on the assembly line making tamales with all the Mexican women who came to her house for weeks before the Little Flower Carnival. I learned it at the Latin grocery store, and I especially learned it on trips to Mexico with them. Once they left me with one of their cousins for two weeks in Oaxaca who didn't speak any English because they wanted to visit relatives in the mountains where it isn't safe for gringos to go.

I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting to learn another language in order to communicate with neighbors. That's how Europeans end up being able to speak so many languages. Even if you only know a few words, just trying to communicate, can make friends. It's certainly not going to hurt you, and you aren't going to be less of a good American for trying.

I once had a man holding a knife tell me that I had betrayed my race, because my race should be my religion. Being that rigid and narrow is just not in my DNA. I don't hate people that are different, and I'm certainly not afraid of them. I embrace them.

[EricTheRed]

[quote name='Totus Tuus' post='1599355' date='Jul 13 2008, 05:54 PM']Grrr. English-speakers should NOT have to learn another language to communicate in their own country.[/quote]
so dont, if your in the position where you need to learn and you dont your only limiting yourself.

[Autumn Dusk]

[quote name='Totus Tuus' post='1599355' date='Jul 13 2008, 06:54 PM']Grrr. English-speakers should NOT have to learn another language to communicate in their own country.[/quote]

That seems to be the basis of the mindset I'm encountering. There are the small asian and indian communities, but otherwise there are the SPANISH and the ENGLISH. The english people seem to be personally insulted other languages are used in this country.

[Paddington]

I agree with the view that "they should learn English," but I've never in my life had sb tell me that I betrayed jack-diddly by learning Spanish. Most people have encouraged and complimented me for learning it.

Anywho....Spanish = good. You could learn a little, and then decide if you wanna go the whole way with it.

[Mercy me]

[quote name='Totus Tuus' post='1599355' date='Jul 13 2008, 05:54 PM']Grrr. English-speakers should NOT have to learn another language to communicate in their own country.[/quote]

I agree.

I have no problem speaking another language overseas or among friends but for general communication within the US I should not need to learn another language.

[Proud2BCatholic139]

My old co-worker speaks Portagueise and my our classroon neighbor speaks Spanish and so everyday they would talk to each other in Spanish. Well, 8 months later, I finally understand what they are talking about even though I can not really speak it. At least I know when they make fun of me. :tongue:

[Winchester]

[quote name='EricTheRed' post='1599388' date='Jul 13 2008, 06:23 PM']so dont, if your in the position where you need to learn and you dont your only limiting yourself.[/quote]
And apparently an argument against learning English as well.


Sorry, sorry.

Somewhere, an apostrophe's family is starving because you won't employ him.

[Vincent Vega]

He estado aprendiendo espanol hace unos semanas, para comunicar mas eficazmente con los latinos que habitan en mi area.
To the spanish speakers: sorry if that was bad (Quiero decir, lo he estado aprendiendo solamente para unos semanas!), but I'm trying to use it as much as I can to keep it fresh and imbed it in my mind.
I have a background of speaking French, so Spanish came sort of naturally to me. A good way, at least for me, to do it, is this: I got [url="http://www.amazon.com/Michel-Thomas-Speak-Spanish-Beginners/dp/0071480269/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216008548&sr=8-1"]Michel Thomas's Spanish Course[/url] and put it on my iPod, and listened to it every day, to and from where I volunteer, and then again before I went to bed, totaling about 1h15 in any given day. Within a week, I was able to have rudimentary conversations with my spanish-speaking friends. It's been maybe a month and a half or so, and I've now bought his Spanish Advanced course, but I'd recommend it to anyone who was interested in speaking Spanish.
So, if you're going to go the self-teaching route...give that a try.

[puellapaschalis]

If you do your best to learn Spanish - and if you're open about it - it may encourage Spanish speakers to improve their English. Don't be put off by the linguistic Anglo-centric snobbery around.

Edited July 14, 2008 by puellapaschalis

[nerddad]

i often hear how Latinos should learn English.....i find it hypocritical to expect Latinos to learn English overnite, and our own European ancestors lived in the U.S. for one or two generations before speaking MAINLY English. Many of my friends had grandparents who never learned English. And the people who complain about the Mass being said in Spanish should also go complain about the Ethnic European Masses in Chicago, New York, Boston, and many of the large diocese's - or is that somehow different?