Thread: Non-Spanish speaking immigrants learning Spanish

Unbelievable!


http://blogs.chron.com/bluebayou/2007/0 ... rants.html


January 03, 2007
Non-Spanish speaking immigrants learning Spanish

There was an interesting story in the Chronicle the other day about immigrants learning Spanish, usually for business reasons. In the story, an Asian couple who own a supermarket and an Indian man who runs a motel are interviewed:

"Right now we speak Spanish more than any other language in the store because before we had an Asian population here, but it's moved to the south and more Hispanics come and shop here now," Khen Vu Ly, 46, said.

Though there's often a push for immigrants to learn English, the growing Hispanic population is prompting many immigrants in Houston to focus equally, if not more, on their Spanish.

The changing demographics of their customers and employees make knowing Spanish a must for many immigrant business owners who often thought English would be the only new language they would have to learn.

"This is extremely common," said Betsy Gelb, a marketing professor at the University of Houston.

"What we teach is you need to be market-oriented to be successful, but how can you even find out what your customers want if you can't communicate with them? It's the first step to being market-oriented, and sometimes that means learning another language."

It's just common sense to talk to your customers in the language in which they're most comfortable. It means that they will have a more pleasant experience with you, and are more likely to come back.

Off the Kuff mentions the story also, and Charles talks about his own regret at not learning Spanish:

I took French in middle school and high school. I even briefly contemplated a minor in French after getting an A- in an advanced grammar class in my first semester of college. I came to my senses after I realized that it was all literature courses from there, but it was close. I can't say I was ever truly fluent, but if I'd spent a semester in a francophonic country right after taking that class, I'd have come home fluent.

And if I had to do it all over again, I'd take Spanish classes instead. Back then, we were somehow convinced that French was the language that everyone needed to know. (Why? Don't ask me. I say it was a conspiracy dreamed up by the French teachers' cabal.) How silly that seems now. When the time comes for Olivia to pick a language to study in school, I plan to do everything in my power to convince her to take Spanish. It just makes sense.

He's right; speaking Spanish makes you more employable. With a significant Spanish-speaking population in the US, and most so many of our neighbors and trading partners being Spanish-speaking countries, it's just a useful skill.

Plus - learning a language is a good experience. While we Americans tend to be stubbornly monolingual - and we can get away with it because of the dominance of English around the world - we'd be better off if we were teaching our kids foreign languages from an early age. Sure, you can get by professionally pretty well with just English. But the person who also speaks Spanish or French or Chinese or Russian is always going to have an advantage.

Like Charles, I did a lot of language study - German, in my case, because we'd lived there for a while when I was a kid and it fascinated me. I was approaching fluency when I stopped, and had I used it I'd probably be a lot better at it now. (In Köln last year, I understood about 40% of what was going on around me - just enough to be dangerous, I guess.)

I love German and am glad I studied it, but I wish I'd learned Spanish also. This is the second place I've lived with a big Spanish-speaking population (DC was the first; the DC metro area has some of the largest numbers of Spanish-speakers outside of the border states) and it would be helpful to know.

The one thing in the article that made me a little nervous was the implication that some immigrants are putting more energy into learning Spanish than English. Obviously, Spanish is an important skill for a lot of people; English, however, remains the language of long-term economic success in this country, and that's not changing. I imagine those immigrants learning Spanish for an immediate work or business purpose are making sure that their kids grow up fluent in English - who wouldn't do so in this country? Because that's what will give them options beyond the family supermarket or motel in the future.

See'o I Think'o I understand'o what you are said'o

Well, I guess if they want my business....they best be learning English. Coz I'm not learning a bunch of different languages to please the immigrants comming here. Maybe I'm just being a stubborn old fool but so be it.

Originally Posted by crazybird

Well, I guess if they want my business....they best be learning English. Coz I'm not learning a bunch of different languages to please the immigrants comming here. Maybe I'm just being a stubborn old fool but so be it.

Well then crazybird that makes two of us!

This makes me absolutely ill.

I am going to puke after reading this non sense

Anything for a buck I guess.

The only spanish we need to know is,
El gett'o out'o my'o country'o, you leech'os!