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pelone
Junior Nomad
Posts: 53
Registered: 12-27-2007
Location: Loreto
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They did not even speak English!!
I occasionally read/hear folks express their frustration that while visiting or living in Mexico that it is difficult to find English speakers in the
banks, grocery stores, gas stations, small markets etc. The frustration that they share seems to me to be expressions of lazy or arrogant folks who
do not take the least effort to adapt. With the increased evidence that learning a new language helps stave off the aging process and puts off the
onset of age related dementia one would think that "gabachos" would embrace the learning process. I suggest that folks at least write down and refer
to some key words when shopping and travelling. Write down the key words on an index card or commit them to memory--use them. Visitors to Loreto
should plan ahead-just as one would prepare to deal with a new monetary system, learn some survival words. The lame excuse of being too old to learn
is really a statement that one does not want to try. 
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bajabuddha
Banned
Posts: 4024
Registered: 4-12-2013
Location: Baja New Mexico
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Mood: Always cranky unless medicated
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May I also suggest checking in with your local education establishment NOB; many towns and cities offer night classes in 'conversational spanish' as
well as other languages; usually around $30-40 for a 6 week course, includes workbook. If you're in Baja, there are classes all over the place run by
locals to teach the simplistic phrases. There's no excuse for lack of respect and courtesy.
I don't have a BUCKET LIST, but I do have a F***- IT LIST a mile long!
86 - 45*
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mtgoat666
Select Nomad
Posts: 18122
Registered: 9-16-2006
Location: San Diego
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Mood: Hot n spicy
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Quote: Originally posted by pelone  | | I occasionally read/hear folks express their frustration that while visiting or living in Mexico that it is difficult to find English speakers in the
banks, grocery stores, gas stations, small markets etc. The frustration that they share seems to me to be expressions of lazy or arrogant folks who
do not take the least effort to adapt. With the increased evidence that learning a new language helps stave off the aging process and puts off the
onset of age related dementia one would think that "gabachos" would embrace the learning process. I suggest that folks at least write down and refer
to some key words when shopping and travelling. Write down the key words on an index card or commit them to memory--use them. Visitors to Loreto
should plan ahead-just as one would prepare to deal with a new monetary system, learn some survival words. The lame excuse of being too old to learn
is really a statement that one does not want to try. |
why do some people always want to tell other people how to live? attend to your own faults before you attend to others, let he who is without sin
cast the first stone, etc....
peace out!
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AKgringo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6004
Registered: 9-20-2014
Location: Anchorage, AK (no mas!)
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Throwing stones?
Pelone, I read your post and thought it was good advice, with just a touch of legitimate rant.
I spent quite a bit of time in mainland Mexico with my parents as a child, and a few more times as a young man. Finding someone who spoke English
where we were back in the late 50s and 60s was not a good bet.
My young brain soaked up enough Spanish so easily, that I still can usually make myself understood without searching for a translation. My problem
is that I speak well enough to fool the other person into thinking I can understand them also. Due to hearing damage (tinnitus and frequency loss),
and the fact that I never mastered Spanish grammar, it is sometimes a one way conversation.
Because I intend to spend more time in my retirement years in Baja, I am working on improving my skills, but my 68 year old brain and ears makes it a
lot tougher to gain and retain any upgrades.
It is worth the try though!
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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gnukid
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4411
Registered: 7-2-2006
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Microsoft released their Translator app for android and OS X
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft....
It really can help to write down and practice listening and speaking a few words a day using the index card method. It's really fun too to engage shop
owners and all sorts to learn and share vocabulary. It can be a great excuse to get out of the house each day and engage your neighborhood. I learn
new words daily.
[Edited on 8-9-2015 by gnukid]
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basautter
Senior Nomad
Posts: 862
Registered: 7-1-2013
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Hmmmmmm....it is Mexico, and they speak Spanish...Not too hard to learn with modern techniques
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Udo
Elite Nomad
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My opinion on this subject matter is just MY PERSONAL opinion. I feel that if a person choses to move to a foreign country, it is their obligation to
learn that country's language.
If one moves to ANY country, say in Europe, how is one going to get by and just speak English. Same thing with Mexico, or any Latin American country.
No one is going to cater to someone who just speaks English...let alone the INM (whom English speakers want the documents in English so they can fill
out paperwork for permanent or temporary residency).
Banks, grocery stores, Costco, gas stations, as an example, are under no obligation to speak English with their customers.
Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
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BajaBlanca
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Posts: 13195
Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: La Bocana, BCS
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If you are in Mexico, I also agree that you must make the effort to speak Spanish. It can be broken Spanish but just try til you get it down. It will
come, no matter what your age.
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Fernweh
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Posts: 444
Registered: 2-24-2011
Location: Centenario, BCS
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If you make that statement in the US, in regards to the Hispanic immigrants,
you will be labelled a racist.
The businesses in the US, especially in CA, have figured it out. It makes sense, a good business sense and improves customer service, to offer a
bilingual staff, and mark their products and their location, in English and Spanish.
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bajabuddha
Banned
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Registered: 4-12-2013
Location: Baja New Mexico
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| Quote: Originally posted by Fernweh |
If you make that statement in the US, in regards to the Hispanic immigrants,
you will be labelled a racist.
The businesses in the US, especially in CA, have figured it out. It makes sense, a good business sense and improves customer service, to offer a
bilingual staff, and mark their products and their location, in English and Spanish. |
Oh, I agree 100% with your statement.
However, "When in Rome..." this thread isn't about NOB.
And, the same people who I have personally heard "IF they want MY money, they aught to speak MY language!" are the same people who come to Baja and
say, "If they'd JUST..... " or, "You'd THINK they'd.....". Well, they don't. It's México.
I don't have a BUCKET LIST, but I do have a F***- IT LIST a mile long!
86 - 45*
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Alm
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2725
Registered: 5-10-2011
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| Quote: Originally posted by Fernweh |
If you make that statement in the US, in regards to the Hispanic immigrants,
you will be labelled a racist. |
Good point. Like one journalist said, - political correctness is the worst thing that could happen to this country.
| Quote: Originally posted by Fernweh | | The businesses in the US, especially in CA, have figured it out. It makes sense, a good business sense and improves customer service, to offer a
bilingual staff, and mark their products and their location, in English and Spanish. |
And how English-speaking people would feel about it, what do you think? In the place where I live, the abundance of signs in languages other than
English is enormous. Sometimes you have to look hard for a minute or two, to figure out what the heck all those Cantonese/Mandarin/Punjabi characters
mean. Or what the store clerk is trying to tell you in his "sort of" English. Any excuse for that?
Oh c'mon... A country can only digest so much immigrants before it stops being what it was. In Mexico we are in the same position as some illiterate
Honduran or Cambodian NOB. The difference is - we are coming there in waaay fewer numbers, mostly retirees. It's tough learning new language at that
age. Some are trying, some tried and stopped.
From my personal POV, speaking local lingo is practical, makes life easier and more enjoyable. You can't demand the same of everybody though. And I
am not sure that local businesses should jump the gun, catering to foreigners before locals. But then again, business are doing what they have to, in
order to make money, and don't care sh-t about anything else.
[Edited on 8-9-2015 by Alm]
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Bajahowodd
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9274
Registered: 12-15-2008
Location: Disneyland Adjacent and anywhere in Baja
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This has been a long standing problem in the US. As a culture, the US has fewer multi-lingual speakers who are native born than practically anywhere
in the industrialized world.
Go to Europe. You will find so many folks that not only speak English, but also speak other European languages. It is common to find Europeans that
speak as many as three or four languages. They are taught that in their schools.
We are a joke when it comes to that. I believe it stems from that American exceptionalism train of thought.
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bajabuddha
Banned
Posts: 4024
Registered: 4-12-2013
Location: Baja New Mexico
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Mood: Always cranky unless medicated
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| Quote: Originally posted by pelone | | I suggest that folks at least write down and refer to some key words when shopping and travelling. Write down the key words on an index card or
commit them to memory--use them. Visitors to Loreto should plan ahead-just as one would prepare to deal with a new monetary system, learn some
survival words. |
First off, let's get grounded.
This is the gist of the post. Same goes NOB, for that matter; hence my post about "common courtesy", not being able to pass the Naturalization Exam.
A few words, a few phrases (besides 'baño' and 'cerveza') and what I first suggest is "Lo siento...".
I live in New Mexico now and there are more Hispanic clerks, waiters, nurses, staff, and bi-lingual professional people than probably most of America
combined. Spanish was spoken here before English ever was. I've occasionally helped out an Hispanic person in a line or situation where their
counterpart didn't speak Spanish. NO BIGGIE.
(Lawd, don't get me singin' "It's a small world after all" or "Kumbaya"!!)
The main point is at least TRY. Nobody's talking of becoming fluent enough to conjugate your verbs (or your new wife for that matter, she'll do it
for you). A few phrases, and my all-time fave is "Hablo poco, comprendo NADA.... " always gets a smile.
[Edited on 8-9-2015 by bajabuddha]
[Edited on 8-9-2015 by bajabuddha]
I don't have a BUCKET LIST, but I do have a F***- IT LIST a mile long!
86 - 45*
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SFandH
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7084
Registered: 8-5-2011
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| Quote: Originally posted by Bajahowodd |
As a culture, the US has fewer multi-lingual speakers who are native born than practically anywhere in the industrialized world.
I believe it stems from that American exceptionalism train of thought. |
I believe Americans are not multi-lingual because 99% of them don't need to be.
Why would someone in Peoria learn a second language? Who would they speak it to?
American exceptionalism, naw. You're thinking too hard.
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KurtG
Super Nomad
Posts: 1205
Registered: 1-27-2004
Location: California Central Coast
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Mood: Press On Regardless!!
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| Quote: Originally posted by Bajahowodd | This has been a long standing problem in the US. As a culture, the US has fewer multi-lingual speakers who are native born than practically anywhere
in the industrialized world.
Go to Europe. You will find so many folks that not only speak English, but also speak other European languages. It is common to find Europeans that
speak as many as three or four languages. They are taught that in their schools.
We are a joke when it comes to that. I believe it stems from that American exceptionalism train of thought. |
If Minnesota, Wisconsin, N. Dakota and S. Dakota all had different languages I would have grown up speaking at least three of them just as in Europe
where it is often necessary to use a different language when one travels a couple of hundred miles. There is an element of truth to your argument
but I have always felt geography is a big factor. I graduated high school in Deer River, Minnesota in 1962, a tiny school where my class had 56
students. We were offered both Spanish and German, I mistakenly took German thinking it would be more useful to me.
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JC43
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Posts: 498
Registered: 6-21-2014
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| Quote: Originally posted by pelone | | I occasionally read/hear folks express their frustration that while visiting or living in Mexico that it is difficult to find English speakers in the
banks, grocery stores, gas stations, small markets etc. The frustration that they share seems to me to be expressions of lazy or arrogant folks who
do not take the least effort to adapt. With the increased evidence that learning a new language helps stave off the aging process and puts off the
onset of age related dementia one would think that "gabachos" would embrace the learning process. I suggest that folks at least write down and refer
to some key words when shopping and travelling. Write down the key words on an index card or commit them to memory--use them. Visitors to Loreto
should plan ahead-just as one would prepare to deal with a new monetary system, learn some survival words. The lame excuse of being too old to learn
is really a statement that one does not want to try. |
Hi Pelone,
This is your story in reverse:
There is a Mexican coming to SF/CA. He enters a bank asking for service and guess what??? The bank employee is not speaking Spanish. Lazy and
arrogant! > your words!
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Sjsam
Newbie
Posts: 17
Registered: 2-15-2013
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OK here's the deal! No matter where you go ,if you try others will respect the fact that your trying and will help.
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Cliffy
Senior Nomad
Posts: 986
Registered: 12-19-2013
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My first comment is always_
Mi espanol no es perfecto
After that I try, the more I try the more I learn BUT
once NOB it all disappears way too fast
Age related cleaning the hard drive :-)
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captkw
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3850
Registered: 10-19-2010
Location: el charro b.c.s.
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Mood: new dog/missing the old 1
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espanol
Hell, I could not deal with California without knowing spanish
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dtutko1
Nomad
Posts: 341
Registered: 8-26-2009
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A person who speaks 2 languages is bi lingual.
A person who speaks 3 or more is multi lingual.
A person who speaks 1 language is American.
Dorado Don
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