Spanish?? (San Francisco, Beverly Hills, San Fernando: real estate, homes, bankruptcy)

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by da jammer

"You don't have to learn a stitch of Spanish to get by in CA"

you obviously don't make a living in the real world of southern California

"Get by" and "make a living" are two different things. Both were addressed in my post. Por favor lee lo una otra vez. (My Spanish is shaky; feel free to correct.)

[da jammer]

Originally Posted by cre8

"Get by" and "make a living" are two different things. Both were addressed in my post. Por favor leer lo una otra vez. (My Spanish is shaky; feel free to correct.)

really??? point that out to the people trying to get by and make a living. BTW no worries I communicate very en espanol con mi amigos

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by da jammer

really??? point that out to the people trying to get by and make a living. BTW no worries I communicate very en espanol con mi amigos

My point to lolaaa was just that in CA we can do ourselves a favor by learning a little Spanish. It's an important language in Southern California, as you and I seem to agree, but if someone doesn't want to learn it, that's a personal choice. They can still "get by." But they would "get by" better, plus realize expanded job opportunities, even more pay, if they knew some Spanish. Personally, I think it's silly not to learn a few words and key phrases, but my choice might not be someone else's, particularly someone from Michigan. I've lived in So CA for over 30 years and know what it takes to make my life a little easier on the day-to-day -- basic Spanish skills.

[Caliguy2007]

Your Location and Profession here in CA will determine whether Spanish will be important for you to learn or not.

English is still the Top Language here,even though their are alot of Spanish and Billingual Speakers in this State.

[killer2021]

Originally Posted by cre8

"Get by" and "make a living" are two different things. Both were addressed in my post. Por favor lee lo una otra vez. (My Spanish is shaky; feel free to correct.)

Yea I agree with you. That other guy makes it sound like if you don't know spanish you are going to live on the streets or something. There are many jobs out there that don't require any spanish at all. Spanish is a plus but not necessary.

[Donna7]

Originally Posted by lolaaa

Hi, I'm an undergraduate student in Michigan and in about 1 year I'll get my degree in English Lang&Lit. Currently, I'm learning (and loving) French but I want to move to California after I graduate! My job goal is to become a paralegal. I have no real desire to learn Spanish, to be honest.

So, should I not bother moving to California? How much Spanish do I really need to know?

Hi, I also took French in my younger years, really loved it. I'm now taking Spanish at college at age 44; the reason being that no matter where one resides in the U.S. (this is NOT just exclusive to CA), being bilingual in Spanish opens up more doors. I am not concerned about a "job" as I am an entrepreneur (my profession was in accounting prior); but I know that being able to communicate in Spanish will help me in my business. I also speak another European language (as I was born in Europe). Truthfully, as much as I loved French in my younger years, I have to say that Spanish is much easier to learn (in my humble opinion). Good luck with your move!

[Jonah K]

Originally Posted by Donna7

Hi, I also took French in my younger years, really loved it. I'm now taking Spanish at college at age 44; the reason being that no matter where one resides in the U.S. (this is NOT just exclusive to CA), being bilingual in Spanish opens up more doors. I am not concerned about a "job" as I am an entrepreneur (my profession was in accounting prior); but I know that being able to communicate in Spanish will help me in my business. I also speak another European language (as I was born in Europe). Truthfully, as much as I loved French in my younger years, I have to say that Spanish is much easier to learn (in my humble opinion). Good luck with your move!

Being bilingual in Spanish doesn't open many doors in Hawai'i; however, it proves somewhat helpful when learning Tagalog and Chamoru -- two languages that were strongly influenced by Spanish-speaking colonizers.

As for living in California, Spanish is a very useful language along with Korean, Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Farsi, Hindi and a few other languages. Simply scanning the non-English print and broadcast media that's available in California reveals which languages are useful there. Unfortunately, French isn't a very useful language in California, unless you go to a French restaurant (that more likely than not has Spanish-speaking workers).

[da jammer]

Originally Posted by killer2021

Yea I agree with you. That other guy makes it sound like if you don't know spanish you are going to live on the streets or something. There are many jobs out there that don't require any spanish at all. Spanish is a plus but not necessary.

A tad dramatic don't you think. I'm looking at my previous posts where I claimed it was absolutely necessary to speak Spanish . Nope didn't see any. Hey anybody know the mayor of Los Angeles? I seem to remember him giving the Democrat response to one of Bush's SOTU speeches a while back.....oh yeah he did it in Spanish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Villaraigosa


"Villaraigosa also delivered the Democratic Party's Spanish-language response to President George W. Bush's 2006 State of the Union address from his mayoral residence,"

I think it is an excellent idea if you are going to live in southern California to be able to communicate in Spanish especially if you are going to be working there.

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by da jammer

"You don't have to learn a stitch of Spanish to get by in CA"

you obviously don't make a living in the real world of southern California

The original poster didn't specify Southern California, did they? I live in San Francisco, and while knowing Spanish is definitely a bonus, it's not often a requirement. I make a very good living here without using Spanish, though I do speak it pretty well. But my local area is almost entirely Chinese, so I'm actually trying to learn some Cantonese... it's really hard!! Around here, other useful languages would be Tagalog (Filipino), Samoan and maybe Japanese or Vietnamese. Anyway, my point is that it depends on what part of Calif. they're looking to live in.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by da jammer

A tad dramatic don't you think. I'm looking at my previous posts where I claimed it was absolutely necessary to speak Spanish . Nope didn't see any. Hey anybody know the mayor of Los Angeles? I seem to remember him giving the Democrat response to one of Bush's SOTU speeches a while back.....oh yeah he did it in Spanish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Villaraigosa


"Villaraigosa also delivered the Democratic Party's Spanish-language response to President George W. Bush's 2006 State of the Union address from his mayoral residence,"

Has anyone here ever LISTENED to Tony's speeches in Spanish? He has a very heavy "American English" accent - one can tell he's not a native speaker. I often joked with my former Latina girlfriends that I spoke Spanish and they didn't except for a few simple words their grandmothers would use....