Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It seems that New Mexico has one of the largest non-english speakers and spanish speakers population.
Knowing spanish language is defintely advantage(I guess),but what if you can't understand spanish at all?
You're right, Ducksburg, it is an advantage to be able to speak Spanish in New Mexico. Lots of jobs will go to bilingual, rather than one language speakers. But don't worry, you can get along in English just fine.
New Mexico is a great place to learn Spanish because you will hear lots and lots of it. After a while your ear will adjust to the cadence and rhythm and you will realize that you are understanding more and more of what you hear. Don't be afraid to try speaking it and you will be fine--it's a great learning opportunity. I worked in a school in southern NM where half the children spoke only Spanish because they were recently arrived and half spoke both languages (and often did the translating for their parents during teacher/parent conferences!). The kids were the best teachers of all.
I do wonder why our country isn't better at teaching languages to our students. When I took Spanish in both high school and college the emphasis was on writing, rather than speaking. I did very well in the classes but could only understand a word or two out of every sentence when listening to a speaker. Europeans seem to be able to speak several languages. It's too bad our schools don't do a better job.
Thank you for your reply.
I'm willing to learn Spanish if possible.However,I have never learnt any spanish before and I am not really good at language.
How long did you spend to be proficient in Spanish,Clairz?
European countries are small and connected, maybe that's why they have to learn several languages I guess.
Oh, I'm not at all proficient! We were only in NM for a year, although we are going to return for retirement this summer, but I felt like I was making lots of progress by just being immersed and hearing Spanish spoken all the time. There is something about being more relaxed and getting into the rhythm--once I did that I could understand more of what I was hearing.
Kids seem to have no problem picking up a new language on their own. In my NH school we have a child who came from China last year with no English skills, and he is happily chattering away in English now (but losing his Chinese).
The only people I hear speaking Spanish anymore are over the age of 45 and usually older than that. Sadly, most of the younger generations no longer speak it. Most of the Spanish I hear around here is mostly English with some Spanish thrown in. Spanglish?
By no means do you need to speak Spanish to live in NM. It is fun though to learn and you will find yourself picking up words when you live here just because the older locals will speak Spanish in a regular English conversation.
My husband lived in Mexico for some time even though he is British and he loves that he knows the language and he has benefited greatly from being bilingual. More so, because he can actually hold conversations with some of the people and workers he has met that aren't as proficient in English.
But even some of our mineral engineering friends down here at Tech who really wanted to learn Spanish had a hard time doing so because really there aren't that many younger people that speak it anymore.
I live in Las Cruces, which is 50 miles from Juarez, and English predominates here. You here some Spanish amongst families spoken in Wal-Mart, but the language of commerce is English.
You dont have to learn Spanish but it definately helps. There is alot of emphasis in being bilingual here in New Mexico. But in the lower paid jobs in fast food and gas stations, Spanish is mainly spoken (not always though). Its just up to you really, I speak Engligh, French and Irish and will learn Spanish. But for the time being I boycott places where i know people only speak Spanish.
You don't need to know Spanish to live in New Mexico. The local Spanish isn't the formal Spanish you are taught in school. I was told it was more 'slang' than a pure Spanish.
I picked up quite a few words from listening to people speak. I also learned from translating signs. Street names and places usually have Spanish words in them such as "mesa, tierra, sol, etc." Other signs are written in both English and Spanish.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
