Dummy getting Rosetta Stoned

[zeitgeist]

I couldn't resist posting this one. Tonight we are having Mexican food and being the dutiful love slave that I am I went to get some of the fixins.  Boggles my mind, Mexican is not in the Ethnic Food Section but Asian is.  Tell me again who it is that is racist?



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8230053

jmondine  (1000+ posts)      Wed Apr-28-10 01:44 AM
Original message
My response to the AZ law: I'm going to learn Spanish
 This will undo a mistake made due to Hispanic prejudice dating all the way back to the 1950's.

I am half Mexican on my mother's side. But because she and my uncles were relatively fair-skinned, my grandparents decided to raise them speaking only English. As a result, I was raised the same. I have always regretted this, and always intended do something about it... eventually.

Well, eventually is now.

Thanks to the Arizona GOP, I will be proudly reclaiming my Latino heritage.
 

One word as Rodney might say:

Conquistadors !!

In answer to the question "Who is credited with most  of the crimes against humanity on the inhabitants of the New World"

This is a very short thread so I just dragged it on by for a laugh.

nadinbrzezinski  (1000+ posts)        Wed Apr-28-10 01:45 AM
Response to Original message
1. Bienvenida
  
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 DesertFlower  (1000+ posts)      Wed Apr-28-10 01:55 AM
Response to Original message

2. great idea. i think we should
 all speak a second or third language.  
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WillParkinson  (1000+ posts)        Wed Apr-28-10 02:42 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. Oddly I just posted a question in the Lounge...
 Asking if anyone had ever used Rosetta Stone software and had any opinions on it. I want to learn a second language and if it's good I might be able to pop for it (it is kinda pricey, though).
 
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sabrina 1 (1000+ posts)        Wed Apr-28-10 02:57 AM
Response to Original message
4. I just rec'd this OP
 but apparently there are some people here who don't like the idea of you learning to speak Spanish. I worked with some people from S. America and they taught me some Spanish, they asked if I would help some of their friends learn English. We had so much fun.
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rabs  (1000+ posts)      Wed Apr-28-10 03:42 AM
Response to Original message
5. Go for it; I undid the same mistake
 


We lived in a little rural community where Spanish-Americans (that's what we were called back then before some bureaucrat invented "hispanics") had lived since the mid-1700s. We grew up speaking Spanish with our grandfolks, who spoke little English.

One day, when I was five, I was sent to the local grade school. To my befuddlement, the Anglo first-grade teacher would hit the palms of our hands with a ruler if she heard us speaking Spanish. So we learned English very quickly and for years after our Spanish-speaking skills withered and practically died.

Until I was at the university and realized that the teacher, who probably meant well, had robbed me of part of my culture. So university studies included Spanish and Latin American Studies. After college, almost 20 years of working and living in South America honed those skills.

So now am fluent in both languages, and in fact we speak Spanish at home out of preference. Can also get along quite well in Portuguese, thanks to the similarities to Spanish.

Buena suerte y bienvenido a nuestro mundo y nuestra cultural que nos han querido robar.



 
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NanceGreggs  (1000+ posts)        Wed Apr-28-10 03:45 AM
Response to Original message
6. Well, all I can say is ...
 ... that's a pretty damned fine idea!

It's never too late to transform "eventually" into now - or, as JeffR always says, "Now - it's the new then!"



 
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 BlooInBloo  (1000+ posts)        Wed Apr-28-10 03:56 AM
Response to Original message
7.
  
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Vinca  (1000+ posts)      Wed Apr-28-10 07:50 AM
Response to Original message
8. That's a good idea. I always thought it would make sense to learn Spanish.
 I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for something I can listen to in the car.
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lunatica  (1000+ posts)        Wed Apr-28-10 08:03 AM
Response to Original message
9. It's much easier than English and much more expressive
 It's fun to know languages, even if it's only to get by.
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mucifer (1000+ posts)        Wed Apr-28-10 08:10 AM
Response to Original message
10. Great idea! I learned Spanish when I was 16yo I volunteered in Mexico and it  
 really helped my Spanish. Now I'm a hospice nurse and I work with many immigrants and undocumented patients because I'm one of the few nurses in the agency that speaks Spanish. The stories that I hear from the families are chilling. I live and work in Chicago and can tell you the fear is national. It's not just in Arizona. And the stories I hear about why people immigrate make me think that a large number of them are really refugees. Much of Mexico these days is a lawless scary place. Unless you are a politician or have lots of money.
 

Yo hablo muy poquito español myself but the Puerto Ricans always told me I had a Cuban accent.

[thundley4]

My grandpa came from Sweden.  He refused to teach any of his children to speak Swedish, because they were Americans.

[The Village Idiot]

But because she and my uncles were relatively fair-skinned, my grandparents decided to raise them speaking only English

Hey Jmondue

People in Spain are white and they speak Spanish. Nuff said.

[jukin]

I give one of the soooooooooper jeanuses over there about two weeks before they complain how hard Spanish is.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I give one of the soooooooooper jeanuses over there about two weeks before they complain how hard Spanish is.

I took it in high school 20 some years ago, and couldn't stand conjugating verbs & stuff like that.  I still remember a lot of the words.

And suck on it DUmmies, I can download Rosetta Stone at work for free, which I may do very soon.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Ya know, if you play their arabic audio tapes backwards it sounds like Bob Dylan.

Totally true story.

[GOBUCKS]

Rosetta Stone costs around $500. I know several people who have bought it in French and Spanish, and not one of them has learned anything worthwhile. I don't know if the program is that bad, or if it gets a bum rap because nearly everyone who buys it thinks it will make learning easy. Learning a new language is about the most difficult thing an adult can do. To me, the Rosetta Stone marketing pitch implying it will be easy, combined with the zero results I've seen, makes the program very suspect.

[zeitgeist]

Rosetta Stone costs around $500. I know several people who have bought it in French and Spanish, and not one of them has learned anything worthwhile. I don't know if the program is that bad, or if it gets a bum rap because nearly everyone who buys it thinks it will make learning easy. Learning a new language is about the most difficult thing an adult can do. To me, the Rosetta Stone marketing pitch implying it will be easy, combined with the zero results I've seen, makes the program very suspect.

I took a quick look at ebay for Rosetta Spanish, 108 hits.  I bet the same is true for Craigs and other such venue.  You sir, it appears are correct. 

[Vagabond]

Rosetta Stone isn't bad for a refresher.  If someone already knows a language but wants to brush up or improve the skill, it is fairly effective at that.  If they want to learn a new language, traditional books and teaching seem better.  I used Rosetta to brush up my Spanish.  It didn't help with German, which I did not know.

[Boudicca]

My grandpa came from Sweden.  He refused to teach any of his children to speak Swedish, because they were Americans.

My mother's parents came from Hungary.  They learned English by going to the movies, and didn't teach Mom Hungarian.  I learned enough to get by for a week-long visit in the '90's while we were stationed in Germany.  I have a working knowledge of Spanish, French and especially German.  The experts claim learning Spanish is the easiest for an English speaker of all foreign languages.  Would expect this to work the other way. 
After struggling with Hungarian, I have tons of respect for the grandparents and a commesurate disdain for all these people who expect the USA to become a bilingual nation.

[Celtic Rose]

I think that speaking a second language is a very valuable skill.  I speak french fairly well, I took a semester of german, and I speak a smattering of Spanish.  I'll admit that I took French in high school specifically because everybody told me how valuable Spanish would be living in California    Now I make extra money at work doing translations because nobody else speaks French, but we have several native Spanish speakers. 

My current goal is to learn some Greek so I can speak to the Greek speaking people at church.

[mamacags]

Remember the good old days when immigrants were proud to learn English?  Then again that was probably because they were LEGAL immigrants.

[Karin]

That was a very clever strategy, Celtic.  Good for you!  I admire people who can speak multiple languages.  I studied German for years, through high school and college.  Never got really good at it.  Just not one of my talents.  My X had 5 under his belt. 

But because she and my uncles were relatively fair-skinned, my grandparents decided to raise them speaking only English.

 

I just can't get past this sentence.  It seems so racist.  What does skin color have to do with anything?  I guess it hearkens back to the time when one might say "she could pass for white."   

[NHSparky]

Funny thing, I speak a smattering of several languages due to immersion, albeit survival level only.  Basically enough to get a beer, find a bathroom, or start a fight.  Makes like interesting, that's for sure.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Funny thing, I speak a smattering of several languages due to immersion, albeit survival level only.  Basically enough to get a beer, find a bathroom, or start a fight.  Makes like interesting, that's for sure.

Aren't those the three most important things?

[Chris]

When I was working in restaurants, most people knew enough Spanish to do their jobs and to curse.  We must have sounded like a bunch of foul-mouthed five-year-olds with our Pidgin Spanglish.

Spanish was an option in high school but were the first classes to fill up.

[dandi]

Funny thing, I speak a smattering of several languages due to immersion, albeit survival level only.  Basically enough to get a beer, find a bathroom, or start a fight.  Makes life interesting, that's for sure.

Yep, same here.

Fed, drunk, laid, arrested.

 

God, but I hate being retired from active duty!

[njpines]

I took German all through HS and then again in college which, OBVIOUSLY (to a DUmmie), means I'm a Nazi, riiiight??? 

[MarshallLaw]

Aren't those the three most important things?

I think he left off picking up chicks.

[zeitgeist]

I took German all through HS and then again in college which, OBVIOUSLY (to a DUmmie), means I'm a Nazi, riiiight??? 

Took German in HS and college where did the Navy send me?  Puerto Rico, where obviously they speak lots of German.    USAFI Spanish was a great way to learn along with what Sparky and Wasp pointed out above.  Of course at the Black Angus in San Juan the universal language always worked well too, that being green backs and plenty of em.    

[MarshallLaw]

I took German all through HS and then again in college which, OBVIOUSLY (to a DUmmie), means I'm a Nazi, riiiight??? 

Nein.

[dandi]

Took German in HS and college where did the Navy send me?  Puerto Rico, where obviously they speak lots of German.    USAFI Spanish was a great way to learn along with what Sparky and Wasp pointed out above.  Of course at the Black Angus in San Juan the universal language always worked well too, that being green backs and plenty of em.    

The Black Angus, oh, wow!

 

[DefiantSix]

I took German all through HS and then again in college which, OBVIOUSLY (to a DUmmie), means I'm a Nazi, riiiight??? 

I took 2 years of German and 4 years of Russian between high school and college.  I should be a jack-boot wearing officer of the Stasi, right?

[njpines]

I took 2 years of German and 4 years of Russian between high school and college.  I should be a jack-boot wearing officer of the Stasi, right?

ja, naturlich, comrade!  (and where's the umlaut, damnit?)

[DumbAss Tanker]

Yep, same here.

Fed, drunk, laid, arrested.

 

God, but I hate being retired from active duty!

Ahh, good times, good times...