•America's Bilingual Crisis
My wife belongs to an Internet group where there was a recent blowup over the insane expectation Americans have about foreigners who visit America's shores. You know the one: the foreign visitors should somehow, as if by magic, be instantly bilingual. This "English Only" jazz is nothing new. It is a very old hat Americans have been trying to force everyone to wear for decades. I cannot begin to tell you how this irks me.
Look at some of the screed my wife shared with me:
· "When I was in...
•Butt-mountain: Life In A Steppe Climate
If you were to sit in my living room and look out the picture window, you would see an enormous mountain that is about one-half mile from my front door. I have named it "Butt-mountain" for the butt-like rock formation that sits on its top. Butt-mountain, you would no doubt observe, is covered with yellowish, hay-like vegetation with a sparse sprinkling of small green shrubs. It is stark. It makes one wonder what sort of toxic waste disaster took place to make Butt-mountain look so, well, dead....
•Good-Bye America
The number-one question people ask us is, "What possessed you to move to Mexico?" The number-one answer we give is that we simply could no longer afford to live in America, so we found a country where we could, and moved there.
We found ourselves in a position not unlike many Americans: A major illness strikes, unexpectedly, and though insured and with incomes, the cost of funding the illness simply becomes too much. It becomes, essentially, impossible. We were not alone.
It turns out that...
•Guanajuato: A New Restaurant In Town
For the past three and a half years, I’ve been waiting for a restaurant to come along that would prove, once and for all, that Guanajuato, Mexico, does not lack fine cuisine. Guidebooks say Guanajuato does not have any good restaurants. Now, I can put a stop to this nonsense once and for all—I hope.
Frascati, conveniently located in Guanajuato’s El Jardin de Union, is a wonderful place for birthday celebration or for any special occasion. That’s why we were there—the wife’s birthday. The...
•Guanajuato: It Is Time For Us To Leave
I’ve been trying, of late, to put into words just what I’ve learned about living in Mexico for the past four years that is significant enough to share with my readers. There is so much. Some things I’ve grown to love: the fine restaurants and the slower pace of life here. Some things I’ve come to bemoan: caring for the environment doesn’t seem to be high on the list of things to worry about in this country.
Some things have been city specific. We moved to Guanajuato four years ago and have...
•Guanajuato: Se Habla Español
In my first book about issues involved in expatriating to Mexico, I wrote rather extensive diatribes about how American gringos need to understand that Mexico is not America. In elaborate detail, I spelled out exactly what I meant. Some readers think I went too far.
One lady from New York, which explains a great deal actually, was so incensed about how I emphasized "Spanish is spoken" in the town in which my wife and I live, she wrote a “review” on Amazon.com and threatened me with physical...
•Guanajuato: The Death Of Heritage
Gentrification is “the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces earlier, usually poorer, residents” (Webster’s).
Gentrification is occurring in Guanajuato.
When we decided to move to Guanajuato instead of to one of the many cities in Mexico, it was because it was, at that time, “still Mexico.” Gringos live everywhere in this marvelous country. The largest populations are in Mexico City as well...
•Guanajuato: The Land Of Frogs
When theme parks, beaches, scuba diving, and whale watching have lost their charm after multiple vacations to Mexico, perhaps a visit to The Land of Frogs in Central Mexico is in order.
The City of Guanajuato, which is called The Crown Jewel of Mexico’s colonial cities, was named The Land of Frogs by a group of indigenous people. By some accounts, the indigenous took one look at the terrain and said, “Nothing but frogs could live here!” Some say the indigenous found thousands of frogs in the...
•Guanajuato: The New San Miguel
Since moving to Mexico, I have been struggling with something I never, in my wildest imaginings, thought would be an issue in living in Mexico. No, it was not the language, the culture, the food, the people, or all things Mexican. Don’t get me wrong. I have had to adjust to Mexico. Everybody does. But, what gave me, gives me, and will probably continue to give me fits is something that might surprise you:
Other gringos!
In my first book, The Plain Truth About Living in Mexico, I touched on...
•Heading Back To Spanish Class--Again!
I am 19 days away from starting my Spanish classes-again! When the wife and I first moved to Mexico, we enrolled in Spanish classes. In fact, we took about four months of classes and after I completed them, I am proud to tell you I could say the following:
Hi! My name is Doug.
Hi! What's your name?
Can I have a cheese sandwich?
Which way is the bathroom, please!
I took Spanish in high school, college, and for two years before moving to Mexico. I then took three hours a day, five days a...
•Learning Spanish Part Nineteen: The Audiolingual Method
This method of second language instruction was a further development or evolution of The Direct Method. World War II rose up and slapped the U.S. government in its linguistically challenged face, waking it to the need and definite lack of language competency to deal with the other nations of the world. Apparently, the U.S. continues to find itself in this position with International conflicts. The lesson has to be relearned over and over again that bilingual fluency is crucial for Americans....
•Learning Spanish Part Seventeen: The Translation Method Of Language Instruction
The grammar translation method of second language acquisition is virtually the only method used in most language courses taught in classrooms all over the world. It is also known as The Classical Method. This method was developed over centuries to teach classical languages. Latin and Greek were seen as important "dead languages" to learn in order to read ancient texts, understand the origins and basics of the grammar and vocabulary of modern languages as well as the influences Latin and Greek...
•Learning Spanish: Begin By Listening - Part 2
The place most worth considering where instruction in how to learn a second language abounds just might surprise you. Africa is the place where more people are multilingual than anywhere else in the world. Thousands of her people speak multiple dialects, different languages in which they conduct all manner of business, multiple native tribal languages, and colonial languages. These Africans have done so without the availability of a classroom, textbooks, workbooks, CD's or cassette recordings,...
•Learning Spanish: Begin By Listening - Part 6
Most folks, when they set out to study a new language, begin by enrolling in Spanish I at their local Junior College. This is not the way to begin. In fact, the formal learning about the language in a course at the JuCo is about 5 years away from where you are at if you've had no experience at acquiring the target language.
You begin by listening. You need this exposure to grow accustomed to the sounds of the language. You need this period of silence in which you listen, not produce, so you...
•Living In Mexico: Sugar And Spice But Not Always Nice Part 3
To be honest with you, I don't see why more Gringos in Guanajuato aren't getting ripped off when trying to rent, or God forbid, buy a house on their own. It never occurred to us to move here without as much Spanish under our belts as possible. We had a high degree of fluency BEFORE coming. I find it miraculous that those who move here without any Spanish are able to find housing. Yet, they do come and they aren't speaking Spanish.
Tell me what you would have done in this circumstance:
With...
•Living In Mexico: Sugar And Spice But Not Always Nice Part 4
You and your business partner have been working your tails off trying to get a bunch of modern, Mexican-style duplexes off the ground. You've poured too much money to think about into hiring Mexican workers to build this duplex complex. You all have not only hired locals to do all the work, tolerating the cultural problems when Gringos and Mexicans work together, but in the end you will have an upscale duplex to offer as modern housing to the Mexican people.
One evening you two think you...
•Living In Mexico: Sugar And Spice But Not Always Nice Part 5
There is a great restaurant in town where I love to eat steak. It is cheap, though they don't offer the best cuts of meat. However, the steak is tender, comes with a load of sides, and is cooked perfectly for my tastes. It is a popular place and listed in all the guidebooks. I've even referred people to it. The ambience is 20th-century jazz and very classy. The location is also perfect and easy as pie to find.
I don't know if a tourist would notice this or not, but when Gringos come into the...
•Mexico As A Concept And Not A Reality Part 3
Based on my going-on five years of expat experience in the city of Guanajuato, Mexico's Heartland, I do not think the current expat guides such as Howell, Merwin, and Luboff, apply here. It is so stark in fact, that the difference between Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende is almost like comparing apples to oranges. Here are two cities, two Colonial Mexican Heartland towns, so close, and so different. What's changed it? The Gringo presence and the Mexican's subsequent adaptation...
•Mexico: The Land Of Little Butts
If you have only been a tourist in Mexico and have never lived here, you may have never noticed this. Mexico is a country of little butts and its entire infrastructure is designed for their small, and perky rear-ends. In know this for a fact because I am a professional writer trained to note and record such things.
Americans, of course, have all of the fat-butt genes God handed out at creation. There is no use in denying this, so don't try. You will not win the argument. Americans have the...
•Move Over San Miguel De Allende Here I Come - Part II
I thought I would write a follow-up to my column, “Move Over San Miguel de Allende Here I Come”, since this is the only thing, writing, that prevents from committing murderous acts of rage (Just Joking!) As you recall from the previous column, I wrote how I tried to deposit a royalty check from my publisher and was told the check would clear on four different dates. We were shown, last week, on their computer screen that the funds would be available on the 18th of December.
Well, today is the...
•Not Knowing Spanish And Living In Mexico? A Dangerous Mix
If you happen to have an interest in expatriation and are targeting Mexico as a possibility, here is some of the banter you most certainly will read on the forums: "To Learn Spanish or Not To Learn Spanish, That is the Question!"
I fall, of course, on the "You've got to learn Spanish" side of the fence. My main arguments in my columns have been that you can never, ever learn the culture of Mexico without the access to the Cultural Portal--the language! But, my arguments generally, not always,...
•Spanishing In Guanajuato
I've been in Spanish classes for the past two weeks. It's been great. As a non-native Spanish speaker, it is important to refresh your Spanish by having a professional correct your mistakes. I tend to pick up bad habits along the way and to go back to the class, every now and then, is excellent for retuning my Latin Linguistic Skills.
What has been equally excellent and most refreshing are the contacts I've made with Americans who have been in the school. There have been the usual bunch of...
•Teaching English In Mexico: A Decent Living?
What's more disappointing than a person who makes a promise he can't keep? A person who makes a promise that is a lie. Many promises to make a "decent living" teaching English in Mexico are just that—a lie.
If you do a phrase search on Google, "teach English in Mexico," you will get almost 900,000 hits. Some of these sites are filled with tantalizingly appealing phrases like,
"For only a few dollars a week you can have_____in Mexico".
"First-class bus travel to such and such a place is...
•The 10,000 And One Reasons We Live In Mexico
When my wife and I moved to Guanajuato, Mexico as forty-something American expats, we had a list of reasons for doing so. The list has been growing incrementally since moving here. I want to share an incident that caused that list to increase by one more reason. I think the list is now at 10,001 reasons why we now live in Mexico.
For our 24th wedding anniversary (that’s right, we are Americans and have been married for that long), we went on a little trip to a city in Central Mexico called...
•The Plain Truth About Living In Guanajuato
Most of the books on the market dealing with the issue of expatriating to Mexico are fluff. I didn’t realize this until my wife and I got firmly settled into a daily routine here in Guanajuato that there was something those expat books on the market weren’t telling us. In fact, whether you read the books on “How to move to Mexico and live like the Queen of Sheba” or the vast amounts of online articles and websites, they all will pretty much be full of cotton candy and lots of sugar coating....
•Those Dirty Mexicans - Oh, Really?
When my wife and I announced that we were moving to Mexico, one of my wife's relatives asked us,
"Why do you want to live with those dirty Mexicans?"
Besides wanting to slap some sense into this person, I was particularly sickened (as in wanting to projectile vomit Linda Blair-style) by this hideous and most heinous stereotype. I have wanted to know since then where this originated.
I think, after doing what writers do—too much research, I have finally found it.
Apparently, historians,...
•Want To Be Fluent In Spanish? Watch Cartoons!
I've enjoyed my return to Spanish class here in Guanajuato immensely. It's been a little strange because basically one ends up taking classes mainly with other Americans with a few other nationalities thrown in for good measure. I haven't been around my fellow Americans in so long that it's taken a bit of getting used to. In the last five years, I have actually forgotten social cues and topics of conversation within polite company. But, it's been fun, informative, and actually a confidence...
•Want To Rent A House Or Buy A House In Guanajuato But Can't Speak Spanish
In central Mexico, San Miguel de Allende is virtually the only place where you will find English spoken so massively that you will not have to learn how to say two words in this beautiful language. If the rest of central Mexico looks interesting then you are going to have to get bilingual and learn to speak Spanish.
What happened in San Miguel is beginning to happen where my wife and I have lived since 2003. Gentrification is happening at such a high rate of speed that I see Guanajuato...
•Why You Have To Listen First And Speak Later In Second Language Learning
If you've been following my articles on Second Language Acquisition, you know I've made a big deal about seeking to comprehend the language you've chosen to learn before trying to speak or produce in the language. I've used the imagery of a horse-drawn cart to illustrate the question of which comes first: learning grammar or listening-speaking?
I would still venture to guess that 99.9% of second-language instruction begins by forcing you to learn a list of out-of-context vocabulary coupled...
•You Can Learn A Language Naturally
In my newly released book, YOU CAN LEARN SPANISH or Any Language No Matter Your Age or Disposition, I discuss how most, if not all, second language courses in the Free World are taught: Grammar First. Not only is this method frighteningly boring, but I also explain why it will not—indeed cannot—give you what you want: A high degree of spoken fluency. I recall all too well walking into my first Spanish course at the University of Kansas. I was handed a huge textbook, a workbook, and was told I...
•You Can Learn A Second Language No Matter What
The other day I typed in "Language Schools" into Google and came up with a whopping 95 million hits. After popping my eyes back into my head, I wondered just how many public schools, junior colleges, and universities are offering second language learning opportunities in the United States. That must be an equally mind-boggling yet mysterious figure.
The ultimate mystery in all of this is really why, with all the opportunities to learn a second language, are so few Americans bilingual? The...
•You Want To Move To Mexico?
Expatriate wannabes often ask us how we managed our expatriation to Guanajuato. If I had to narrow it down to the most important factor in the quest to expatriate to Mexico, it would be the following: Research thoroughly and make exploratory visits to the city or cities of your choice. Take all the time you need. Read everything you can get your hands on about the regions in which you might be interested, and visit as many as you can afford.
This exploratory phase intimidates many with whom...
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