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From: deb5@midway.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff)
Subject: Household Spanish [was: Re: "America"
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References: <338A26B4.9E4@-accton.com.tw> <EDr3G2.D1G@midway.uchicago.edu> <5r3uo5$p9t$1@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu> <33D656E5.73B6@kronos.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 19:48:00 GMT
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In article <33D656E5.73B6@kronos.com>,
Larry Krakauer  <larryk@kronos.com> wrote:
>deb5@midway.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff) writes:
>>In article <33D4FDFC.5660@kronos.com>,
>>Larry Krakauer  <larryk@kronos.com> wrote:
>>>Harlan Messinger wrote:
>>>> I came across a book in the foreign language section of B. Dalton
>>>> titled "Household Spanish: Communicating with your Spanish Employees".
>>>> Given that, of the tens of thousands of household employees in the
>>>> United States whose native language is Spanish, virtually none is from
>>>> Spain, I thought this title was boorish.
>
>>>Even forgetting the Spain / Latin America distinction, the
>>>title is boorish in its implication that the only Spanish
>>>speaker you'd want to communicate with would be a household
>>>employee.
>
>>I don't understand; is it equally boorish to have book entitled _Business
>>Spanish:  Communicating with your Spanish partners_ with its implication
>>that the only Spanish speaker you'd want to communicate with would be a
>>salesman?  How about a book like _Mierda!_, which implies that you only
>>want to learn Spanish so you can curse in it?
>
>I guess I wasn't precise in my comments.  I have no objection to
>a book called "Household Spanish".  What I objected to was solely
>the second part of the title:  "Communicating with your Spanish
>Employees".

I take it you've read my responses to Mr. Badger on the subject.  Do you
understand why I don't grasp this objection?  I can see disliking the
unequal power relationship between monolingual Spanish-speaking migrants
to the USA and their predominately monolingual English-speaking employers.
I can't understand calling a title "boorish" for simply reflecting (rather
than perpetuating) that unequal power relationship.

Some people want to speak Spanish only to communicate with their
domestics.  Some people want to speak Spanish only to understand Almodovar
films.  There are teaching materials that address the needs of both these
classes of learners, plus many more, and that specialisation is reflected
in the titles.  I think even the thickest Waldenbooks patron will come
away with the impression that there are lots of motivations to learn
Spanish besides just instructing the maid how you like your shirts.

>I thought that would be clear from my comments, but I guess it wasn't.
>I get the impression that whatever I write on the internet, it 
>manages to get mis-interpreted.  Maybe I'm a bad writer.

Maybe.  Or maybe Usenet attracts an incredibly diverse body of readers who
interpret statements quite differently based on their varied individual
experiences.  Or maybe both of the above are true.

-- 
	 Daniel "Da" von Brighoff    /\          Dilettanten
	(deb5@midway.uchicago.edu)  /__\         erhebt Euch
				   /____\      gegen die Kunst!
