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From: deb5@midway.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff)
Subject: Re: Household Spanish [was: Re: "America"
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Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 20:35:39 GMT
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In article <5r5njc$efa$1@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu>,
Jonathan Badger <badger@aquarius.scs.uiuc.edu> wrote:
>deb5@midway.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff) writes:
>
>>>>For a better analogy, what about a book called _Zimmer frei_ that
>>>>purports to teach only "hotel German"?[*]  Is this tactful?  What negative
>>>>stereotypes of Germans do you expect this to full of?
>
>Jonathan Badger wrote:
>>>Well, tourist grammars are available in all languages, of course. They
>>>may or may not contain stereotypes inside, but the concept of a
>>>tourist grammar isn't particularly stereotypical.
>
>Daniel von Brighoff:
>>But _Zimmer frei_ isn't a tourist grammar, at least not in the traditional
>>sense:  Its target audience is not tourists, but rather people who deal
>>with them. An English-language version might be called:  _Hotel German :
>>communication with your German guests_.  (Lest you think this a false
>>analogy, let me point out that German tourists have a negative reputation
>>in many parts of Europe comparable to the negative reputation of Hispanics
>>in many parts of the USA.)
>
>Ah, I thought _Zimmer frei_ was about Americans asking for a room in
>Germany (I haven't seen the book). The idea of a book about dealing
>with German tourists is different, and could involve lots of little
>stereotypes dealing with "Teutonic arrogance", "excessive punctuality"
>and the like. Does it?

I admit, I haven't seen the book.  But given that it's published by
Langenscheidt, I somehow doubt it.

>>So is this a "tactless title"?  I admit, I'm still baffled by your
>>criteria.  The fact is, a large number of domestics working in the USA are
>>Spanish-speakers with limited command of English.  Some employers would
>>like to know enough Spanish to communicate with them effectively, but
>>otherwise have no interest in learning the Spanish language.  I don't
>>think this necessarily makes racist, Anglocentric, or otherwise "boorish".
>>The book apparently addresses that market and has a title which makes that
>>clear.  Nu?
>
>Well, of course there are lots of Hispanic domestics. Stereotypes
>don't arise in a vacuum. But Hispanics who have been here a while (in
>the case of those from the Southwest, their whole life) tend to resent
>the assumption that they are ignorant illegal aliens still dripping
>water from the Rio Grande.

Who's making that assumption?  Now if it were called _Household Spanish :
communicating with your domestics_, I might grant you that (implying, as
it does, an equivalence between domestics and Spanish-speakers).  But, as
I pointed out to Mr. Krakauer, this book is going to be one of dozens in
the foreign language section of the bookstore, with titles ranging from
_Spanish in 20 lessons_ to _!Adelante!_ to _Spanish grammar and culture
through proverbs_ to _!Mierda!_.  I think even the most racist dullard is
going to be acquainted with the idea that there is more than one reason in
the world to learn Spanish.

>>Put it another way, what title for a book with these functions would *not*
>>strike you as boorish? 
>
>Well, I'm not so sure phrasebook-type grammars really have a useful
>purpose -- in my experience they never have the phrases one really
>really wants to say.  But if such a book must exist, simply calling it
>_Communicating with your Employees in Spanish_ wouldn't make any
>assumptions about the tasks they would be performing but would attract
>the relevant customers.

Would it?  From the title alone, I can't tell if that book is intended for
Seattle yuppies with a Guatemalan au pair, San Diegan managers of a
utensil factory in Baja California, Sacramentan tomato farmers dependent
on seasonal Chicano migrant labour, all of the above, or only two out of
three.  The title _Household Spanish_ makes it clear that the people
you're trying to communicate with work in a domestic setting, and thus the
vocabulary lists will presumably include words for "ironing", "garbage
disposal", and "didy service" but not "foreman", "crop dusting", and
"router failure".


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