Comments on: Should Bilingual Schools Hire Only Spaniard Teachers?

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By: Jose

Jose — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 01:05:38 +0000

I meant five hundred years ago.

By: Jose

Jose — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 01:01:42 +0000

Dear Chantilly,

Thanks for your comment. It may be a bit late to reply, but I am going to try anyway. I am from Spain and I taught Spanish at a University in the United States. You say you had a lot of professors that would often make fun of words from Latin America. We have to accept that this is something normal and it happens in all cultures. While I was in your country, I met a lot of Americans that would actually make fun of British English. They would make fun of my accent because I learnt British English at school. I would never say this had something to do with racial prejudice. I would be very grateful if you avoided using those strong words, which are based on opinions and not facts.
Also, I have to say that the Department where I used to work had more Latin American professors than Spaniards, and students did prefer Latin American Spanish to European Spanish. The Spanish I used to teach was therefore from Latin America.
Finally, I want to make something very clear: I am very aware of the prejudice against Latin Americans, just as the prejudice against Spaniards. Before coming to America, I did not know that Spaniards had such bad reputation since the colonisation. We are not proud of our past, but what happened five years ago is not our fault.

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By: Marta

Marta — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 22:21:02 +0000

I have a different spin on this! I am a British teacher (!) teaching Spanish at an international school and although the parents seem fine with it, not all of the Spanish native teachers are. This sometimes takes a toll on my self-esteem and some of the other non native teachers who speak Spanish to a very high level. Thankfully, the HOD is a non native, and I feel that this provides a good role model for learning a language- i.e ‘anyone’ can do it
Re. accents, I have the opposite ‘problem’ because my accent is from Spain and a lot of the kids are from the US. However, from the get go, I explain the differences in accents which exist in all Spanish speaking countries and always try to say words in LA and mainland Spanish accents, eg. zapato/ ‘sapato’. Natives V Non-natives is certainly the main challenge I have encountered, as the kids just want to learn!! Interesting thread!

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By: BethO

BethO — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:10:18 +0000

I agree with you, James. As a American child, I was taught saying certain things was incorrect, not because we felt any shame at all about our hillbilly selves –we don’t!– but because it would not be understood by someone from another region or another country. In other words you talk like your family with your family, and school is there to teach us how to communicate with the rest of the world.

By: BethO

BethO — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 13:51:00 +0000

I was told growing up that the point of education in language is to be able to speak and write in a way that will be understood by anyone from different walks of life or different countries.
I’m not negating that there is perhaps an element of feeling that perhaps Spaniards or Europeans are superior in some way, and these assumptions DO need to be questioned by parents. However, I do think that it’s worthwhile to remember the former colonizers in England, Spain, France etc. speak forms of their language that still to this day most easily go across boundaries among all the former colonies. There are many regional words but still, in most cases the European word is common to all countries, usually as a secondary word but the point is, that word is the one that is going to be understood almost everywhere any form of the language is spoken. If I was told growing up in the 1970′s that a “standard” form of English would be important for us to be able to use fluently as we work in an increasingly global economy, I’m sure it’s even more important now.
Now, today, American English is beginning to displace British English as this “standard” form, for mostly economic reasons. I have a degree in international economics and I believe within 50 years we will see the economies of Latin America surpassing Spain. Nothing against Spain but it is simply a question of resources and population, and Lord willing, we will soon be seeing many Latin American countries coming into their full flower economically. It’s entirely possible that a couple of generations from now, Spanish teachers from Chile or Mexico will be in higher demand than those from Spain, just as right now an American who wants to teach English in Japan or Thailand has an edge for the job over a Brit.

By: James

James — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 04:25:34 +0000

This issue is replicated all over the world. For example, if you look at the French that is taught to English speaking kids in Québec and Louisiana, it’s Parisian French and not the local French that is taught. So English Canadians can be fluent in French but may struggle to have a conversation with someone from Québec, and a kid in Louisiana may not be able to have a decent conversation with their grandparents.

I had a New Zealand friend who went to an American school in Japan and had constant fights with the teachers marking her NZ (British) spelling and English as incorrect.

One thing I do note, working for a foreign company, is that non-native speakers who learnt colloquial American English can sound very ‘sloppy’ as their non-native speech patterns exacerbate some US habits of dropping the ‘g’ in the present participle and saying things like ‘wanna’ and ‘gonna’ in formal speech. Having a senior executive speak like this raises eyebrows. It’s fine for native speakers who can switch registers, but for non-native speakers who may often be comfortable in the one register, it’s better to be overly correct than too colloquial. As much as we try to deny it, speech is a lead indicator for people. Australia has a Prime Minister with such a broad Australian accent that many Australians cringe when she opens her mouth, triphthongs galore.