How To Speak Spanish To The Maid
11/23/2010
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I've just seen a book called Household Spanish: How to Communicate With Your Spanish Employee.That should actually be "Spanish-Speaking" employees, since few household workers are likely to be Spaniards. The author learned Spanish informally as a teenager when he took a part-time job in a restaurant and none of his co-workers spoke English. Today, he might not be able to get a job like that at all. One of our letter writers said in 2007 that

"Even our most well educated children have trouble finding jobs that were at one time available to most high school graduates. They cannot get restaurant jobs in local restaurants because, although they are honors students in Latin, they cannot speak Spanish. Two nearby hotels, the Ritz-Carlton and the St. Regis, rejected their applications. It is easier for hotels to hire low-paid Mexicans."

And it's probably a good book for employers of cheap labor. Hispanics who can't speak English will work cheaper. Unfortunately, there isn't a market for a book called How To Hire An American, Instead, although I am thinking of writing one called Mow Your Own Damn Lawn.

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