That's what I wants to know...
Posted on 09/21/2006 2:53:20 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
WOODBURN, Ore. - Inching along the dusty field under a broiling sun, Simon Santol tossed garlic bulbs into buckets and chatted with the other stooped-over Mexican workers. The conversation wasn't in Spanish.
Instead, they spoke Santol's native Triqui, or Mixtec, Zapotec or other languages indigenous to the poorest regions of Mexico. Many of the workers can barely get by in English or Spanish.
"It was hard at first," the 28-year-old Santol said in halting Spanish. "We would look for someone who spoke our language and Spanish. Now I have learned a little Spanish. Grace of God."
Immigrants who have not adopted Spanish or English can struggle to find housing, jobs and fair interest rates, advocate groups say. Navigating the legal system is tricky - sometimes it's difficult just to communicate.
But with worsening conditions at home and relatively rosy reports from family or community members already here, the United States is attracting more indigenous immigrants - people who primarily speak a local indigenous language of Mexico, a country that is Latin America's Tower of Babel. Its government recognizes 162 living languages, plus some 300 dialects.
It's impossible to say exactly how indigenous people have crossed the border. Many are here illegally and would rather not be counted, and immigrant population estimates tend to focus on nationality, not language. But estimates put the number of Mixtec speakers in the United States from Oaxaca alone at 100,000, mostly in Oregon and California's Central Valley.
The stream has grown since the North American Free Trade Agreement opened Mexico to U.S. crops in 1994, straining Mexico's farmers, some experts say.
"Now corn sent by the United States is real cheap, there's no return for us," said Leon Ciovasquez, spokesman for the Indigenous Front of Binational Organizations based in Fresno, Calif. "There's no point in....
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
How do you say (462)lingual??
You know you're from Texas when you click on the title thinking it'll say "Mennonite".
Naturally they will be lableled "Hispanic" when they start receiving government benefits.
6 million Jews murdered ---> 20 million Muslims
40 million aborted children ---> 40 million Mexicans
Any questions?
Pretty soon, we'll have them all here in the US; then, we can just go down and take over their country, finders keepers, while no one is looking.
Old Mexico Ping!
If you're from Mexico or Guatemala and you commit a crime; the minute you're arrested; stop speaking Spanish. Or English, of course.
There aren't too many court translators for Zapotec, Mixtec, etc.
You can't assist in your own defense, so they have to let you go.
What is "Don't crap in the spinach" in Spanish?
We can always send them to that Sherriff in AZ that would make them wear pink. A bunch of states should have ONE translator for that language on retainer .... and he lives at the tent prison. All prisoners not speaking english or spanish could be sent there for langague translation. Of course it might be a big line.
Absolutely! What's your point?
LOL!
But if they kill a black dude screaming something very unpleasant, they qualify for instant upgrade to Lilly White Supreme, per SPLC requirements.
I've heard there's a whole bunch of Mexicans who only speak Arabic....
¡No caca en la espinaca!
Good question! Thank you.
ping
"You can't assist in your own defense, so they have to let you go."
You obviously don't understand the underpinnings of the Mexican legal system. It follows most of the European continent.
You are presumed guilty until proven otherwise. If you can't prove your innocence, you stay guilty.
Mordida helps, though.
no crap en la espinaca
""It was hard at first," the 28-year-old Santol said in halting Spanish. "We would look for someone who spoke our language and Spanish. Now I have learned a little Spanish. Grace of God.""
Why don't you try learning English instead you leach!
That's what I wants to know...
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