Comments on: ¡Muchas gracias, Time Warner Cable! How did you know I am studying Spanish?

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 22:23:39 +0000

@Charles: The funny thing is, I don’t have cable service through them, only internet service.

Thanks for stopping by!

By: Charles

Charles — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 06:02:17 +0000

When I lived in Taiwan and used to call my parents every week, AT&T began sending my parents letters in Chinese. They had obviously noticed that my parents were calling/being called from a Chinese-speaking country.

I wonder if Time-Warner has noticed that you watch a lot of Spanish-language TV?

Great blog, by the way.

By: Peter

Peter — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 06:21:57 +0000

@Inaki: Yes, somehow I missed the noun entry in my dictionary and only saw the verb “sortear.” Thanks!

By: Inaki

Inaki — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:18:17 +0000

“Sorteo” is a noun here, so it’s not conjugated. As a noun, it means “raffle” or “prize draw”

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:01:26 +0000

Thanks, Matt, and welcome! I used to live in San Diego as well and that was my experience there too.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:54:07 +0000

I have lived in San Diego for eight years, literally minutes from the border, and I can say that I have never once been in a situation where I needed to speak Spanish. There certainly are many Spanish speakers here, but English is absolutely the dominant language, at least for now.

Btw, this is my first comment, just want to say I love your blog!

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:53:38 +0000

Btw, this is my first comment, just want to ssay I love your blog!

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:04:44 +0000

@thomas: No, there was no separate English ad. You may notice that there is English written in small letters underneath some of the Spanish text.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:02:52 +0000

@Ramses: Technically, the US has no official language. (See http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estados_Unidos#Idiomas ) But thomas is right: Spanish is bigger now than ever, especially in the southwestern states, but you would be at a disadvantage without English. There are definitely neighborhoods you could live in around here and get by with only Spanish. But even with schools, government, and businesses trying to be more accommodating to Spanish speakers, it’s not 100% and English is a necessity if you want a job that pays more than minimum wage.

By: thomas

thomas — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:44:26 +0000

@Ramses: There is a large Spanish-speaking population in the USA, especially in the states bordering Mexico. Naturally businesses want to make money from as many people as possible, so Spanish advertising gets out there.

Spanish is bigger than ever, but I definitely think that not knowing English gives you a huge disadvantage in America.