Over 40% of New Mexico’s population is hispanic, with many speaking Spanish as their primary language, according to The Economist magazine, September 11, 2010, pg 35 "The law of large numbers: the hispanicisation of America"

Similarly, 30% to 40% of the population of California, Arizona and Texas is latino.

Suprisingly, 10% to 20% of the population of Washington, Illinois, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Illinois, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey is also hispanic.

Many hispanics tend to prefer Republican politics as of late, but anti-immigration sentiment is pushing many back towards Democratic candidates.

Now, human migration is something that is difficult to contain. Eventually, people just migrate. Fences, attack dogs, barbed wire, guard towers and infrared equipped helicopters may slow down migration, but eventually, if people have to move they just move, is my take on the matter (you are free to disagree!).

In late 2005 (contemporaneous with the birth of my first child) I decided to "fix" my Spanish abilities. Learning Spanish will make you "recession proof", I believe. I think that a bi-lingual person will always be able to find employment, even if not "translator" fluent.

Spanish is a wonderful language. I often now prefer to speak Spanish. It is logical and regularly follows its own gramatical rules. It is straightforward to spell and write in Spanish. I like to say that Spanish promotes literacy, whereas English almost discourages literacy.

Here is my recipie for Spanish:

Spend one month in either Antigua, Guatemala or Granada, NIcaragua, studying four to six hours per day, one on one with a teacher at Ixchel Spanish School (Antigua, Guatemala) or Roger Ramirez’s One-on-One Tutoring, in Granada, Nicaragua.

Usually, it is about $100 per week for twenty hours weekly of one-on-one teaching, or about $150 weekly for six hours daily totaling 30 hours per week. This is really the best way to learn.

You can arrange (sponsored and arranged by the school) for room and board with a local family, wherein meals are usually provided six days per week, breakfast, lunch and dinner. The cost for room and board is usually $75-$100 per week, room and board (no joke! it really is that inexpensive!). However, you should tip your homestay family and your teacher at the end of your stay maybe 10% to 25% of your expenditure, but tips are not required.

If you are a big eater, or want a bit more meat, you can arrange to pay a little more to your family, or supplement a bit by eating out.

After you return home, you should search out a local tutor for weekly two hour sessions for about a year. I would write short stories in Spanish, and then my teacher and I would correct and re-write the stories.

You should also subscribe to National Geographic in Spanish, and force yourself to read every issue and define the words you do not know, writing the definitions in the margins.

For fun, you can pick up "people en espanol" magazine.

Pike Place Market in Seattle has a newstand which usually carries a nice selection of foreign newspapers. ISimilar my use of "people en espanol" magazine, I used to buy one every month and read it – looking up and writing in the margins the definitions to unfamiliar words.

I know that many of the readers of this blog might find this far-fetched – after all, there are mortgages and car payments to pay and if facing unemployment, funds can be thin.

However, I can think of no schooling course or training course which will help you to better "stand out from the crowd".

Anglos (caucasians) who can speak Spanish do so well in the workplace and interview process because they are not "immigrants" to the American way of doing things. Spanish speaking Anglos fit well into business organizations and understand employers’ expectations and can provide nuanced service. Clearly, an immigrant speaking Spanish as a first language and later learning English can learn to fit well into an enterprise, but Enlish is so darn complicated and hard to read/write that immigrants struggle with English.

Spanish is a great language – it has a huge and rich vocabulary, and can express many things better than can English.

Challenge yourself to meet the demographic demands of a changing America – learn Spanish – you will never regret it….and say goodbye forever to the unemployment line.

In December 2005, I booked a United Airlines ticket to Antigua, Guatemala. I had enrolled in an intense course of Spanish instruction. The course was one-on-one. One teacher, one student (me) for six hours per day, six days per week.

I resided with a wonderful Guatemalan family in their large home, studying for about eleven days. I returned in June 2006 for three weeks of study and studied similarly in August 2006, February 2007 and March 2008. March 2006-May 2009 I studied almost weekly for two hours with a wonderful Guatemalan lady, meeting every Monday evening, at Borders Books in Lakewood, WA.

Why?

America is turning hispanic. One study I read indicated that by 2047, Spanish would be the dominant language in California.

An interesting September 11, 2010 article in The Economist magazine was further informative:

Over 40% of New Mexico’s population is of hispanic origin.

30% to 40% of Texans, Arizonians and California are of hispanic origin.

20% to 30% of Nevada’s, Florida’s and Colorado’s population is of hispanic origin.

Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut have populations estimated at 10% to 20% hispanic origin.

Nationally, 16% of the population is now hispanic/latino, numbering 48.4 million in 2009. The Economist reports that the Pew Research Centre estimates that by 2050, hispanics will comprise 29% of the population, with caucasians declining to 47% of the population, and falling into the minority.

Julian Castro, the young Latino and Democratic mayor of San Antonio, which is 60% Hispanic, says Democrats should not take Latinos for granted. Castro points out that hispanics tend to support better public education and health care, but are socially conservative and religious, according to The Economist.

The Economist points out that even if you don’t see a large number of hispanics today in your area, things will change….The Economist points out that many hispanic immigrants are bypassing traditional destinations of California and Texas and moving instead to states such as Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina, which dollectively had 10% of America’s undocumented aliens in 2009, up from 4% in 1990.

Arizona’s "backlash" against immigration (known as SB1070) now partially blocked by a Federal Judge may have grown out of a "fear" of the minoritization of caucasians. Over the past two decades, Arizona’s latino population has almost tripled, with the majority of caucasians dropping from 72% to 57%.

Unfortunately, a University of Arizona poll found that 81% of the state’s registered voters favor SB1070’s requirement that people produce documentation to show that they are in the US legally, and that 74% agree that police should be allowed to detain anyone unable to prove their status.

This is misleading, though, as hispanics tend to lag caucasians in voter registration and participation, according to The Economist.

I have really enjoyed improving my Spanish, and I welcome much of what the hispanic culture brings. Some of my best friends are Spanish speakers – and I have found them to be generous and caring people, almost to a fault.

Fences, wires, guard dogs and towers are unlikely to contain human migration along the US border.

If you are interested in improving your career and your long-term marketability, consider learning Spanish – perhaps we would all be better off embracing – as opposed to retaliating.

I will make a post on how to affordably prepare yourself (and your children) for this century – by embracing Spanish.