Making Friends in Guanajuato, Mexico as an American Expat
I just finished writing a book called, You Can Learn Spanish or Any Language No Matter Your Age or Disposition. The research I did for this book has profoundly affected my thinking regarding the large Americans colonies in Mexico where the gringos there, for the most part, cannot string two words of Spanish together. Perhaps I need to look at the origins of that whole issue again.
America, as I reported in the book I just finished writing, has had a very long history of xenophobia. This xenophobia has affected and continues to affect the teaching of foreign language in American schools. The bilingual rate in America, according to a 2005 statistic, is less than 9% compared to Europe’s fifty-seven percent.
Perhaps, just perhaps, the reason America Gringos came to Mexico, so many decades ago, and began these American enclaves is that they simply could not handle the language. They had no preparation whatsoever in Spanish and probably had a reasonable fear considering American cultural opposition to foreign languages. Get a copy of my book, You Can Learn Spanish or Any Language No Matter Your Age or Disposition in which I outline in the first chapter this historical opposition to learning foreign languages in America.
So, here were Americans, fearful and ill-prepared to learn a foreign language, in Mexico. What were they to do, they did by creating an environment where they would not have to utter one word of Spanish-ever! They turned their little bit of adopted Mexican territory into a Little America. The results are very visible today in the cities I mentioned earlier in this book.
Americans in the areas where they have created an American Gringo Colony associate, by necessity, with other Americans. They literally have made a small micro-America in these cities. The expat community is very close and closed. Their friends are the other expats.
You will find this beginning in Guanajuato. Much to our chagrin, Americans are flocking into Guanajuato and beginning to do what they did so many decades ago in San Miguel de Allende, Puerto Vallarta, etcâÂ?¦ You will see the expats, some who’ve made a failing pretense at learning Spanish, sitting around with other expats in the same linguistic boat and not a Mexican in sight or among their little coffee gatherings.
This saddens us greatly. First of all it saddens us that they will eventually begin to shut out all Mexicans from their little gatherings. And maybe they would gladly include Mexicans if they could handle the language. More and more I am becoming convinced that this is the primary reason this sort of American exclusivity begins. They begin to make their enclaves because they cannot make friends with the locals. They would if they could but it is a matter of ability and not their wills. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak!
Secondly it saddens us because if these Americans who flock into Mexico only had the right methodological approach to learning Spanish then they would advance linguistically and be able to make Mexican friends. That’s why I implore you to read my new book, You Can Learn Spanish or Any Language No Matter Your Age or Disposition. I have just finished it and am looking for a publisher. If you are interested drop me an email at expatriate03@yahoo.com and I will contact you when it gets to print.
Right now, as it stands in Guanajuato, the gringo expat population is growing but you still will have a very limited circle of friends unless you know the language well enough to communicate with your Mexican neighbors. We know expats who have been here for more than 10 years and have never been invited into a Mexican’s home. I find that incredible since we have been invited into numerous Mexican’s home.
The only reason I can think of to answer this is the language issue. While we feel we are far from fluent (whatever that word is suppose to mean), we continue to grow in our Spanish proficiency and by the fact that we are invited into the homes of our Mexican neighbors proves my point.
This does not mean that you have to appear in Guanajuato speaking like a native. We certainly did not come to our new home speaking like a native. But what we did do is find out the latest research in language learning and applied it. You can read about this research and revolutionary methods of language learning in my book. We developed a high degree of spoken fluency in Spanish BEFORE coming to Mexico.
Let me make one more point about this issue about which I feel so passionately. If you have ever visited the resort areas of Mexico, you will most certainly know that those in the service industries have a high degree of spoken English fluency. Have you ever wondered how they managed that?
We did, so off we went to Puerto Vallarta to do some research for my book. What we discovered was that most of these English proficient Mexicans in the service industry learned their English in Mexico. They did not take classes , they did not work or live in an English speaking country, but they became proficient in English nonetheless. How, how, how did they do it?
They watched American cable television. This was the most frequent response. Some others found native speaking girl and boy friends. One guy would watch the television, write down the words he didn’t know, and then ask the tourists he served. Another woman told me she become proficient by watching That Girl, Bewitched, and I Love Lucy.
For the most part they were financially incapable of taking English lessons nor did they go to America to learn English and yet they did it right here in Mexico. Americans, who for the most part could afford to take Spanish lessons do not become proficient in Spanish. This should make you scratch your head and say, “Huh?”
You too can and should develop a high degree of spoken fluency in Spanish BEFORE expatriating to Mexico.
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