I know a Chilean lady who only speaks Spanish. It doesn't matter if you are talking to her in person or on the phone she talks about 90 miles per hour or faster in Spanish. She thinks everyone understands what she is saying. You can call on the phone and ask for a member of the family that speaks English. If there is no-one home who speaks English, she will try in her best Spanish to tell you that information. You finally have to say "Chow" or "Adios" and she hangs up. She is a very nice person and tries her best to communicate but in Spanish. I have been thinking that I should give her a gift of Pimsleur English for Spanish Speakers Comprehensive I but am afraid she would not listen to it. Pimsleur is probably the best course I know of for a Spanish speaker to learn English. They have a Quick Simple starter course of 8 lessons and go to the Comprehensive I, II III which gives you a total of 90 lessons and when you are finished you can communicate at an intermediate-high level. This would be wonderful for my Chilean friend. At times when we are visiting I notice that she is off on her own mentally because she does not understand the conversations that are going on around her. It would unlock a whole new world for her to be able to understand what is going on. She tries so very hard to communicate in Spanish. If you live or travel in a country and the language is not your native tongue it is very difficult. You can't say what you feel. You can't tell a joke. You can't say the things you want. If you want any of these things you have to have an interpreter. It is so much nicer to be able to communicate even on a minimal level. "Where is the bathroom?" "Let's go to a restaurant." "Where do you live?" Pimsleur has many different ESL courses.
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- Version 1.0 posted on 2009-01-07