Spanish 101 for Your Trip to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

The two most useful phrases in the Spanish language are por favor and gracias (please and thank you).  Learn these two phrases, and you will not need to buy many books unless you are serious about learning, because the people will teach you what you need to know to just get by.

Learning Spanish is like becoming a child again.  You must learn your colors again.  Your days of the week.  The months of the year.  Spanish verbs change depending upon who is doing the action and when the action happened, which is enough to make an English speaker go crazy and wonder if he will ever master this melodic and enchanting language.   In addition to these difficulties you must learn to rrrrrroooooollll your rrrrrrs, and at first most English speakers feel perfectly stupid rolling the r’s.

English can be equally beautiful, but it simply does not have the rhythm of Spanish. Take the phrase "Buenos dias! Como esta usted?" (Good morning! How are you?) Say it flat, and the Spanish speaking person may just look at you quizzically. Say it with a little rhythm and gusto, and it will bring a smile and a "Bien! Bien! Y usted?" (Very well, very well, and you?) It is also unnatural for us to accent a syllable in the middle of a word such as teléfono.

Yet the rewards for overcoming these little difficulties are great if you enjoy spending time in Mexico. A pervasive satisfaction begins to settle over you for just being able to order a meal or find something in the grocery store.

The frustration factor is your biggest enemy. Yet you must remember however difficult Spanish may seem at first that it takes even a baby four or five years to learn any language, and all baby’s have to do is learn. One might say they are full-time students. So if your progress seems slow, keep in mind the tremendous mountain you have elected to climb.

You must also overcome a natural shyness, not wishing to sound like an idiot. In Mexico, people will see you are an intelligent person trying to learn and try and to help you. Your stock goes up ten points just for making the effort. The things you learn in books or from cassettes you may soon forget, but you will never forget anything people teach you.  When you ask for water in a restaurant, and waiter brings you a glass of el aqua you will have the word forever. 

In summary, you cannot learn Spanish in a vacuum.  You must immerse yourself into the Spanish speaking world, and you must not be afraid to make mistakes.

Even if you don't wish to learn Spanish, don't let that stop you from visiting. Those of you who have spent time in foreign countries know it's possible for two people to communicate pretty well without having a common language using pantomime. If you are hungry, make a motion of eating. In the end, the same sun and moon rises and falls above all of us. We need and want the same things and have much more in common than we do differences, so getting across the common things is not that difficult. People in Juarez, it being a border city, are well practiced at dealing with the language barrier, and many of them have varying degrees of proficiency in English.