Spanish Language Training

[SecTrainer]

Hello, colleagues:

I was wondering whether anyone has taken or knows about a "short course" in Spanish for police/security officers, etc. It doesn't matter whether it's a classroom course, delivered on a CD, Web-based - whatever.

And if you've taken a course like this, I'd like to know whether you think it's been useful to you "on the street".

Thanks very much!

[davis002]

I'm currently learning Spanish through Rosetta Stone. It's not a "short course" or geared specifically to LE/Security, but so far I am impressed.

[flashlightcop509]

Mein Espanol ist Verdammnt...

Oy Vey, macht nicht, y'all...

[Eric]

I have tried Berlitz cd's for French, it helps with the drive into work. I have found though that listening was not enough, the printed word was also needed, plus using it in public.

Try your local library, they may have a few different producers to try before you buy.

Flashlightcop509, When travelling through Florida in 1989, I saw a bumper sticker with - One flag one country one language - maybe John Wayne approved :)

[SecTrainer]

Flashlightcop509, When travelling through Florida in 1989, I saw a bumper sticker with - One flag one country one language - maybe John Wayne approved :)

Great bumper sticker, IMHO - and John Wayne has it right too! Problem is, if you're on the street you gotta deal with whatever you run across out there. We have a very significant Russian community in our area also, and it doesn't seem they're very eager to learn English either. For some reason a lot of the Russians - especially women - seem to be going into healthcare jobs like nurse's aides and homecare for elderly people, etc., which does worry me.

Thanks for the ideas, everyone. I've seen the ads for the Rosetta courses, and Berlitz is famous, of course, but hadn't run across anyone who had tried either of them.

The library is a good idea too!

[LPCap]

It is always good to know Spanish, A police officer friend has two things, the Miranda rights in Spanish and a police officers field guide to Spanish, I am going to ask the specific name of it and maybe post a link, that could be helpful.

[HotelSecurity]

Sometimes schooling in a 2nd language is not enough. You have to use it to become good at it. With Quebec having a law that requires daily activities to be in French it is taught from kindergarden to grade 11 in the schools yet when I finished high school I still could not speak it well. It was only many years later after using it daily that I became comfortable. The one suggestion I have is to try & find something you want to listen to in the other language & you will probably be able to learn it easier. For me it was the "Police" scanner. All transmissions are in French. I wanted to know what was going on & I learned!

As for the Russian ladies I have some sympathy. My wife was also born in Quebec & graduated high school but she has worked in English churches & English schools. She does not speak French.

[SecTrainer]

Sometimes schooling in a 2nd language is not enough. You have to use it to become good at it. With Quebec having a law that requires daily activities to be in French it is taught from kindergarden to grade 11 in the schools yet when I finished high school I still could not speak it well. It was only many years later after using it daily that I became comfortable. The one suggestion I have is to try & find something you want to listen to in the other language & you will probably be able to learn it easier. For me it was the "Police" scanner. All transmissions are in French. I wanted to know what was going on & I learned!

As for the Russian ladies I have some sympathy. My wife was also born in Quebec & graduated high school but she has worked in English churches & English schools. She does not speak French.

What you said.

[Bill Warnock]

Hello, colleagues:

I was wondering whether anyone has taken or knows about a "short course" in Spanish for police/security officers, etc. It doesn't matter whether it's a classroom course, delivered on a CD, Web-based - whatever.

And if you've taken a course like this, I'd like to know whether you think it's been useful to you "on the street".

Thanks very much!
Try Vest Pocket Spanish from the Institute for Language Study. It comes with a companion cassette tape. Neat stuff. I have the one for German.
Regards,
Bill

[SecTrainer]

Thanks, Bill - I'll take a gander.

[N. A. Corbier]

SPEForums has resources for learning spanish for ... well, us, and cops and other people who need to know Spanish.

Now, one of the important things I was told by the site owner that amused me. Due to a Clinton era Executive Order, if you take public money for your private business, you must provide translator services in the field for all "major lanugages in your area."

So, if you're in an area with a large Chinese population, you need to be able to translate Mandarin. This doesn't have to be by physical humans, most huge stores (that take public money) use telephone translator services.

Rosetta Stone, I have around here somewhere, but no ability to take just right now. (My PC blew up, on a backup... :()

[SecTrainer]

SPEForums has resources for learning spanish for ... well, us, and cops and other people who need to know Spanish.

Thank you, sir. When are the services for your computer, and shall I send flowers or is a donation to a favorite charity preferred?

[N. A. Corbier]

Thank you, sir. When are the services for your computer, and shall I send flowers or is a donation to a favorite charity preferred?

Its even more fun, I'm trying to figure out if it was the CPU frying, the PSU frying and taking the mainboard with it, or if it my mainboard does the overheat supervisory alarm and shuts down if it detects overheat.

The services for the computer, once autopsy is complete, will be on ebay. :)

[davis002]

SecTrainer,

I am curious... did you find what you were looking for?

[SecTrainer]

SecTrainer,

I am curious... did you find what you were looking for?

I've got some things coming by interlibrary loan (which seems to be synonymous with "slow boat from China"), so haven't really gotten much evaluation done yet.

Thanks for remembering, though!

[FireEMSPolice]

No, screw that! This is America! They come here they need to adapt to us. If thats the case, should I feel discriminated because very few speak Greek?

However, if you want to learn something geared towards Law Enforcement, read the book "Spanish for Law Enforcement Personnel"

[N. A. Corbier]

If your security company accepts one dollar of federal funding, including SBA loans, and does not provide its services (interacts with the public, including offenders) in their native language, you are violating their civil rights.

This is due to a Clinton-Era Executive Order, which SPE over at SPETactical wrote a nice long post about (after I asked him to.)

Police, Fire, Hospitals, EMS, and Retail spend a LOT of money to meet this requirement, cause they all get federal money.

[LPCap]

Just yell out "Alto Bandito" whenever dealing with a Spanish speaking person :D

No seriously....check out this site:

http://www.freetranslation.com/

[SecTrainer]

If your security company accepts one dollar of federal funding, including SBA loans, and does not provide its services (interacts with the public, including offenders) in their native language, you are violating their civil rights.

This is due to a Clinton-Era Executive Order, which SPE over at SPETactical wrote a nice long post about (after I asked him to.)

Police, Fire, Hospitals, EMS, and Retail spend a LOT of money to meet this requirement, cause they all get federal money.

This is not a correct statement of the law. First of all, the SBA does not make loans; it acts as a guarantor of loans that are actually made by banks and other financial intermediaries. These intermediaries are in no way making their loans contingent on foreign language services.

Second, Presidents cannot issue executive orders to anyone but federal executive branch agencies - certainly, not to private enterprise, except indirectly as requirements for certain government contracts, as noted in the paragraph below.

Third, I can find nothing to indicate that SBA-guaranteed loans are in any way contingent on offering services in foreign languages, and I promise you that you can walk into thousands of small businesses that have SBA-guaranteed loans and you won't find anyone who speaks Spanish. I've applied for and been granted SBA loans and no one asked me once about whether I could offer my services to people in their native language, nor was there any mention of this in the loan documents.

There ARE certain government grants and government contracts that have such requirements attached to them, but that's another kettle of fish entirely. There have also been certain laws and administrative regulations passed with respect to public agencies such as government services, and healthcare. Again, this is a different kettle of fish. If you were a security service with a government contract to guard a federal facility, you might - emphasize "might" - come under such requirements. Otherwise, there are no such requirements.

[HotelSecurity]

Now, one of the important things I was told by the site owner that amused me. Due to a Clinton era Executive Order, if you take public money for your private business, you must provide translator services in the field for all "major lanugages in your area."


As a person who's mother tongue is not the offical language of the area where I live "Executive Orders" like that are really welcome. Granted there is a difference in that Spanish is not an Offical Language in the US where English is in Canada but not in Quebec. The Canadian Government HAS to do everything bilingually with a Comissioner of Offical Languages to complain to if they don't. The Quebec Government does if they want to :(