Medellin Chit Chat Thread

[Wolf662]

Downtown.

When you're alone, and life is making you lonely.

You can always go.

Downtown.

When you've got worries, all the noise and the hurry.

Seems to help, I know.

Downtown.

Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city.

Linger on the sidewalk where the street girls are pretty.

How can you lose? -It's only $10!

The lights are much brighter there.

You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares.

So go downtown, things'll be great when you're.

Downtown, no finer place for sure.

Downtown everything's waiting for you.

Downtown.

[Dccpa]

I agree with your comments. Language is important. I speak Spanish and Portuguese and believe that learning a foreign language is a form of mental gymnastics. There is growing evidence that speaking a foreign language can delay the onset of dementia. There is also the issue of respect. When visiting another country it is good to show that your can speak their language and in general your language learning efforts will be appreciated and respected. Speaking their language opens up a whole new world.

Case in point. Years ago, my sisters and I were visiting family in Europe. We made a 3 day side trip to Paris. I had taken French in high school and made attempts to speak the language. The Parisians were polite to me, but rude to my sisters.

Also agree that learning languages helps keep the brain. Recently I read the results of a long term study about the health effects of eating leafy green vegetables. Participants who ate an average of 1.3 servings of leafy green vegetables daily had brains that were eleven years younger than those that didn't eat leafy green vegetables. Hello Spinach!

It looks like several countries have added English to their curriculum. Vietnam calls it project 2020. Cuba was per a Cuban who stated in a Youtube video that they used to teach Russian in schools and now they teach English. Colombian was from a Youtube video interview of someone who was teaching English in Colombia. It really would make sense if there was an international language and English is the language of international business. Maybe take the better parts of English and come up with a new international language.

[Rocinha]

Here is what a recent poster said about this subject: 'I speak Spanish almost fluently, not quite--but close! And it does help A LOT in Medellin!

Languages are a skill, an asset, a resource. The more languages you know, the better your life will be. Just as the more math you know, the more whatever you know, the better off you are. Ignorance is not bliss. I found that I could obtain some language skills without investing any additional time, by listening to radio or tapes while doing other things. Back when there used to be actual newspapers, instead of spending fifteen or twenty minutes reading an English newspaper, I spent fifteen or twenty minutes reading a Spanish one. Didn't get as far through it, especially at first, but I wasn't spending extra time. That was back when I was pretty busy. I will admit, learning Italian after I was retired was easier than learning Spanish while I was still working. I also had the advantage of starting the language learning process fairly early, when I was eleven years old.

I agree with your comments. Language is important. I speak Spanish and Portuguese and believe that learning a foreign language is a form of mental gymnastics. There is growing evidence that speaking a foreign language can delay the onset of dementia.

There is also the issue of respect. When visiting another country it is good to show that your can speak their language and in general your language learning efforts will be appreciated and respected. Speaking their language opens up a whole new world.

[Dickhead]

I notice the same thing in Spain, and attribute it to the internet, plus the diffusion of popular music via Spotify and Pandora and such.

[ShooBree]

WTF. You're obsessed. Why don't you lobby the Colombian Government to push English education? My guess is they have plenty of other priorities right now.

Whether it would behoove them (or not) to push English, that's their decision, not yours.

You are obsessed by me. It's not healthy. It's not your decision to decide what I'm supposed to write or think.

[BayBoy]

I've been coming to Colombia for the past 10 years. Made about 15 trips there. It seems to me that theres more English spoken now than 10 years ago. Maybe the people are adjusting to tourists from English speaking countries or more English is being taught in school. Don't know, but I've seen a difference.

[Combo]

I'm sorry but I'm tired of the mentality that says that Colombians / Latinos / people from third world countries can't, shouldn't or have no need to learn English. I think that it's called "the racism of low expectations".

English isn't even my second language and I do much prefer to speak in Spanish than English, so to me they can remain ignorant. But where I'm from small children are taught English in school from an early age, why? Could it be that we as a people and country recognise the need to be able to speak English in a global world?

Colombians should learn English and it has nothing to do with what you native English speakers think.

WTF. You're obsessed. Why don't you lobby the Colombian Government to push English education? My guess is they have plenty of other priorities right now.

Whether it would behoove them (or not) to push English, that's their decision, not yours.

[JjBee62]

I'm sorry but I'm tired of the mentality that says that Colombians / Latinos / people from third world countries can't, shouldn't or have no need to learn English. I think that it's called "the racism of low expectations".

English isn't even my second language and I do much prefer to speak in Spanish than English, so to me they can remain ignorant. But where I'm from small children are taught English in school from an early age, why? Could it be that we as a people and country recognise the need to be able to speak English in a global world?

Colombians should learn English and it has nothing to do with what you native English speakers think.

And one other thing.

Most of the Colombian prepagos aren't thinking about long-term benefits of investments in education. They might spend some money going to a beauty school as their plan be once the prepago gig starts slowing down, but most won't keep a job.

Telling them that spending time and money to learn English will help them earn more is a waste of time. They are only interested in money now.

Most have Pretty Woman syndrome. They just know that some rich, good looking guy is going to come along and put them in a mansion and they'll live happily ever after.

While it would be great if they would all learn English, it isn't going to happen. It will always be the responsibility of the traveler to learn the native tongue if they want to improve communication with the natives.

[JjBee62]

I'm sorry but I'm tired of the mentality that says that Colombians / Latinos / people from third world countries can't, shouldn't or have no need to learn English. I think that it's called "the racism of low expectations".

English isn't even my second language and I do much prefer to speak in Spanish than English, so to me they can remain ignorant. But where I'm from small children are taught English in school from an early age, why? Could it be that we as a people and country recognise the need to be able to speak English in a global world?

Colombians should learn English and it has nothing to do with what you native English speakers think.

And I'm tired of people who expect something from nothing.

Can't learn English? I know they can. Shouldn't learn English? Should and shouldn't are subjective. You get to decide what you should do. You can suggest what you think others should do. You don't get to determine what others must do. Have no need to learn English? For the majority that is true. Just as the majority of the people I grew up with in the Midwestern US had no need to learn Spanish. A second language is not a necessity, it's a luxury, especially in a country surrounded by Spanish speaking (except Brazil) countries.

Perhaps Colombians should learn English, just like kids in the US should learn Spanish or Mandarin. However, you blame the lack on the individual Colombian, while admitting bilingual education in your country is clearly a government initiative.

Making Colombian schools bilingual, requires money. The prepagos this discussion is about don't have the money and they certainly didn't have the money when they were starting their education. The government probably could find the money, could require all teachers to become fluent in English and in 15 to 20 years perhaps 30% of Colombians would be able to handle basic communication in English.

The majority won't become fluent for many years because the vast majority of Colombians rarely have any need to talk to someone in English.

Go walk around Manrique, Paris or Llanaditas and tell the residents they need to find the money to teach their children English. Tell the prepagos you're with that instead of buying clothes or food for their kids they need to spend the money on English classes. Better yet, go to Bogota, spend about $2 million USD convincing politicians to push a bilingual education initiative and offer to provide $50 million more to get the program started. Politicians tend to get really excited about these type of things when their pockets are filled.

It's call "racism of privilege. " The US is full of it. I don't believe Colombians are incapable of learning a second language. I've spent part of the last year teaching English to a few who wanted to learn, without charging for my time. I believe, given the opportunity they can accomplish anything.

Racism of privilege is "why can't they be like me?" Did you grow up with a television, telephone, air conditioning and / or heating? How about with electricity and running water? A real roof instead of a sheet of tin held down by rocks? Did you sleep in a real bed, or was it on a piece of foam rubber thrown on the floor? How many kilometers did you have to walk uphill after school each day? How far did you have to carry bags of rice and beans, also uphill, so your family could eat?

Chances are you can't imagine what it's like to grow up in the poorest neighborhoods of a third world country. We take everything for granted, because what we needed has always been available. Most of us rarely interact with the poorest people, with the exception of the girls who come down to sell us pussy. They look at an average hotel room as if it's a 5 star suite because it has hot water. Imagine considering warm water a luxury. They post so many balcony, pool and jacuzzi selfies because where they come from this is unimaginable opulence.

Many of the prepagos could spend their money better and use some of it to learn English. Instead, they waste it on tattoos or taking their friends and family to a finca.

Then again, why? They don't want to be with an old gringo who only knows 20 words of Spanish. They aren't fucking us for our charm, wit and good looks. And no matter how many times they say it none of them love your penis. Everyone they want to be around speaks Spanish.

Which means, if you want them to want to be around you, it's in your best interest to learn their language.

[Dickhead]

Here is what a recent poster said about this subject: 'I speak Spanish almost fluently, not quite--but close! And it does help A LOT in Medellin!

Languages are a skill, an asset, a resource. The more languages you know, the better your life will be. Just as the more math you know, the more whatever you know, the better off you are. Ignorance is not bliss. I found that I could obtain some language skills without investing any additional time, by listening to radio or tapes while doing other things. Back when there used to be actual newspapers, instead of spending fifteen or twenty minutes reading an English newspaper, I spent fifteen or twenty minutes reading a Spanish one. Didn't get as far through it, especially at first, but I wasn't spending extra time. That was back when I was pretty busy. I will admit, learning Italian after I was retired was easier than learning Spanish while I was still working. I also had the advantage of starting the language learning process fairly early, when I was eleven years old.

[ShooBree]

If you have 5 customers per day who want to buy a sandwich on rye bread and 100 customers per day who want their sandwich on wheat bread, how much effort do you put into making sure you have rye bread? Consider that 3 of the 5 rye customers will take wheat if rye isn't available, but none of the wheat customers will try rye.

Most of the Colombian working girls are selling pussy 3 or 4 years before it's legal to do so. They are making money before they've ever seen a gringo. These are not business majors. They work, make money, spend money and work when they need more. If they have money they are doing something they enjoy. If they don't have money they go do something to get money. Spending money to learn English isn't on their list of priorities.

Expecting the population of a foreign country to learn your language because you believe it will benefit them is the gringo mentality many of us try to avoid. You're willing to wait in line for a (usually) older prepago just so you can talk to her. Then you're willing to pay her extra regardless of how good or bad she performs.

What makes you think these women have more free time than you do? Most have kids, have a house to clean and family to feed. Quite often they have no data on their phone, so any online app or program won't always work. Very few have extra money to take formal lessons.

I'm sorry but I'm tired of the mentality that says that Colombians / Latinos / people from third world countries can't, shouldn't or have no need to learn English. I think that it's called "the racism of low expectations".

English isn't even my second language and I do much prefer to speak in Spanish than English, so to me they can remain ignorant. But where I'm from small children are taught English in school from an early age, why? Could it be that we as a people and country recognise the need to be able to speak English in a global world?

Colombians should learn English and it has nothing to do with what you native English speakers think.

[Dickhead]

You seem to advocate for American men, most of whom have good paying jobs and relatively little free time, to learn Spanish.

No, I am advocating that the public schools in the US (Colombia is part of America, BTW) start teaching foreign languages in the primary grades as is routinely done in most European countries, with the UK being one notable exception. The idea of university graduates being monoglots seems anathema to me. Either Spanish or Mandarin would seem to me to make the most sense for someone from the US to study, since they have the most speakers and since Mxico is a neighbor.

And most guys in the US have crap jobs. The median wage is less than $50 k, rents are outrageous, and going to college costs a small fortune. The current Secretary of Education, a billionaire kunt, wants to make that all worse, of course.

'I don't think the lack of prior education should be that much of a detriment. But maybe I am wrong, having received a good education.'

Yes, you are definitely wrong.

[JjBee62]

I was under the impression that if a person has a product or service to sell, and he or she can produce that product at a low cost, he would seek out the customers with the most cash to sell the product or service to them at the highest price. If the majority of those potential customers who are flush with cash primarily speak English, I would think the seller of the product or service would want to speak English to communicate with them to let them know the product or service exists, and to be able to close the deal.

Maybe I am wrong, but I am guessing the actual Pablo Escobar and the actual version of the mythical Juan Valdez spoke English.

If you have 5 customers per day who want to buy a sandwich on rye bread and 100 customers per day who want their sandwich on wheat bread, how much effort do you put into making sure you have rye bread? Consider that 3 of the 5 rye customers will take wheat if rye isn't available, but none of the wheat customers will try rye.

Most of the Colombian working girls are selling pussy 3 or 4 years before it's legal to do so. They are making money before they've ever seen a gringo. These are not business majors. They work, make money, spend money and work when they need more. If they have money they are doing something they enjoy. If they don't have money they go do something to get money. Spending money to learn English isn't on their list of priorities.

Expecting the population of a foreign country to learn your language because you believe it will benefit them is the gringo mentality many of us try to avoid. You're willing to wait in line for a (usually) older prepago just so you can talk to her. Then you're willing to pay her extra regardless of how good or bad she performs.

What makes you think these women have more free time than you do? Most have kids, have a house to clean and family to feed. Quite often they have no data on their phone, so any online app or program won't always work. Very few have extra money to take formal lessons.

[Combo]

I was under the impression that if a person has a product or service to sell, and he or she can produce that product at a low cost, he would seek out the customers with the most cash to sell the product or service to them at the highest price. If the majority of those potential customers who are flush with cash primarily speak English, I would think the seller of the product or service would want to speak English to communicate with them to let them know the product or service exists, and to be able to close the deal.

Maybe I am wrong, but I am guessing the actual Pablo Escobar and the actual version of the mythical Juan Valdez spoke English.

A lot of the women that are in the profession for a long time do end up learning English. I generally try to avoid this sub-segment as they tend to be hardened pros.

[YippieKayay]

I was under the impression that if a person has a product or service to sell, and he or she can produce that product at a low cost, he would seek out the customers with the most cash to sell the product or service to them at the highest price. If the majority of those potential customers who are flush with cash primarily speak English, I would think the seller of the product or service would want to speak English to communicate with them to let them know the product or service exists, and to be able to close the deal.

Yes, if you're in sales and are selling to North America you probably want to lean English but not everyone living in Colombia (or LATAM) is working in the sales department taking POs from North American customers.