The U.S. “Latino” population, largely, does not speak Spanish; they speak Mexican Spanish. There is a difference. If you learn real Spanish, you can understand Mexican. If you learn Mexican, you will have some difficulty with Spanish. Mexican Spanish, depending upon to whom you are speaking, is almost a creole. If youcan speak a Cajun or hatian dialect you have difficulty with French, but if you know French, you can largely understand Cajun or Haitian dialects. The problem are the idioms.
Everyone should learn Latin. With latin you have the origins of 60-70% of English word, 80-85% of Spanish, and 90 some odd percent of Italian. You will know many legal, nedical, and scientific terms.
If you know Mexican Spanish, you can get the lawn cut and order at Taco Bell.
Another thing to note is the large percentage of Mexican Spanish only speakers are not well educated. In my experience, most have not completed grade school.
If I listen to Spanish as spoken by a professional (e.g. a radio or TV announcer) I can understand it pretty well. If I overhear a couple of the illegals I see now and then in the neighborhood, I have trouble following the conversation (there’s lots of slang and plenty of poor enunciation).
Good advice. I took 8 years of Classical Latin (4 in HS, 4 in college) and 1 year of Classical Greek (college), on my parent’s advice; best educational move I ever made. Aced all the courses and enjoyed it immensely.
If they want to be called Latinos, they should speak Latin. Americans could then learn Latin if they wanted to talk to them, a language with a richer cultural tradition than Spanish. Some of the greatest Spanish writers wrote in Latin anyway—Seneca, Lucan, Isidore of Seville.
Re: Your Post #12.
Well said. You are correct, my friend.
That was an excellent observation. Thank you.