......”Paradoxically, Julián Castro’s appeal to fellow Hispanic voters may be limited by his own assimilation. Although he pronounces his name “HOO-lee-un,” he doesn’t really speak Spanish — a fact he isn’t eager to advertise. La Raza put a high premium on the mother tongue, but Rosie Castro spoke English to her sons, and Julián studied Latin and Japanese in school, while Joaquín studied Latin and German. A lack of Spanish fluency isn’t unusual in San Antonio, especially among Castro’s generation, but in the immigrant barrios of Houston and the colonias south of Interstate 10 down to the border, Spanish is the first and often only language. A Mexican-American with statewide political aspirations needs to be able to do more than pronounce his name correctly. Early in his administration, Castro assigned his chief of staff, Robbie Greenblum — a Jewish lawyer from the border town of Laredo whose own Spanish is impeccable — to discreetly find him a tutor. Rosie Castro’s son is now being taught Spanish by a woman named Marta Bronstein. Greenblum met her in shul.”......
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/magazine/09Mayor-t.html?_r=1
Perhaps Marta Bronstein can also work with Villaraigosa, which is not the name he always used, whose Spanglish is execrable. East LA gangbanger Pocho that is, sort of taco-joint street jive much given to gang-signs and calling each other "Ese," i.e., "That guy!".
When Spanish-language media tried to interview him, it turned out to be an impossible task. Speaking of Spanish Tutors From Shul, there is a Sephardic Spanish equivalent to Yiddish ... Ladino ... spoken by the Jewish communities in Spain, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. That'll work.
MECHA ... Villaraigosa's group with the goal of foundation of Aztlán and confederation with México.... is a great acronym. "Mecha" is Spanish for "fuse." As in "light the fuse."
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