Epigonos

BSE I’m not quite sure what you meant by the following: “Your Spanish may be fluent, but your reading comprehension leaves something to be desired.” How do you have anyway of knowing whether or not my “reading comprehension leaves something to be desired”? Just as a matter of clarification I taught, for over twenty years, Spanish Literature and Latin American Literature. I have been retired for a dozen years but I still read the authors of the La Literatura Revolucionario de Mexico in SPANISH. My favorite South American author happens to be Jorge Luis Borjes and he is best read in Spanish as his works don't translate well into English.
 
I am in total agreement with you, however, on the following: “ I figured that the ridiculous CA certification standard was some feel-good, diversity-motivated push. Merit? What the hell is that??” What it is, is absolute bullshit.

I tend to disagree regarding the desirability of having a native Spanish speaker teaching Spanish - especially in California. Here in California a native Spanish speaker can become qualified to teach Spanish, in a public school, if he or she passes a competency exam; many have never taken a class in Spanish grammar or literature. The exam although written is objective – true/false and multiple choice and many who pass it are virtually illiterate. They don’t know Spanish grammar and their vocabulary is a terrible combination of Spanish and English. In other words they don’t speak Spanish they speak Spanglish or Cholo.
 
Examples being:
 
English Spanish Spanglish/Cholo
 
To eat lunch Almorzar Lonchear
Shoe Store Zapateria Shoeteria
Brakes Frenos Breques
Truck Camion Troque
Market Mercado Marketa
to park Estacionar Parkear
 
This type of Spanglish/Cholo works just fine along the U.S. Mexican border but is worthless when one tries to speak with someone anywhere else in the Spanish speaking world. As a rule non-native Spanish speaking teachers know the grammar and vocabulary of the language and even if their accent isn't great their students learn correct Spanish.
Having a good accent in any foreign language has more to do with how good an ear a student has. Some students will naturally have an excellent accent and others, no matter how much they try and no matter how good the accent of their teacher is, will never have a good accent. In graduate school I took a class from a professor who was one of the world's leading authorities in twentieth century Mexican literature yet every time he opened his mouth and spoke a word of Spanish I shuttered. It was immediately obvious that he had a tin ear as he spoke Spanish with a heavy god-awful gringo accent.

The Parisians have the reputation of being rude and intolerant with non-fluent French speakers. I’ve been in Paris a number of times and, as far as I’m concerned, it’s a bump-rap. I don’t speak a word of French and I have always been treated with the upmost kindness. I’m convinced it all relates as to how they are approached -- isn’t that the case ever where? I apologize for interrupting them and for not speaking French and then ask my question. I have always been treated graciously and on more than one case an individual has gone out of his/her way, walking me some distance, to make sure I’m going the right way. I am extremely fond of the Parisians!!!!!

When Spanish double ll (usually pronounced like y in the English word yellow) is pronounced instead like a j and thus calle becomes caje is a porteno accent and is limited primarily to the area around the Rio de la Plata of Argentina and of Uruguay. It is most often associated with Buenos Aires. The accent developed because of a large influx of Italian speakers to the area in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is about the only regional accent that I like.

Being fluent in Mexican Spanish I find my understanding of Italian and Portuguese interesting. I can generally get along very well verbally in Italian but can read very little I can generally get along very will with written Portuguese but can't understand much verbally. Spoken Portuguese always sounds, to me, much like Spanish with a VERY strange accent spoken through a mouth full of mush.
My Spanish accent and vocabulary are MEXICAN thus I find I have some difficulty understanding the spoken Spanish of Central and Northern Spain, yet I have no problem in the South. It is interesting that most of the Spanish conquistadores who conquered Mexico, Central America, and South were from Andalucia and Extermadura in the south of Spain and they carried to the Western Hemispheric their form of Spanish.

As I see it Ivy League Schools are not the major problem. Many, if not most, of those school have huge endowments, some even into the billions of dollars, and thus many of their students have some form of student aid. Ivy League Schools aren't dependent of state and federal dollars even though some of their programs receive federal research grants. The real problem is the state universities and colleges. Schools in the California State University system and the University of California system are collapsing under the weight of administrators. The number of non-teaching deans at these school is overwhelming. I taught high for over thirty years and my teaching load required me to teach five classes a day five days a week for a total of twenty five hours. My nephew just took a tenure tack position at one of the California State University Schools. His starting salary will be $65,000.00, he will received a subsidized, on campus, one bedroom apartment. He will be required to teach nine hours a week, spend three hours a week sitting in his office supposedly available to students and six hours a week doing research for a total of eighteen hours total. He is unhappy with the amount of time he will be required to teach because, to his way of thinking, it takes time away from his research time. He is a member of a science department so research is an important part of his job but what amount of research is required for professors in the social sciences -- not a lot and they have the same teaching load and the same starting salary.

Generalizations are exceedingly dangerous especially when it comes to hiring escorts. What floats ones guys boat does absolutely nothing for the next guy. In reality that is fortunate because it would be an absolute bitch if we were all chasing the same type of guys.
 
Now do our tastes in who we hire evolve – for some, certainly for others, maybe not so much? Again it is whatever floats your boat. I hired my first escort in the fall of 2002. Not only was he the first escort I had ever hired, he was also the first man with whom I had ever had sex. That escort was Steven Kesslar and I’m still seeing him professionally today and we are now certainly BOTH older. A few weeks ago I hired a well-built young stud in his mid-20’s – he was lots of fun. I have my regulars, who have aged along with me, but I throw in a new young stud now and then to add variety to my life. Did I start out doing that, certainly NOT but I do now. Does this behavior indicate an evolution in my hiring; I don’t know and I really don’t care – all I’m looking for is a good time and that is exactly what I’m having and I feel NO need what-so-ever to explain it to myself or for that matter to anyone.