Training aids for Hispanic Students

[meteor 0]

We have an Hispanic student at our DZ and it is challenging to deal with the language barrier. Does anyone know of accurate translations of the SIM or a packing guide?? Is any other DZ successfully tapping this market of people with disposable income??

[BoilingMidnight 0]

How do you deal with the other folks who jump and have English as a second language? But I'm curious, how does he make a living in this country, indeed enough to afford the thousands of dollars needed to participate in such an expensive sport, without knowing a word of English?

"Iþ ik qiþa izwis, ni andstandan allis þamma unseljin."

[Andrewwhyte 1]

There is a big difference between being fuctionally bi-lingual, being functionally bi-literate, and being fluently bi-literate.
I know french Canadians who have lived in English Canada for more than twenty years and speak with very little accent yet have a hard time reading anything technical other than their own trade.

[billvon 3,058]

If the student is semi-literate then I just go slow and ask a lot of questions to be sure he understands. If they're less literate I use an interpreter. Takes a lot longer, but is doable.

[firstime 0]

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We have an Hispanic student at our DZ and it is challenging to deal with the language barrier. Does anyone know of accurate translations of the SIM or a packing guide?? Is any other DZ successfully tapping this market of people with disposable income??

learn the language, I did.... nuff said

[meteor 0]

I am approximately as good at 2nd languages as our student is. As billvon wrote, going slow and using his wife and kids (who are bilingual) works okay. We have another hispanic jumper who has done the coaches course and he helps well when here. I know that for myself, I liked being able to read the SIM and watch the packing vids in MY language. To answer the question about financing his jumps and gear, go to a beef or pork packing plant and see who walks in and out of those plants. With a skilled position, time on the job and O.T., he can fund it.

No he is NOT an illegal alien.

[denete 3]

Best case: the student learns the common language of the dropzone where he jumps. How else will he get information from the jump master / pilot in case of an emergency?

An alternative is to find an instructor who speaks the student's native language, and will always be present when the student is present (no playing "pass-the-student").

Coming in third is a human translator...who is willing to make the jumps with the student or be a faasst translator for under-canopy radio communications.

For the SIM, you could run it through an online translator and then have a human translator edit the machine translation to fix all of the weird computer translation stuff. By the end of that, the human translator might want to take a skydive.

SCR #14809

"our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe"
(look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

[Hayfield 0]

Remember to tell him, "No hodas con esto!" which essentially translates as "Don't Fuck Up!"

"Remember the First Commandment: Don't Fuck Up!"
-Crusty Old Pete

[VectorBoy 0]

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If the student is semi-literate then I just go slow and ask a lot of questions to be sure he understands. If they're less literate I use an interpreter. Takes a lot longer, but is doable.

Yes bill but don't you speak ,...like seven languages fluently?

[riggerrob 643]

Mr. boilingmidnight,

I hate to rattle you, but there are millions of unilingual people living in the USA who do not speak English. It is possible to be born, raised, work, and retire in - thousands of communities in - California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, etc. without ever learning anything more than Spanish.
IOW The economies of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Teaxs and Florida would collapse if all the unilingual Spanish-speaking people did not go to work every morning.

Similalry, there are large french-speaking communities in Maine and Louisiana.

The flip side is that unilingualism is passe' in a global economy. For example, I grew up in a mostly-English-speaking town in Southern Quebec. But when the Canadian Army sent me to CFB Valcartier (near Quebec City) I had to learn to speak french. It may have been a profane dialect, but it was french. Then when the Canadian Armed Forces sent me to CFB Baden, in West Germany, I took night school classes to learn German. A year later, Skydive Kangaroo offered me a job doing tandems with mostly German-speaking students.
A few years later, I moved to California City Skydive Center and found that speaking a little Spanish with waiters dramatically improved service.
Since moving to Vancouver, Canada, I have found that speaking a little Japanese helps relax the tandem students and helps them focus on their tandems.
Other popular languages in Vancouver are: Mandarin, Cantonese and Punjabi.

In conclusion, I have only taught the first jump course in English and French, but my limited knowledge of Gemran allowed me to do tandems with unilingual Germans and I speak enough japanese to get a chuckle out of Japanese tourists.
If you want to work in the global economy, at least (at a bare minimum) learn to say hello in two or three other languages.

[Rover 11]

Sugoi desu ne. Kanshin suru yo!

2 wrongs don't make a right - but 3 lefts do.

[BoilingMidnight 0]

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The economies of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Teaxs and Florida would collapse if all the unilingual Spanish-speaking people did not go to work every morning.

Sounds scary. I hope you didn't leave any states out. But can you please post your evidence supporting that claim?

"Iþ ik qiþa izwis, ni andstandan allis þamma unseljin."

[riggerrob 643]

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The economies of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Florida would collapse if all the unilingual Spanish-speaking people did not go to work every morning.

Sounds scary. I hope you didn't leave any states out. But can you please post your evidence supporting that claim?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

There is no written evidence, because it is part of the "black" market economy that cleans the toilets, mows the lawns, sews the clothes, etc. of millions of white Americans. The same white Americans who routinely ignore anyone who does not speak English.
My "evidence" is based upon personal observations during several years of living and working in Southern California. The only difference between me and millions of Spanish-speaking immigrants is that I was able to obtain a NAFTA Visa to work legally in the USA.

[beowulf 1]

My step mother can not speak any English at all and she lives near Chicago. That's just one example.

[BoilingMidnight 0]

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The same white Americans who routinely ignore anyone who does not speak English.

Can you explain how these vital millions of illegal aliens could be employed while simultaneously being "ignored by white Americans"?

"Iþ ik qiþa izwis, ni andstandan allis þamma unseljin."

[BoilingMidnight 0]

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My step mother can not speak any English at all and she lives near Chicago. That's just one example.

The plural of "anecdote" is not "data."

"Iþ ik qiþa izwis, ni andstandan allis þamma unseljin."

[beowulf 1]

I merely gave one example of someone who lives in the USA and cannot speak any english. I have met many people who don't speak any english at all here in the US. They have to be making a living somehow. Not all of them are illegal. My stepmother is not an illegal alien.

[riggerrob 643]

I never implied that your step-mother was an illegal immigrant.

Similarly, there are thousands of uni-lingual Punjabi-speaking, Mandarin-speaking, Cantonese-speaking, etc. grandmothers legally living in Vancouver. Most of them devote their time to cooking and cleaning for their (legally-working) children and school-age grandchildren.
The only money they make is during berry-picking season and only when working for berry farms owed by people of punjabi ancestry.
Mind you, working conditions on those berry farms are so miserable that (legal) Mexican berry-pickers complain loudly about dangerous working conditions on those same farms!
Tee!
Hee!

[beowulf 1]

My reply wasn't directed to you. It was to BoilingMidnight. Who seems to think they are all illegal.

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Can you explain how these vital millions of illegal aliens could be employed while simultaneously being "ignored by white Americans"?

[skybytch 273]

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Can you explain how these vital millions of illegal aliens could be employed while simultaneously being "ignored by white Americans"?

Why do you assume they are here illegally? I worked with two very nice Mexican women who spoke little to no English. Both are in the US legally. One is a homeowner.

Oh, and btw? Both of them sew skydiving jumpsuits for a living.

[BoilingMidnight 0]

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My stepmother is not an illegal alien.

Where did I say she was...?

"Iþ ik qiþa izwis, ni andstandan allis þamma unseljin."

[BoilingMidnight 0]

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My reply wasn't directed to you. It was to BoilingMidnight. Who seems to think they are all illegal.

Can you please identify where I said "they're all illegal"?

If you're going to refute my statements I'd appreciate you extending me the courtesy of not putting words in my mouth.

"Iþ ik qiþa izwis, ni andstandan allis þamma unseljin."

[beowulf 1]

See SkyBytch's post.

[BoilingMidnight 0]

You pointed me to someone else's post, referencing no statement of mine that said "they're all illegal."

Thanks!

"Iþ ik qiþa izwis, ni andstandan allis þamma unseljin."

[beowulf 1]

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The same white Americans who routinely ignore anyone who does not speak English.

Can you explain how these vital millions of illegal aliens could be employed while simultaneously being "ignored by white Americans"?

In the post by RiggerRob no where did he ever mention illegal aliens. You are the only one that did. Your post refers to "millions of illegal aliens".