May 3, 2013 – Las Cruces, NM - On this edition of PUENTES, Emily Guerra bridges the community with Associate Professor of Spanish at Western New Mexico University (WNMU) in Silver City, Dr. Maria Eugenia Trillo, to tell us about the art of learning Spanish.
Spanish is a global language that is spoken in more than 21 different countries, and is one of the top ten most spoken languages in the world. It was the first European language spoken in the Southwest, including Florida. Many people unknowingly speak Spanish. Since it is a historic language in our country, many of the names of our states, cities and streets are in Spanish. It is part of who we are.
Dr. Trillo says it is important to learn Spanish, especially in the Southwest, because language and identity go together. She says there is a high dropout rate among our youth in schools, and says she strongly believes that it has do with the fact that Spanish is not embraced in most of our educational system. The national demographics points to the fact that we are a nation who is multicultural, multilingual and multi dialectal. She says that another reason why it is important to learn Spanish is the need to have professionals and paraprofessional skilled workers who can function in more than one language. To find out more about Spanish classes at WNMU visit their website at www.wnmu.edu.