Thomas R. Wier scripsit:
> The usefulness of Spanish can easily be exaggerated. Generally
> speaking, by far most of the Spanish speakers in the United States
> live in parts of the country that have had large Hispanic populations
> for centuries -- Texas, California, and other parts of the Southwest.
Not to forget the NYC area, where Spanish-speakers have had a substantial
presence for decades.
> This generalization is beginning to change in the South and parts of
> the Midwest and Northwest, where Hispanics are increasingly frequent
> as agricultural workers, but it is by no means the case that you can
> get by without knowing English in most parts of the country.
Quite true. The bulk of the country is still "English only by default".
--
It was dreary and wearisome. Cold clammy winter still held way in this
forsaken country. The only green was the scum of livid weed on the dark
greasy surfaces of the sullen waters. Dead grasses and rotting reeds loomed
up in the mists like ragged shadows of long-forgotten summers.
--"The Passage of the Marshes" http://www.ccil.org/~cowan