Also, my grandfather, founder of our business, once said to me something along the lines of this...

Son, there was a time when truck drivers were treated, and respected, like doctors and lawyers. It will never be any different so long as our name is on the door.

And that meant a lot to me, and it hasn't changed. These guys aren't just steering wheel holders. They are extremely hard workers. And I don't treat them like **** like I have seen from other companies. I respect these guys. I went and it my CDL when I was 18. I have done a lot of in state runs to attempt to be more understanding.

 

I used Rosetta Stone Spanish. I found it very easy to use and had no problem picking up the little things. I work in an environment where contact with people who speak other than English is normal. I was working and two of my partners started talking Spanish to kind of keep the fact that one was in training quiet. I was able to pick up on the conversation, even if I wasn't able to converse I knew what was being said. That is the first stages of learning a new language. I only used the program a few hours then quit, because I wouldn't use the language enough to make learning it worthwhile.

Currently we are looking to buy a French version for my kids. That is the language they decided to take in school.

 

Congratulations for your efforts to learn spanish. As a Mexican I appreciate your gesture to speak spanish. I receive in my office in Mexico some north american people offering their stuff and some of them don't care to speak other spanish than "1 cerveza por favor" and some try hard to speak spanish. As a courtesy I respond in english to them and I'm more willing to make a deal with them.

You are in the right way to increase your business and also make your work safer as you'll can to provide the directions and instructions of the load without language barrier and this is a smart move.

I don't know Rosseta but I learn english with 2 simple Hi School books my father gave me and also reading a lot of USA magazines and a dictionary to my side.

My english is not perfect but is enough to communicate during my business and leisure travels to USA. When a person start to speak very quickly I start to have difficult to understand some words and I stop him and tell in a friendly manner "you may have to speak slower OR you may speak as faster as you want but in spanish is up to you"

 

Well I must say, your typing is much better than most white folks.

I appreciate the kind words. I ordered some cd's that I plan on working with as a starter. I'm going to pick up a book and dictionary as well!

Thank you again.

 

Search for the Pimsluer language learning course. I think it's twenty bucks for 4 cds.

 

That's what I ordered.

 

Sr. Garcia brings up a good point with the magazines. I forgot to mention that. Something that has always been helpful to me in learning Spanish, has been having parts of popular culture around me.

Early on, I found a few bands that made music I really liked (Molotov, Café Tacuba, etc.). That really helped with pronunciation and slang. More recently, when I go to Ciudad Juarez, I pick up a copy of Formula Moto magazine. I love motorcycles and reading about them in Spanish has taken my fluency even farther.

 

You go to Juarez and come back alive?

 

Yes

 

That was my first thought too!! I'm only a few hours from the border and I probably couldn't risk a trip even if I went with every full-blood Mexican I know, and/or am friends with and/or work with!

 

Well my cd's got here today. If anything comes of it I will order Rosetta Stone by the beginning of the week.

 

It sucks to have the highest of work ethics, and hear someone pigeonhole white and black drivers as lazy to justify being cheap and greedy. (Understandable from a broker or owner though.) It's not true. We're being priced out of the workforce. Let's destroy the trucking industry the same way we have the construction industry. Cheap labor keeps driver pay down while the dollar is losing value and the cost of living is climbing. It won't be long before the hardships of this job are not worth the compensation.

There are plenty of crappy drivers of all ethnicities, we have some of them in our fleet, but most are conscientious workers... Who already speak English. This job seems to have been placed on a list of jobs targeted for destruction.

Sorry for the short rant, but this industry used to be lucrative enough to allow a driver to be more than just a guy in a heavy vehicle with a deadline. Of course, if you're used to third world living standards, it might still seem like a dream job.

 

Are you kidding? Guau! Thanks for your compliments! Good look!

 

Ja! I did't buy magazines for learn pop culture. I bought the magazines because I love to lear electronics and in Mexico we almost did't have any good electronics magazine. I religiously bought every month Popular Electronics, Hans on Electronics and others electronics related magazines. That kind of publications are very technical and that make me very poor in street english. With the past of the time I start to buy more popular magazines like Readers Digest, National Geographic and others.