I am often asked, “Where are you from?” When I respond, “I am from Texas,” I then receive a followup question – “No, really, where were you born?” Again, my response is Texas. I am a bi-lingual, American with Hispanic ancestry. As the Administrative Assistant in the Provost Office, I am the visual, first point of contact for students and visitors. As such, I am often called upon to engage and assist students and visitors who have limited English, or those who are simply more comfortable speaking Spanish. The student’s have stopped to ask for directions to various offices, or assistance contacting a particular program administrator. My goal for this training is to teach some very basic Spanish phrases so that when students come to us, they feel that they are welcomed, have been helped, and are not turned away never to return. Statistics show that our Hispanic Community is growing. – Brenda Flores List of the most common languages spoken at home in the U.S., outside of English: Language Population Estimate Share of Foreign Language Speakers Spanish 41,757,000 61.6% Cantonese and Mandarin 3,495,000 5.2% Tagalog 1,764,000 2.6% Vietnamese 1,571,000 2.3% Arabic 1,260,000 1.9% French and Louisiana French 1,172,000 1.7% Korean 1,075,000 1.6% Russian 941,000 1.4% Haitian Creole 925,000 1.4% German 895,000 1.3% https://www.visualcapitalist.com/most-common-language-spoken-in-the-u-s-map/ 2
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