Diane and Stephen's Excellent Albuquerque Adventure: Spanish

Can you live in New Mexico without speaking/reading Spanish? Sure you can, but you'd be missing out on much of the culture and much of what is going on around you. The experience of Abq is greatly enhanced by knowing some Spanish. Sadly, I took several years of French in high school and college, so I had to start from scratch when I moved here. I am sorry to say that my brain is much less flexible than it was 30 years ago when I soaked up French like a sponge. I'm still coming up with French words and phrases whenever I try to speak or think in Spanish, but I don't intend to give up!

Spain colonized this area and land grants were given by the Spanish king in the late 1600's and the 1700's. After the Mexican War of Independence in 1821, the Mexican government awarded additional land grants. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which ended the Mexican-American War in 1848, specified that the U.S. would honor the Spanish and Mexican land grants. Ultimately, the U.S. did not honor all of them, and there are groups in New Mexico that are still fighting to claim land grants from those times, tracing their heritage back to the royalty of Spain. New Mexico didn't become a state until 1912, the 47th state in the union.

It's hard to explain the ubiquity of Spanish to my New York and New England friends who haven't been here. For one thing, I couldn't pronounce anyone's name until I learned Spanish pronunciation rules. The first day I worked as a substitute teacher, I was in for Mr. Trujillo. When I told the principal who I was there to sub for, she said, "You're not from here, are you?" I have since learned that Trujillo is a very common name here (like Smith) and is pronounced Troo-hee-yo. One of the most common first names for girls at my school is Yarely, also spelled Ydali. I have at least five students with that first name.
The parents and secretaries and many of the teachers in my schools speak Spanish, so when I'm in the main office I never know what's going on unless I ask. We say The Pledge of Allegiance twice every morning; once in English and once in Spanish. Many signs in the city are bilingual, but some are only in Spanish. And lots of jobs require you to be bilingual. In the grocery store and other public places, I hear many conversations in Spanish.