... in response to Question: Colombianas and English, posted by fingaroll44 on Apr 22, 2005No not lazy at all. I have you have wondered about this but after discussing it with a few ladies and spending a lot of time down in Colombia and one trip to Brazil I can tell it is more complicated than you make it seem.
1. Yes it’s possible to study things off the internet but in Colombia, computers and internet subscription are still a very big luxury. Even if they have internet access in their home, Colombians are not glued to it like we are. WE can use the internet for many things, but in Colombia, they have not gotten to that level yet. For many the internet is only used for email and is now slowly becoming necessary for school assignments and learning.
2. The cost IS prohibitive if they want to study in a language school which many believe is the best way to learn a foreign language. For example, Berlitz costs about $150 a month while a place like Colombo cost about $50 a month (I think). Thus if a woman has completed her degree she is looking at studying at a language school. Remember a laborer there makes about$ $150-300 a month while professionals make on average $600 a month. Thus you are talking about 25-33% of their gross income being spent on English lessons when the vast majority can't even get a visa to vsit an English speaking country.
I'm not disagreeing with you in that they need to learn a second language but its just harder there as the class system really does exist there and limit many. Another things, Look at the USA; we are probably just as bad as Colombia when it comes to learning a second language. Just compare the USA to other countries around the world and you will see that as a country we are pitiful when it comes to second languages. ha ha ha. We just have more resources to learn than Colombia but we really are not that better.
Sure Colombia needs to make some changes to become a power, but it goes beyond that of English. Hopefully as more and more businesses go global and find their way to Colombiaan d vice versa, things will hopefully changea nd there will be more opportunities for Colombians that speak English and lead to more people learning English etc..
Just my 2 centavos
