Question for the married men

[buster40]

... in response to Question for the married men , posted by Nevergivingup on Dec 20, 2005

My wife is brilliant.  She married me.

[Chris F]

... in response to Question for the married men , posted by Nevergivingup on Dec 20, 2005

My wife studied English for a few months in Peru before arriving here in July. She just passed her Level 2 English class here at the community college and begins Level 3 in February.

She really wants to learn the language as quickly as possible so she can get a job and finish her degree. While I speak some Spanish..I make it a point to only communicate with her in English. Her English class is three hours a day plus a retired teacher works with her another hour everyday with her homework.

Remember...when you are learning a new language...you understand more then you can speak. I would say my wife is speaking English right now on a "eight year old" level and understanding on a "twelve year old" level if that makes any sense..... So..she is able to communicate with my family and friends...just nothing to advanced right now...

She has made tremendous progress since she arrived here five months ago and I am very proud of her....

[Patrick]

... in response to Question for the married men , posted by Nevergivingup on Dec 20, 2005

My wife had a decent grasp of English on arrival.  She had studied it in school and brushed up when she started corresponding with gringos.

Don't underestimate the difficulty of learning English as a second language.  It's definitely harder to learn than Spanish as a second language.  I suspect a significant percentage of Latin women never reach full fluency in English.  You might want to adjust any expectations downward.

My wife's English is actually getting worse now.  She's speaking only Spanish all day long with our daughter trying to teach her the language whiles she's still very young and capable of achieving full fluency in two languages.  Seems to be working so far, but it's a bit of a struggle competing with English cartoons.

[soltero]

... in response to Question for the married men , posted by Nevergivingup on Dec 20, 2005

"Is you wife average or above average intelligence?"

Funny...people mistake lack of education for stupidity. Did you mean to ask how educated the woman was or did you really just ask if some guy married a dumb chick?

or were you implying that her inability to speak English may be related to her intelligence? How's your famliy's Spanish? (or yours?)

In all seriousness, one of the biggest issues you will have will be her relating to your family and friends and issues with communication.