Ugh! I've been trying to sell my truck for 3 weeks and I probably could have it sold by now if only I could speak Spanish! I've taken a dozen calls that end after the first question - "Speak Spanish"? I even had a family come by and look at it, but of course we couldn't communicate at all.

I took two years of Spanish in high school because it was required. Now I wish I had taken that 3rd year because it was "Conversational Spanish" and I might be able to get by. We've had a 40% increase in the latino population here in Raleigh since the year 2000. As much as I hate it, this country has become a two language nation. Speaking Spanish is going to be required. Hello, and welcome to Canada South...

I was certainly hoping to have my HHR this month, but things aren't looking up right now. I did take the time today to use babelfish to translate a lot of my ad into Spanish. But I don't know how accurate computer translation is - I imagine some things come out quite hilarious.

I even wrote up a script in English (for me) and Spanish with yes or no type questions should someone come by again. It won't help me on the phone, but I hope this will help somewhat to bridge the language barrier in person. At least my bank has a translator should I need one to finalize my sale.

Okay, I've vented my frustration. Maybe if I have a couple of Dos Equis I'll feel better.

 

somebody say it was beer:30 ? I habla cerveza

 

A good buddy of mine (& trumpet player) relocated to Raleigh recently and imediately got gigs playing in a Latin/Salsa band. (less than a week) I had NO idea/clue how he networked that music scene so quickly??

Ahhh... it all make sense to me now.

Best of luck with selling your truck Alien and hopefully getting your new HHR!! (real soon!)

 

Yo lo hablo, pero estoy en Califonia. Es que estuve in Costa Rica y Mexico por tres anos.

 

www.freetranslation.com Check it out

 

Moved from Raleigh to Albuquerque 11 years ago. I do not remember a large latino population.

Now in Albuquerque we Algol's are the minority !!

 

The housing and construction industry has been huge in this area the past 5 or 6 years and it is forecast to continue increasing here even as most of the rest of the country is cooling off. I hate to stereotype, but most of the workers in this field are latino. I just moved into the last phase of my subdivision of 460 homes. A subdivision behind ours will be finishing up by this fall and it has over 400 homes. Two other subdivisions are in the clearing phase nearby, one will have 600+ homes, the other will be 120 townhomes. And that's just within a half mile of my house. The Martha Stewart/KB Homes project is under construction in Cary with some 650 homes to be built as well. And I forgot to mention the planned communities of Wakefield Plantation and Heritage with their golf courses, movie theatres, ice skating rinks, and new schools. Everybody's moving here!

A lot has changed since you moved away. Two new shopping malls have been built within the last 5 years (one in Durham and one in North Raleigh) and North Hills Mall was totally torn down and rebuilt and expanded as a business/shopping/housing community. Of course, we have the pro hockey team and with that a new arena. Behind the arena, NC State rebuilt their football stadium to a state of the art facility. Traffic is so heavy that we have the 540 outer beltline under construction (partially open) to relieve the congestion on the 440. You can't drive 5 miles without coming across something that is being constructed. This is the place to be if you make your money building things.

 

UPDATE: I sold my truck saturday to that latino family that came by previously. They came back with a friend who spoke English and we worked out the deal. I'm now about 66% of the way to getting my HHR. I have to finish putting the interior back into my Suzuki Sidekick, clean and detail it, and get it sold!

 

Congrats, soon Ben HHR will be yours.