Los Angeles: Hablan español at City H all

[Francis Hult]

Los Angeles Times

 

Hablan español at City Hall

 

It's Monday afternoon at City Hall, and Councilwoman Jan Perry is sneaking an hour between meetings to read a novel by Isabel Allende, the prolific Chilean writer. In the original Spanish. 

"¿Almohada?" she asks her tutor in the middle of a sentence.

"Pillow," Oscar Szmuch responds.

Perry hired Szmuch a year ago. He has helped her learn Spanish well enough to converse with native speakers.

Nearly 40% of Los Angeles County residents older than age 5 speak Spanish at home -- about 3.7 million people, according to 2006 estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. Until recently, however, only a handful of City Council members were bilingual.

Now, council President Eric Garcetti gives almost all of his news conferences bilingually. City Controller Laura Chick and City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo, who is Latino, have participated in Spanish-language immersion programs in Mexico. Perry started holding her news conferences in Spanish and English a few years ago. Her office issues most of its public documents in both languages.

Although far from fluent, Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who represents parts of the Westside and the San Fernando Valley, increasingly uses Spanish in official business.

 

Full story:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-spanish14apr14,1,7340091.story

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