Is it beyond other non-Hispanic Democrat politicians to become fluent in Spanish ?

[OnDoutside]

All credit to Tim Kaine for becoming fluent in Spanish, but he's being set apart just because he can speak the language.

Are there any others, perhaps amongst the rising stars ? You would think it'd be a no-brainer for an ambitious politician to make it their business to add Spanish to their abilities.

[yeoman6987]

1. Some really bright and good democratic people don't have the ability

to speak another language. I don't think they should be penalized. It can be an asset but to be negative or discount someone who is unable to speak Spanish is highly unfair.

[OnDoutside]

3. I am singularly talking about it being an asset, my question is why aren't there more when

there's a very obvious dividend for themselves and the Party.

[yeoman6987]

6. Sorry. I took it wrong.

Have a great hump day!!!

[Hortensis]

23. I agree. I've wondered myself. Bernie is from

a very white state, but Hillary's been developing relations with Hispanic groups for years and became a senator for New York. It seems beyond likely that in future more will.

[Travis_0004]

2. om sure a lot of politicans are busy and just dont have the time

Learning a new language takes a lot of time, and peope are busy with other things.

[OnDoutside]

4. Yes, that's true but there's serious political advantage for them in doing so.

[B Calm]

5. I'm more concerned where they stand on the issues than how

many languages they speak. Call me old fashion.

[OnDoutside]

8. Is it beyond them to do both ?

[B Calm]

11. Which is more important? Would you support an anti choice candidate

because they speak two languages?

[LanternWaste]

12. I've see no implication that any vote's are predicated wholly on a candidate's ability

I've see no implication that any vote's are predicated wholly on a candidate's ability to speak bilingually, merely that it is an additional and valuable tool.

[OnDoutside]

18. Exactly, thank you.

[treestar]

7. lol Dubya claimed he could do it

I recall a hilarious Spanish language comedy web page - it purported to be the WH page in Spanish. It was hilarious.

[TheFarseer]

9. First of all

All the credit in the world to people who learn a second language when they wouldn't really have to. But do I have to point out that learning a second language is hard? The wife and I picked up Rosetta Stone and tried to learn Spanish a lesson at a time every night for 2 months and it just wasn't clicking. So we gave up and just counted on everyone in Playa del Carmen speaking English. It's not as easy as picking up being able to speak Spanish at Target.

[OnDoutside]

10. I think people are missing the point here, there's an opportunity for the Democratic Party to make

great inroads into the Latino community, because of Trump. It's surprising that more senior Democrat leaders don't have a grasp of Spanish, when there is electoral advantage in it for them.

[tazkcmo]

15. Speaking of language...

It's DemocratIC, as in "It's surprising that more senior Democratic leaders...".

[betsuni]

16. That bugged me too.

I would suggest: "Apart from Tim Kaine, why aren't there more non-Hispanic Democrats who speak Spanish?"

[Bluenorthwest]

13. Jeb Bush is fluent in Spanish. The Castro Brothers are not.

Discuss.

[OnDoutside]

20. And neither is Ted Cruz !

[book_worm]

14. The younger you are the easier to learn another language--harder as you age

not impossible, but harder. I believe Kaine learned at an early age and kept up with it which is excellent.

[DustyJoe]

17. immersion

Maybe a mandatory internship for all lawmakers in mexican government to immerse themselves in hispanic culture and language is needed in order to serve the hispanic constituency ? /tongueincheeck/

Then vietnamese, chinese, farsi, korean et al.

[OnDoutside]

21. How would they get over the wall ???

[La Lioness Priyanka]

22. This made me think of Bloomberg and his Spanish

It was literally the only good part of his 'rule'

[geek tragedy]

24. heck it was beyond Julian Castro to become fluent in Spanish. nt

[BlueCaliDem]

29. Julian Castro: "...being fluent in Spanish does not define whether or not you're Latino."

And he's right about that. Fact remains, he is Latino and part of the largest Latino group within the Hispanic group - Mexican-American.

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/hud-secretary-julian-castro-on-speaking-spanish-490886723833

Also remember, that during the time he grew up - Reagan's era - in the 1980's, speaking Spanish was not an asset. In fact, it was seen as a liability and frowned upon unless you were of the Anglo-American persuasion. I can understand why his mother didn't want to raise her twin Mexican-American sons with Spanish as their first language. The Hispanic community understands that, too.

[B Calm]

25. What do we know about Julia Castro? What's his stance on abortion?

Granted he is a Latino and that is a huge plus, but we know nothing on his stances on key issues.

For a real eye opener, click here.
http://www.ontheissues.org/Julian_Castro.htm

[sarae]

28. Thanks for the link, I haven't seen it before.

[Scootaloo]

26. The older you get, the more difficult it is to learn a new language

And even if you learn the language, fluency is a pretty variable thing.

While it's certainly a desirable skill, particularly in politics, achieving it can be kind of difficult, individual by individual.

[BlueCaliDem]

27. Plenty of Latino-Americans who don't speak Spanish very well or at all. If by rising star you mean

Julian Castro, he was raised in the time when most Mexican-American families didn't teach their children Spanish and, instead, opted to adopt the language of their country - which was America and American-English - because of the negative stigma placed on Spanish-speaking Latinos in the 1980's. I know quite a few Latinos - with accents, too! - who can't speak Spanish at all!

But it's never a bad move to want to be bilingual.

[AgingAmerican]

30. I have a minor in Hispanic studies

And I can assure it is very hard to learn a second language. You have to put your heart and soul into it for years. It is very hard to do casually.

Was almost as hard as computer programming.

[TacoD]

31. Democratic is the adjective. Using "Democrat" as an adjective is a right-wing rhetorical tactic.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_Party_(epithet)

ETA: Must copy and paste URL, as parentheses break DU's linking function