For Daphne Maras, Spanish is in the blood

&045; but not on the tongue.

She and her seven siblings are the third generation of her hispanic family to live in Albert Lea. With the assimilation of her family into the Midwestern culture, she and all her siblings grew up speaking English, not Spanish.

Maras works at the front office in city hall. She is the first person citizens talk to when they hand in their bills or ask questions on their utilities. Once or twice per week, she says Spanish-speaking customers will come in.

&uot;Many of them assume, because I look like I’m from a Spanish-speaking country, that I do speak Spanish,&uot; she said. &uot;I regret not learning it earlier, but at least now I can pick up a few words to use.&uot;

Like many city employees, Maras decided to take the city up on an offer to take an eight-week Spanish-in-the-workplace course.

Maras said things have changed since she was growing up.

&uot;At that time, there weren’t many Spanish speakers in the community, so we had to know English. Today, (the hispanic) population is much larger and it helps if you know Spanish.&uot;

Tuesday, 29 city employees spoke in unison: &uot;Hola,&uot; &uot;Como Estas?,&uot; &uot;Bienvenido,&uot; they shouted out, repeating the words of the instructor, Sarah Veldman.

Veldman, who teaches Spanish at Albert Lea High School during the school year, is teaching the Spanish class through a Riverland Community College course for companies that want to get a beginner’s grasp on the language.

&uot;It’s really a specific course geared toward the workplace,&uot; she said. &uot;For the city, it’s harder to get too detailed because we are dealing with so many departments.&uot;

Workers from a range of areas including the maintenance, fire, utilities, engineering, and city planning departments attended the hour-and-a-half session voluntarily.

&uot;I think it’s great they are all here,&uot; Veldman said. &uot;It needs to be done in every department in our city, especially the police department.&uot;

No police department workers were in attendance.

The eight-week course won’t aim to make students fluent, but to give them some basic understanding.

&uot;If you can get a few words out in Spanish, it can make a big difference in communicating,&uot; Veldman said.

The course was one of the goals set by the city council: Giving the city workforce a working grasp of the language.

Mayor Jean Eaton was the only representative from the city council in attendance.

&uot;Becoming culturally competent as a city begins with city officials and employees becoming culturally competent,&uot; she said. Eaton hopes the program will help the Spanish-speaking population to feel more welcome in the community.

For wastewater treatment system maintenance worker Matt Larson, the option to learn another language was a no-brainer.

&uot;I think this is a great idea,&uot; he said. &uot;We have people in this community that deal with a language barrier every day. This should help that situation.&uot;

For information on getting a Spanish in the workplace class, call Kari Lenort at 379-3361.