Hi everyone! I currently live and work in SC, and we have a number of Spanish-speakers in one of the communities we're trying to reach with bike info and education. Any ideas on what to say/how to do this? Obviously being familiar with leaders in that specific group of people is key, but I haven't found great material yet or advice on where to start. Thanks for the help!
Hmmm. Pittsburgh isn't the best place for spanish speaking materials. I know Chicago translates all of their materials. The group there is called the Active Transportation Alliance. http://www.activetrans.org/
Also, there are some great looking materials out of Toronto (the most international city on earth apparently). I have a bike guide in Hindi from there.
Also, the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition has done a lot of outreach to spanish speaking communities.
Just stumbling upon this, for one. A lot of the stuff I have read coming out of the LA area seems to have multi-lingual stuff,
From "Ciudad de Luces":
http://ciudaddeluces.wordpress.com/2010/03/30/new-spanish-bike-resource-guide-out/
Also maybe the LA Bicycle Coalition might have some info, or some contacts, at any rate:
http://la-bike.org/
FHWA has a bunch of stuff
http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/ped_bike/hispanic/materials/index.cfm
Amarillo Texas developed some good stuff too, including a sort of "how to guide" which would seem to respond to your question "how to start...?"
http://www.bicyclinginfo.org/library/details.cfm?id=4156
paging lucia?
Wow! Sorry! Just saw this...
@Tia.... Well, having a sort-of phamplet that the spanish-speaking community could be given, or that they could pick up easily, would be away to start. Here in Pittsburgh there is a spanish-speaking free-monthly newspaper. If you guys have something similar, perhaps you could arrange to have them located at similar locations <==== just an idea.
If you already have material for cycling for english-speakers, I'm bilingual (originally from Mexico City), and could translate them for you, and perhaps tailor them to the community if you give me more information as well. I have graphic design capabilities, so we can even make it spify as well!
Let me know 
Or send me a PM
@Erok... you know? I've seen a couple of spanish-speaking people in bikes around the city. MAYBE BikePgh could do some bilingual-materials as well....
@Erok... you know? I've seen a couple of spanish-speaking people in bikes around the city. MAYBE BikePgh could do some bilingual-materials as well....
^we're definitely talking about that.
As an aside, I think a Cinco de Mayo theme flock ride could be pretty kickass. Though it would need to be on, like, ocho.
i am supportive as that is my birthday
I don't suppose we should call you Ochocinco?
As long as people know exactly what 'cinco de mayo' stands for, I'm cool
it stands for coronas and cheap tequila right? and tacos.
I am always up for an educational opportunity!
After briefly refreshing myself on the history, I'm more up for it than before. Though I will not hijack the thread, keep the idea in mind.
haha! No, I have no problem with Coronas or Good Tequila (cheap tequila just sucks-ass).... I also love XX's!
THE FACTS:
Cinco De Mayo commemorates the day of a key battle that the Mexican Army won against the French, and that contributed kicking them out of Mexico for -mostly- good. At the time the French had invaded & settled in parts of Mexico. In the great scheme of things and battles, 5 de Mayo is not a huge-celebration like here in the States.
For more info go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Puebla
WHY THE USA STARTED "CINCO DE MAYO" AS A HISPANIC-MEXICAN PRIDE DAY
The intent of the French Army to invade and control Mexico was so they could become 'neighbors' to the USA & at some point try to go against them -much easier if you are in the other side of the border than across the Atlantic. The USA obviously did not appreciate this, so they were rather happy that Mexican Armies won that battle, and why it is 'celebrated' and remembered in here.
THE MYTH:
Cinco de Mayo is *NOT* the Anniversary of the Mexico's Independence Day. That National Holiday -the most important, is celebrated on September 15th & 16th
THE TRIVIA:
I have french background from my Mon's side of the family associated to that French Intervention.... My great-grand mother was french. Yeap....
So there.... with that out, sure I'll be up for "taco bike ride" or something
My super-condensed version of the story would be, during the American Civil war, Mexico saves the Union's ass from the Confederacy. You just don't hear that mentioned much.
Is spanish the second most common language in Pittsburgh? Or is it Russian or Hebrew?
Good stats are hard to find, but this page indicates the 2nd language in Pittsburgh might not be Spanish, It's hard to ell from what they write and it might be changing.
http://www.mapszipcode.com/pennsylvania/pittsburgh/15235
Most residents of zip code 15235 speak English as their first language with Other European language (excluding English or Spanish) being the second most spoken language. The same language statistics apply to Pittsburgh.
During the Black & Gold ride I gave a guy with an Australian accent directions to a couple of bike shops, it was really impressive how well he spoke English.
(To those who do not have their sarcasmometers switched on, this is meant in jest. I intend no disrespect to anyone of Australian descent)
Since we're talking language here, could we get some materials translated into Viking, Vegan and U-Lock-Wielding, as those populations seem to be on the rise around here as well?
Holy cow, I think the Pittsburgh "'nat" interjection is actually a Viking term.
Anyway, my most sincere apologies to the original poster.
When I was at Pitt (late 90s), I recall a discussion that Spanish was the one language you did *not* hear on a Pittsburgh street or bus. Ten others you might, not Spanish. It's quite a bit more common now, but hardly a dominant 2nd. More like 5th, at best. I'd say Polish, Russian, Chinese, Hungarian, rank above Spanish, though many tend to be in little enclaves. Where's that Little Somalia we talked about a few months back?
I'd guess there's a lot of Polish here still. Apparently they still give Mass in Polish @ The Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The language story in Pittsburgh is interesting. The Modern Language Association has done a special tabulation of the 2000 Census data for the region, based on the question "do you speak a languge other than English at home, and if so, what language." That question probably undercounts language diversity in the region, as I don't know how my neighbor might have reported his polish, slovene, russian and german capabilities. There is another question in the Census that has to do with "how well do you speak English." That leads to a whole 'nother assessment of linguistic diversity in Pittsburgh. In the case of "Limited English Proficiency" the four most prevalent languages spoken in the region are Spanish, Italian, German and French, in that order. That is likely to change when the 2010 Census comes out.
The top four SELF REPORTED languages in Allegheny County in 2000 were Polish, Russian, Spanish and Italian. Lyle's mention of Hebrew/Yiddish points out one of the problems with self-reporting: only a total of 104 individuals in Allegheny County indicated that they spoke this language at home in 2000. While that is based on sample data, we know there are many more than that who have that linguistic capability in our region. Maybe they identified themselves as speaking another language in the home? Maybe they were under sampled?
