Houston Chronicle

Learning the language

Living in Houston provides opportunities to learn and practice Spanish

By EILEEN McCLELLAND

Rafael Zambrana begins a discussion about selling property in Mexico City. Then he talks about a crippling case of food poisoning. And finally he starts a lengthy discourse about what it would take to make Houston more attractive to tourists.

Some of his audience hangs on his every word.

Others seem completely baffled.

Down the table from him, someone is talking about cats.

What do these people have in common?

They're all practicing their Spanish. . .

. . . Henry Weissborn, organizer of the largest Spanish Internet Meetup.com group in Houston, studied the language at Houston Community College and Rice University. Now he is passionate about his primary hobby — speaking and writing in Spanish. He's active in two conversation groups and a Toastmaster's club.

"You really have to stick with it and never give up," Weissborn said. "Houston is the perfect Spanish-language laboratory. It's all around us, on TV, the Spanish-language daily newspapers, a wealth of activities, concerts, festivals. There's no shortage of resources here and no shortage of opportunities to use the language."

Meetup.com schedules dinner meetings once a month. Many members also participate in La Mesa Española at Taco Milagro and in the International Alliance. Most participants are at an intermediate level, but the clubs are open to anyone.

Weissborn says the biggest mistake beginners make in such circumstances is switching back and forth between languages. . .

Houston Spanish Meetup: At 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday of every month at Sabor! Central American Cuisine, 5712 Bellaire Blvd. Information: www.meetup.com or 713-723-3555.

Link