Organization aims to bridge gaps between two languages

John Latham of Boscobel holds hands with children from Veracruz while on the cultural immersion trip.

By Lyssa Beyer
beyerlr@uwec.edu

Anna is going.
Anna va.
Where is Anna going?
¿A dónde va Anna?
Anna is going to school.
Anna va a la escuela.

Shaun Duvall teaches this lesson early on a Monday morning to a group of four Mexican immigrants.

In Mexico, Veracruz sounds of home; but here the dairy farm smells of their everyday life -- a world whose language reeks of unfamiliarity.  

Duvall hopes to close this language gap through her programs, Puentes/Bridges and SJD Language and Culture Services, which work with farmers and Mexican immigrant workers, helping them to communicate and understand each other’s culture.

Ann Hansen, a member of Puentes/Bridges’ board of directors, said Duvall’s dedication to the program helps make it run.

“She has such a depth of soul, she cares so deeply about this,” Hansen said. “The way she has attacked this problem is unique and extremely effective.”

Duvall meets with farmers in Wisconsin and Minnesota, teaching Spanish and English classes and translating between employers and employees.

She spends every Monday morning at Rosenholm-Wolfe dairy, teaching Spanish and English classes for four hours.

Her presence also offers a chance for John Rosenow, of Rosenholm-Wolfe dairy, to communicate necessary business with his employees.

It also allows employees to tell Rosenow about any issues they may be having.

La empieza … the beginning
Originally, this was not the career plan Duvall had in mind. She actually graduated from St. Benedict College with a degree in Secondary Education and French.

“I had taken French in high school and it came really easy for me,” she said, adding she had never really thought about learning Spanish.

Then Alma High School, in Wisconsin, wanted to start up a language program. They asked Duvall to teach Spanish.

“I didn’t know any Spanish,” she said.

Duvall took classes at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse in order to earn the equivalent of a minor, which she needed to teach the language in addition to her education degree.

She said she also set out to Cuernavaca, Mexico, over two summers in hopes of learning even more of the language and culture.

In the late 1990s, dairy farmers in southwestern Wisconsin began hiring more workers from Mexico; the language barriers frustrated the farmers, according to Puentes/Bridges history. That’s when Buffalo County agricultural extension agent Carl Duley asked Duvall to help out.

So, Duvall found herself teaching English to Mexican immigrants and Spanish to Wisconsin farmers.

She said she realized just knowing the words wasn’t enough.

“To help bridge these communication gaps, one of the biggest things is understanding where the people came from,” she said.

Los viajes … the trips
Puentes/Bridges helps farmers do just that. Every year since 2001, the organization has taken a group of farmers on cultural immersion trips to Mexico, Duvall said.

It’s a 10-day trip that includes a three-day family stay, language classes and many other ways to fully immerse the participants into Mexican culture, according to Puentes/Bridges Mexico Immersion trip information.

Chris Weisenbeck of Homestead Farms, Urne, Wisc., works with Puentes/Bridges and SJD and has taken the trip to Mexico.

“It showed the family that I was interested in them, not just getting a laborer,” Weisenbeck said. “I just learned so much about the culture on the trip. You know, you can read in books, but until you go to Mexico and stay in their communities you don’t have an idea.”

A lot of thought went into deciding what to do on the trip, Duvall said. She held a meeting with the farmers to create the itinerary for the trip.

“(Rosenow) said, ‘I’d like to see where my employees come from,” Duvall said.
Rosenow said he credits the trip and the Puentes/Bridges program in helping him in many ways, from learning some of the language to a lot of the culture.

“(Taking the trip) gave me a better relationship with my employees because they know I made the effort,” he said.

Hansen said Rosenow’s efforts have been just as helpful to Puentes/Bridges’ success.

“Rosenow was instrumental in getting this going,” Hansen said. “He has gone in front of the legislature; he has been at the front of this whole effort. I really think the (program’s) existence is due as much to (Rosenow) as it is to (Duvall).”

La vida diaria … everyday life
In 2004, teaching and running Puentes/Bridges and SJD programs overwhelmed Duvall.

On top of her work schedule, Duvall had a busy family life with three kids to take care of.

She said she made the decision to quit her job at the high school.

“I love teaching, but there are many ways to teach,” Duvall said. “I’m probably a teacher at heart, but all teaching isn’t done in schools.”

Weisenbeck said Duvall’s dedication is very evident.

“Once she started meeting the families she just really got wrapped up in it, she really enjoys it,” he said. “She’s what made the program work — it’s hard to find people that devoted.”

Dedicating her time to Puentes/Bridges and SJD not only allowed her more control over her schedule, but also gave her a way to re-visit a childhood desire.

Duvall was raised in the Twin Cities, but said she always had an aching for a more rural atmosphere.

“I grew up with a romantic love for the country.”

La cultura … the culture
A really big part of communicating with people from different cultures is understanding why they act in certain ways, Duvall said.

For instance, the farmers and the immigrant workers have miscommunications because of the different values in each culture, Duvall said. People from Veracruz generally want to please and appear like they understand, even when they don’t.

So, a typical problem happens when farmers ask the immigrant workers to complete a task. Because of obvious language barriers, the employee might not understand the work request, Duvall said. But, in order to save face, the immigrant workers want to please their boss and pretend to understand. Later, they will be asking each other, “Does anybody know what he said?”

Duvall said this causes even more problems because farmers get frustrated by employees who don't appear to be doing their work. The farmers don’t understand their employees' need to please and the employees don’t understand that it is OK to ask him to explain it again.

Duvall said she works with the farmers and the immigrant workers to reduce these frustrations.

The question then becomes, “How can we get feedback so we know they understood?” Duvall said.

The answer is to work with the immigrants and ask them to repeat the task to Duvall. When they tell her, she knows they understood.

Duvall said she has been in situations that may help her relate to the immigrant workers better.

She worked in an Alaskan daycare, in a town where mostly Eskimo people lived.

Duvall said she remembered one particular ritual at the grocery stores. The women would be squatting around waiting for their rides and there she was standing.

“That’s what it's like to be the one that sticks out,” she said.

Nos ayudan … they help us
Dairy farmers in Wisconsin often struggle to find people to do the type of work needed on their farms. 

Rosenow said Americans want to work in computer related or other office environments rather than get down and dirty on a farm. But, he said Mexicans tend to find it a rewarding job.

Weisenbeck agreed with the level of the immigrant workers’ devotion.

“It’s milking the cows, three times a day, seven days a week,” he said. “It’s very difficult to find people that committed.”

Mexican immigrants make up about 50 percent of those employed by both Rosenow and Weisenbeck.

“Our farm takes 46,000 hours of labor to run … to get all the work done — so that takes 19 people to do that,” Rosenow said. “For us to eliminate half the labor, we would have to try to source that locally. We’ve made attempts at that over and over for the last 10 years. There’s hardly anybody left that wants to work on a farm — it has always been tough getting people to work on farms and now it’s just about impossible.”

El sueño … the dream
Everything would be easier if the two groups could understand each other. The Puentes/Bridges and SJD programs strive to bring the community closer to that goal.

Weisenbeck said he tried to learn Spanish, but doesn’t know as much as he would like.

“I wish I could (speak Spanish) and I can probably, in a tight situation, get a little bit —but I’m not very fluent,” he said. “It’s not like you and I talking right now, but we have an understanding — (I’d) call it spanglish.”

But, even while language barriers continue to exist, Duvall said the program is still taking a big step in the right direction.

“I think it helps a lot,” she said. “Not because of me, but because when you can help someone understand, (that) knowledge of both cultures (helps us) understand why people do the things they do.”