berman@ihlpg.UUCP (Andy Berman) (06/18/85)
>From: moku@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (mark william francillon) >Path: ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!moku >Organization: U. Chicago - Computation Center >Newsgroups: net.politics,net.jobs >Date: 17 Jun 85 19:07:02 GMT > >Two things about TechNica: > >1. I'd be interested in reading accounts from people who've gone > to Nicaragua under TechNica of, more or less, what their > projects involved. > >2. Any ideas about the sort of minimal competence in Spanish > required to make the going productive? > -------------------------------------- Check out the Feb 15, 1985 issue of Datamation for an article describing techNICA and its projects. The techNICA office will send you a copy if your library doesn't have it (1-213-394-1183) There is no doubt that knowing Spanish helps, but for many of the jobs it is not crucial. Many Nicaraguans have some English, and in a one-on-one session in front of a VDT, a limited vocabulary will suffice. On a recent trip, many of the American volunteers spoke very little Spanish, yet all felt that much productive work was done.