The many languages of Suriname

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of course, but a language isn't learned overnight. That being the case, any business or public service catches on pretty quickly that they'll either 1.) bring in more business or 2.) better serve their mission statement by reaching out to the spanish-speaking population. Think about how difficult it is for you to navigate anything governmental or otherwise heavily legislated (getting a passport, settling a traffic ticket, finding the right deal on car insurance) in your own language and then imagine how difficult it would be for you to do it in your second language even if you were conversationally fluent. "just learn English" carries a whole lot of assumptions. In fact, the vast majority of immigrants make an ongoing study of English and are at some level of fluency within a year of arrival.

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