Chicago College Student...Help!

First off, do you speak any Spanish?  I would get a set of Rosetta Stone Latin American Spanish CD's and learn from them.  It is the best way I have ever found to learn a language. In my life I have learned and "lost" my knowledge of Swedish, Dutch and French - if you don't use them you will lose them!  Rosetta costs some $$'s but is well worth it.  Also get a dictionary of Latin American slang...........it will help greatly. Each country has it's own slang and what you may be saying will be fine in one country and very bad in another.  Case in point - inflection in Chinese.  YOu might want to say "your mother is a wonderful lady"  only to be saying "your mother is a &*()% ((&^$%!  Not a good way to make friends!

DH  and I are planning on moving to PR in early 2012.  Even he is trying to learn the language. We also have done a good bit of study re. the culture and etc.  You will be moving into a totally different lifestyle.

My question to you is why do you want to work in a place where English only is spoken?  YOu are a guest - even if an American - in their country and it is only a respectful thing to master their language.  Unless of course you expect to live totally around other expats.  And if that be the case you will certainly miss a lot!  Also, how will you communicate with your friends family?  I am asking you tough questions but I think they have to be asked.

I speak very little..but I can hold a very brief conversation, and not always fluently either I have to think sometimes. I could tell you that if I had to ask for directions, I could find my way there, and simple tasks such as this.
Yes, I understand that I will have to learn Spanish and I have nothing against this. I understand and am very well aware that learning Spanish when living in a mostly Spanish speaking country is the practical thing to do and I do plan to. The reason why I want to hold a job where I can speak English is because I plan to be in the business field. There is a LOT of jargon involved, and I think that having to learn all the technical terms for all this jargon which is hard to master in the English language itself, will be extremely difficult and only to my detriment. Otherwise, speaking it out of the workplace really does not bother me.
My boyfriend speaks both English and Spanish fluently and so does most of his family. For those who do not speak Spanish, again, I am very willing to learn the language-I just perceive it to be extremely difficult thing to do when having to use jargon in the workplace, which has little correlation to my desire to speak it out of the workplace.
Yes, the lifestyle there I notice is very different. Also, as an Asian-American, I'm not sure how I will be perceived in the workplace or even out in the public. I only say this because everytime I visit, I seem to be the only other Asian person on the island, other than when I went out for sushi-I don't mean to sound ignorant, I'm just saying the truth in what I saw. I also had experiences of hostile customer service at the mall-very few times just once or twice, but I always wonder if it attributes to my race.
Really, I am more worried about having a job that I will enjoy there. I don't know where to start or who to contact, or who can help. My boyfriend already has a job secured after he graduates, and will be taking over his dad's family business. He has also lived there all his life before coming to Chicago to study. So, I am pretty much hoping, wishing, that someone who comes my way will be able to help me. Aside from writing to American corporations with offices in Puerto Rico, I was thinking about writing to a news stations over there, and asking for some help in getting the word out for someone to help me out...but I don't know how this will turn out. But I guess it can't hurt to try!

Maybe you should see if your boyfriend or his father have contacts with employeers.  They may be of great help. You can also check   clasificadosonline.com - this is a list of homes, jobs, cars and just about everything you could want.  Maybe you could find a job that way.

Also, you are going to have to have tough skin.  If you worry what people think of you it will show.  They will see you as stand of-ish.  It's like animals can tell when you are afraid of them or are insecure.  Same goes when it comes to people.

I have met many Puerto Ricans where I live in the states.  Everything is bi-lingual!  The people I have met are for the most part very family oriented and a very happy people.

YOu should learn as much about the culture as you can - it will help you greatly and keep you from steping on toes.  You can check out Wickopedia and they have the most info about PR that I have found.  Good common sense stuff.

Good luck and I hope things work out for you.

Paet.................

If your boyfriend's father has business contacts, that would be the way to start.  In Puerto Rico networking works better than classifieds.  As far as the language issue, yes you do need to know some Spanish for work and social reasons.  As long as you make an effort, you will find the people very understanding and friendly.  The Puerto Ricans I know (and I know many) enjoy meeting people from other nationalities and you won't find the bias that exists in many US cities. Good luck.

Paet-thank you for your replies and your writing in the first place! I wish you the best in your move, and wish you luck as well. I definitely try to immerse myself into the culture there when I visit, and I do love that most people I have met in PR are family-oriented and smiley, happy people that bring me to their spirits as well. Thanks again for your advice and best of luck!

MigM--My boyfriend has asked his father, along with most all his relatives for any kind of advice, or loophole for networking. Unfortunately, their responses were all pretty much the same-to look for US based corporations with offices located in PR as well. I have done this, but don't exactly know what to say or how to begin. But I should probably get around to it sooner or later.
It's nice to hear that people there are open to other nationalities. My boyfriend and all his family have been extremely kind toward me, and I hope that others I come across will have similar reactions. It is also nice to hear that the workplace will be understanding to my language skills. And I will definitely make a very great effort of course, and I know that others will recognize this as well. By any chance, would you know anyone who would be willing to take me under their wing? I will be a junior at DePaul University in Chicago, IL this fall, and would absolutely love to have an internship opportunity out there. I think this would help me very much not only with the work, but with the language and lifestyle as well. Muchas gracias por me escribe y ojala que hablar con usted pronto!