This one-year qualitative study analyzed how nine middle school English language learners (ELLs) of Mexican descent constructed meaning on think-aloud protocols of Spanish and English word problems. Strategies used by these students to process information from English to their native language included translating to Spanish, reading the problem at least twice, inferring meaning, understanding mathematical symbols, and ignoring words that were irrelevant to the solution. The students failed to construct meaning in both languages when the word problems mixed mathematical with natural language. The findings indicate the importance of using students' sociocultural and linguistic experiences to make mathematical connections between natural language and the language that is specific to mathematics. (Contains 39 references.) (Author/ASK)