In his early childhood, Spanish was his exclusive language used by his parents, siblings, and family. He perceived this language as a “private language”, the language that gave him comfort. It was his family language, which was used in safety of his home, apart from a strange world of “los gringos”. “To hear its sounds was to feel myself specially recognized as one of the family, apart from los otros” (329). English, on the other hand, was the language little Ricardo associated with strangers, and it was only used in the outside world. Richard felt intimidated by it, because he knew quite well that his English was poor. “My words could not extend to form complete thoughts. And the words I did speak I didn’t know well enough to make distinct sounds” (328). Rodriguez felt that he didn’t belong in the outside world. He was awkward comparing to native English speakers. He lacked confidence and he struggled to master “public language”. “I remained cloistered by sounds, timid and shy in public, too dependent on the voices at home. And yet I was a very happy child when I was at home” (330). He was also embarrassed by his parents’ heavily accented, ungrammatical…