Langlish By Richard Rodriguez Summary
“I wasn’t trying to hurt him! He has ຕາຂປີ!” I protested as my teacher led me to the corner. The phrase appears as confusing written as it does spoken, and my teacher could not comprehend. Apparently neither did my classmate, who yelped when I pointed my finger at his eye. It would take three years before I learned the English equivalent of this word. What others call “eye boogers” or “sleep eye” I call “ຕາຂປີ.” It’s not an exact translation because of the fickle Laotian alphabet, but basically, I call it eye poop, or “kee-taah”. “Key” means poop; “ta” means eye. If my teacher had let me explain myself instead of turning away and leaving me to stare at the wall, maybe she would have understood; maybe I could have learned the English word sooner.
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Rodriguez, a bilingual author, had a case more extreme than mine, as he learned English as his second language. My Caucasian father could not speak Lao, which caused the need for my proficiency in English pronunciation and vocabulary. Rodriguez’s family spoke only Spanish. Originally, the introduction of English (most likely Spanglish) granted him elements of fun while he learned English. His essay takes a more melancholy tone when he is suddenly forced to speak solely English. Spanish, formerly the language of his home and community, became taboo when “One Saturday morning [he] entered the kitchen where [his] parents were talking in Spanish… at the moment they saw [him], [he] heard their voices change to speak English”(22). Rodriguez continues to describe how his “throat twisted by unsounded grief” (22) and although he left, he knew he could not take Spanish with him. The distress, met with force and demands, only resulted in adults saying he must learn English. Yet when he does, Rodriguez feels as though “the special feeling of closeness at home was diminished” (24), and notes that “[They] remained a loving family, but one greatly changed. No longer so close” (24). He unwillingly learns English, but loses everything he once held dear in the
Rodriguez, a bilingual author, had a case more extreme than mine, as he learned English as his second language. My Caucasian father could not speak Lao, which caused the need for my proficiency in English pronunciation and vocabulary. Rodriguez’s family spoke only Spanish. Originally, the introduction of English (most likely Spanglish) granted him elements of fun while he learned English. His essay takes a more melancholy tone when he is suddenly forced to speak solely English. Spanish, formerly the language of his home and community, became taboo when “One Saturday morning [he] entered the kitchen where [his] parents were talking in Spanish… at the moment they saw [him], [he] heard their voices change to speak English”(22). Rodriguez continues to describe how his “throat twisted by unsounded grief” (22) and although he left, he knew he could not take Spanish with him. The distress, met with force and demands, only resulted in adults saying he must learn English. Yet when he does, Rodriguez feels as though “the special feeling of closeness at home was diminished” (24), and notes that “[They] remained a loving family, but one greatly changed. No longer so close” (24). He unwillingly learns English, but loses everything he once held dear in the