My Dominican-American Experience

I came to this country at a very early age, during that time I could only identify with what I already knew. I knew that I was female and that my only language was Spanish because it is what my parents understood and spoke to me. Now that I have been living here for many years, I identify as Dominican-American. For the most part, identifying as an American because I gained citizenship in my early twenties. I also identify as a Hispanic. I experienced all the stages of Tse’s model at an early age. As I have mentioned previously, I was not aware in how much time my life would change. My parents only told me that we were going to visit a new place on an airplane it was not until after we arrived in the U.S. that our stay was for good. I identify
I often thought about the advantages of being bilingual for one, no one else understood what you were saying unless they spoke the same language. Learning and understanding another language did make feel like a different person. In school, I was always trying to fit in with the other students and show them that I could speak the language properly. They did see the effort that I was making and even so allowed me to sit at their lunch table or play with them during recess. Today, I do not really feel any different in how I identify and my level of proficiency in the languages that I already know. Based on the stages under Tse’s model, I can differentiate between the cultures of the minority and majority groups. In the reading, it mentioned that according to Tse, an individual does not actually experience the four stages to their full extent. Most minority group members do not aspire to become members of the dominant and so they do not experience all four of these
The idea of keeping a diary came from a tv show or cartoon I used to watch. When I first wrote in my diary, I wrote in English and it is the same language that I continue to write in to this day. When I write, I write what I am feeling at that very moment or what emotions have buried themselves inside me. I have not written in my diary in Spanish for fear that someone might find my diary and read it. Another reason is that if I had to write in Spanish, I would have to think about my writing making sense. I would think about whether what I am feeling makes sense to me. Are my feelings the same in Spanish? When I write, I just write and not think about language. I guess the reason I choose to write in English all the time is because that is the language I have used in writing for so long. In my head, I am mostly thinking in English. I do think in Spanish but never enough to write it all down on a piece of