From its conception, the United States has been known as a melting pot of different ethnicities, cultures, and languages. It was common to hear different languages being spoken all around, not as it is in today's society, where it can be seen as rude or disrespectful by those in proximity if someone speaks in a language other than English. In her article Why and When We Speak Spanish in Public, Myriam Marquez explains to her readers why people speak Spanish in public when they know English. She uses logos, pathos, and ethos to explain to her readers why people speak Spanish while in public.…
Se Habla Espanol by Tanya Barrientos was about a Latina girl who struggled with her identity. She was born in Guatemala but has lived in America since she was three years old. In the beginning she was somewhat embarrassed by her Hispanic heritage. Tanya felt inferior to the white people because of how she looked and because of her last name. The tone of the essay was a serious and desperate cry for help. It seemed she was speaking to anyone who could listen and relate to her. Tanya wrote from her point of view and how she felt like a “gringa” trapped in a Latina girl’s body.…
As Nordlinger describes, America nowadays faces a challenge of keeping English the only official language. Spanish has become a language that presents a challenge to English in America's “contemporary life." “I trust that Americanization will sometime kick in...But if it doesn't, we will lose a lot," said Nordlinger. His message was a warning to English speakers that other languages, Spanish in particular, are invading the Americans' mother tongue. He strongly suggests that construction workers should learn English instead of knowing only to speak Spanish between each other and their bosses. He believes that they signed up for that." The deal was, you came to America and you assimilated into the culture," said Nordlinger. But, as immigrants, do they have to adopt the American culture to learn its language?…
• Deslenguadas. Somos los del español deficient. We are your linguistic nightmare, your linguistic aberration, your linguistic mestizaje, the subject of your burla. Because we speak with tongues of fire we are culturally crucified. Racially, culturally and linguistically somos…
This seminar was about the Rehabilitating the "Wild Tongue" Philosophy at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. The speaker, Francisco Guajardo, divided his presentation into four major parts. Francisco starts off by giving a background information of his life. In the first few minutes of the presentation, I learned Francisco belonged to an immigrant family. His family migrated to the United States, in search for a better life. Francisco grew up in the city of Elsa, Texas beside his two brothers. Francisco first language was Spanish, but he later was introduced to the English language. While Francisco attended his first year of elementary school, his classroom became a test trial for bilingual instruction. Francisco states that rushing a Spanish speaking child into an English classroom will affect their language development.…
In Gloria Anzaldua’s article, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” she demonstrates her experiences of overcoming ethnic identity. From personal exposure, Anzaldua describes her observation of linguistic terrorism throughout her life. The article begins in a school setting where the author reveals an unacceptable atmosphere for being caught speaking Spanish. Communicating meant speaking American, and avoiding any Mexican accents. Violation of the First Amendment is expressed through the author feeling attacked for expressing her roots. Anzaldua’s emphasizes how people who have experienced alienation should not be ashamed of their native tongues.…
We explain. Does Hispanic immigration threaten the English language? We do not think so' Is our exposure to national media wiping out regional differences and causing us all to speak the same? We think not. Is the language really in serious decline?" (MacNeil,page 307 paragraph 5), MacNeil uses the series of questions to get the reader to think about the things before he starts introducing the arguments.…
The author talks about the dilemma she faced about her own language and how she represents herself through her language. Gloria Anzaldua who is a Chicano talks about how Chicanas have problems expressing their feelings. Since they lack a native language, instead it is a product of several languages. And their language Chicano Spanish has incorporated bits and pieces of several versions of Spanish. The author speaks about people who are neither Spanish nor live in a country in which Spanish is the first language; for a people who live in a country in which English is the reigning tongue but who are not Anglo; for a people who cannot entirely identify with either standard Spanish no standard English. So she emphasizes the importance to have their…
As one of the most dynamic countries that primarily use the English language, the United States is a wonderland in which each state has its own accent and that all Americans take pride in their own language culture. In the documentary film Do You Speak American?, celebrated journalist and novelist Robert MacNeil sets out on a journey all around the United States, exploring how the language of America defines, unites, and separates its people. The title of the film proposes an intriguing question: what does it mean by speaking American? Speaking American is not just a matter of speaking English, and the answer to that question is far more complex. According to this film, not all Americans speak English, and those who do tend to speak it in different ways. As MacNeil explains, the reasons American accents vary…
Language is the system of words or signs that people use to express thoughts and feelings to each other. Language has an impulse on a person that allows them to make ties with a certain society, thus giving them a cultural identification. When residents of another country come to America and speak a contrasting language to English, immigrants most likely feel uneasy having to adapt to a completely new culture and learn the English language. During this journey, the individuals’ cultural identities might fade away as well as losing their efficient fluency on their native language. In Amy Tan’s, “Mother Tongue” and Richard Rodriguez “Aria: A Memoir of A Bilingual Childhood”, both authors experience the difficulties of language barrier and adjusting to a different lifestyle in order to develop as an individual in the United States.…
Rodriguez is a Spanish author who writes about his first hand account of being a bilingual child in America and how it affects him and his family in “Aria”. In both Rodriguez’s essay and in Kingston’s novel the use of language and the meaning behind it is prevalent. Through the power of language in both of these pieces we see how it affects a family and the community that surrounds them. For Kingston it shapes her into becoming an adult and how it shapes her views while also affecting how she people should use language. At the same time both of these authors face challenges that all arise from the power of language.…
In this essay Barrientos argues that the language she speaks defines her identity and who she is as a person. As Barrientos was growing up, she realized being Latin-American was not what she wanted to be, she decided to didn’t want to speak Spanish, as Barrientos says, “To me, speaking Spanish translated into being poor.” She also said “It meant waiting tables and cleaning hotel rooms. It meant being poor.” She thought if she stayed away from Spanish stereotypes they would…
The languages we speak around our families are often different from the ones we use in the professional world. Tan states this opinion in her essay; she remembers a time when she was conscious of the English she was using around her mother. She was walking down the street with her mother and using the English that she did not use around her mother. She also states that this is the same type of English she uses with her husband. She writes that this type of language “has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with.” (Tan, page 143) Anzaldua has a similar opinion when it comes to the language of our family; she writes “My “home” tongues are the languages I speak with my sister and brothers, with my friends.”(Anzaldua, page 134) Her type of language is a considered a subcategory of Spanish, called Chicano Spanish. Anzaldua also explains that in her culture she had to learn different dialects of Spanish, according to region that person was from. These two women played chameleon with their languages, blending in perfectly with their surroundings, wearing a mask to the world until they were home. At home, they were safe to use the language they grew up using without fear of…
Gessler, The Language Learning Center - Spanish. 1998. Hispanic culture capsules. Roanoke, Va. Gessler Publishing Co., Inc.…
First, it is well known that must of Hispanics and Latinos speak Spanish to communicate with each other’s. However, this does not mean that we are all from the same place and also that we all speak the same Spanish. In fact, the meaning and use of words are very different in each ethnicity, meaning that the use of a word that for me it is not offensive, for others can be a bad word and even…