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In the essay “Private Language, Public Language” by Richard Rodriguez he made a comparison between public and private language. I believe he made this comparison because of the battle between their family and public languages. Rodriguez grew up in an immigrant family, and depending on the location they were staying in, they had a hard time using the different languages they had to speak at home and in society. In their lives they had two forms a language, the private language only spoken with the family and the public language with people outside the family. Rodriguez struggles to overcome the difference between his home language, Spanish and English. The purpose in this distinction is to illustrate the struggle with the different types of languages that the author had to adapt to in his childhood. Firstly, in the author’s childhood, he felt ashamed of his parents poor English. To support this experience, Rodriguez shows his embarrassment by saying, “I tried not to hear anymore… I …show more content…
Rodriguez highlights comfortable, soothing, and intimate sounds of his family language by saying, “Spanish seemed to me the language of home. It became the language of joyful return. A family member would say something to me and I would feel myself specially recognized. My parents would say something to me and I would feel embraced by the sounds of their words. Those sounds said: I am speaking with ease in Spanish. I am addressing you in words I never use with los gringos. I recognize you as someone special, close, like no one outside. You belong with us. In the family”. The private language is like an intimate secret code among the family. Despite the struggle with their family languages, the author understands that the private language being spoken has been a large part of their lives and has helped shaped their view of the
In “Se Habla Español,” the author, Tanya, talks about her personal experience with dealing with language issues. Tanya was born in Guatemala and moved to the U.S when she was only three years old. Tanya’s mother did not want her to speak Spanish, because they believed that when they moved to the U.S speaking only English would help her blend in. For so long Tanya believed that speaking Spanish went hand in hand with being poor and speaking only English made her feel superior. After many years she has tried to learn Spanish but has found it quite difficult because although that is her native language it was like trying to learning a whole new language for her. In “Mother Tongue,” Amy’s explains how she has come to the realization that she speaks more than one “English,” meaning that the way she speaks in front of a crowd is different than the way she speaks with her mother. The way Amy speaks with her mother is still English although it is not proper. Amy expresses how she does not really like the phrase “broken English,” because if something is broken it needs to be fixed and she does not feel that her mother’s English needs to be
Both authors write about the confidence the main characters receive from their culture. Rodriguez talks about his “private language” being Spanish. A language that makes him unique. He is adamant in his pride of not belonging to the public society of the “gringos”. In Tafolla's poem, Richi is introduced as a boy who is strict about the pronunciation of his name.
Throughout Richards early childhood development he quickly understood that in order to succeed in America he would have to learn to confidently speak in English. Richard is Hispanic American and although he was born in America, Spanish was the only language that he was exposed to as a young child. He grew up in a home where Spanish flowed freely, but he soon realized outside of his home the language that he primarily knew was foreign. His parents spoke fluent Spanish along with all of his relatives. The brief encounters he experienced of his parents speaking English were only in public places and the proficiency was very poor. Rodriguez’s home was as a safety net for him and his Spanish speaking family with they are his only real connections to the outside world. It wasn’t until Richards encounter with his teachers that he and his family was heavily impressed on the importance of developing a public language. After the encouragement of the visit home from a teacher as a family
Another struggle for identity with Latinos is their struggle with the Spanish and English languages. While some Latinos may speak Spanish in their homes, the language may not be conversationally used in their schools. Some Lat...
Rodriguez discusses in his piece. In his childhood, he spoke Spanish at home and English in his
Agosin, Marjorie. "Always Living in Spanish: Recovering the Familiar, through Language." The Norton Field Guide to Writing. By Richard H. Bullock. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2009. 21-24. Print. 11 Nov. 2013
Gloria Anzaldua, wrote the essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” communicating and describing her adolescence in a society brimming with sexism, cultural imperialism, racism, low self-esteem, and identity formation. The reason one comes to America is to finer themselves academically, and intellectually. One must learn to speak English to live among the American’s, because that is the language they speak. Though, no one has the right to deprive you of your familiar tongue. At a young age, Anzaldua was scolded, even mistreated for speaking her native “Chicano” tongue. Anzaldúa described this ignorance, cruelty, and discrimination when she states: “I remember being caught speaking Spanish at recess – that was good for three licks on the knuckles with a sharp ruler.” She overcomes this hostility throughout her life.
Some relatives have strong relationships. They stay together, having their own language which accompany them to grow up. Personal language expresses their life. Their language can be understood by each other but can not be understood by strangers. It can not be captured by language test; it also can not be understood easily by language research. It is like mother’s speaking, only being captured by sons and daughters, can not be understood by teachers, professors, and researchers, “I wanted to capture what language ability tests can never reveal: her intent, her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of thoughts.” (Amy Than 139) Author, never expressing her love and feeling by writing, uses personal language to show her affection to her mother, since personal language is more genial than normal communication language, and witness the growth of each
Hispanic American language is one that is adorable to many people due to its pattern of communication. In the article, there are many of the languages used in that exist in the United States some of which includes; African Americans, European Americans, Hispanic Americans among others. Some of the communication patterns of these languages have been clearly stated by identifying various factors like; emotions, eye contact, gestures, identity orientation, pacing and pause time, vocal patterns and the volume of their voice whenever they speak to someone. The article depicts Hispanic American languages as one of the best which can be used in public or businesses since it shows the one talking as a very humble individual.
My parents decided to immigrate to the United States when I was six years of age. As we established ourselves in the United States, my first language was only Spanish. Spanish was the language that I was taught at home, and it was the only language to be spoken at home. Rodriguez describes when he first entered his classroom where he was introduced to a formal English-speaking context, writing that, ?I remember to start with that day in Sacramento-a California now nearly thirty years past-when I first entered a classroom, able to understa...
Anzaldua grew up in the United States but spoke mostly Spanish, however, her essay discusses how the elements of language began to define her identity and culture. She was living in an English speaking environment, but was not White. She describes the difficulty of straddling the delicate changing language of Chicano Spanish. Chicano Spanish can even differ from state to state; these variations as well as and the whole Chicano language, is considered a lesser form of Spanish, which is where Anzaldua has a problem. The language a person speaks is a part...
Tan’s essay on Mother Tongue depicts a story of a daughter who grew up learning different type of “Englishes” (510). The latter described as the kind of English wherein on may regard as “simple”, yet she fondly refers to as her “Mother’s English”. In addition is the “broken English” or Tan’s mother’s communication style with her. Lastly is Tan’s own translation of her mother’s English that she described as “watered down.” An impression that is distinctly different from Tan’s loving description of her Mother’s English, Rodriguez connotes feelings of detachment. Rodriguez’s childhood consist of traditional catholic educators who expected a non-native speaker communicate in English. As a result, the young Rodriguez socially withdrew which prompt the nun teachers to approach the parents regarding the language issue. Since then, life has changed for Rodriguez, thus the beginning of what seem to be a detachment from his own family. Unlike Tan’s warm story of her Mother’s broken English, Rodriguez’s childhood experience connotes feelings of
His home was the place where it was a private world then homes of his English speakers. Since his family only spoke Spanish at home. However, the further the story goes, Rodriguez recognized he has school and family collide. However later on the story, Richard started to refer to speak English then Spanish. I think that there wasn’t any communication between Richard and his family after that so they started to feel this separation between them. In addition, His family started on trying to speak English to help Richard out. “In an instant, they agreed to give up the language (the sounds) that had revealed and accentuated our family’s closeness” (paragraph 7). In my opinion, since his family started to no longer speak Spanish, Richard family lost their
In his essay, Rodriguez, a Mexican, reasons that when he is learning the new language, English, he faces the difficulty to balance his own native customs with the new culture he’s absorbing, causing him to slowly forget his own Mexican traditions. Since Rodriguez and his family now live in the United States, he decided that he should
She realized the value of her language when she lost it and now treasures it. The kind of Spanish she speaks is neither English nor Spanish, but both. It is overflowing with culture from Medieval Spain, France, Germany, etc., just from the origins of the words. It is her pride and a representation of herself, fighting and living. In conclusion, in addition to Lera Boroditsky’s article proving that the structure of language affects how we think, the articles by Eric Liu, Amy Tan, and Gloria Anzaldua show how language is a foundation for a person’s culture, pride, and self.