Sunday, September 25, 2011

Author: Richard Rodriguez
Text: Aria
Quotes:
     “Did I somehow suspect that once I learned public language my pleasing family life would be changed?”
     This quote stuck in my mind and I found myself reading it over multiple times. Does changing a way of communication that’s so familiar to you change things? Of course it changes things in life. Communication is extremely important. Without communication, you wouldn’t be able to express an opinion, idea, or feeling. So when you ask a child to change how they express themselves, they get insecure and scared about the change. I know from experience how it is to be asked to change dialects. I had to retake the 1st grade because I couldn’t read in English. I think the transition from school to home is confusing. On top of that, you would have to switch from Spanish to English.

     “At last, seven years old, I came to believe what had been technically true since birth: I was an American citizen”
     To me, this quote embodies the importance of spoken language. In a way being fluent in English makes you American. At least that is how I understood the quote. Embracing the language is embracing a part of the culture. The more you embrace the more it becomes part of who you are. Most people identify themselves with a culture. So many of these new American born minorities adopted the American lifestyle instead of their foreign parents culture.

    “The silence at home, however, was finally more than a literal silence. Fewer words passed between parent and child, but more profound was the silence that’s resulted from my inattention to sounds.”
     Language is not only a bunch of words used to communicate. It is a way of passing down heritage and culture from past relatives. When the language of ones parents is no longer acknowledged its like the person is forgetting how to speak to their parent. Assimilating is useful if you want to understand the majority but its sad when you forget your roots. More and more American born Latinos don’t even know Spanish. If that pattern continued the language would be dead but those Latinos would have the same advantages of the other American born people.

1 comment:

  1. I haven't personally experienced what you and Rodriguez did - but I can only imagine how confusing it must be. Differentiating from school and home is strange as it is, but once you throw in a language barrier the dynamic probably becomes much harder.

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