Do English learners create their own Spanglish?
Nowadays young – English Ecuadorian students are highly benefited from English; therefore, the importance to bear in mind the effect that written communication has got on English language learning process. In the same order, it is vital to address code mixing as the reason why students use Spanglish which is mixing words in their native language- Spanish and the target language English. It draws attention to the fact that learners create new words and even sentences with a blended version of Spanish and English. Therefore, this essay focuses on the review of selected authors who explain relevant aspects of Spanglish when learning English as a second language. The resources reviewed show the history of Spanglish, causes of Spanglish, consequences of Spanglish, examples of wrong morphological constructions
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The historic context basically says that Spanglish emerged from Hispano-American migration to the United States. Most of these migrants found themselves in a need to find a job; however, the lack of knowledge of English pushed them to create Spanglish forms. Consequently, not also Spanish speakers but also English speakers and bilingual speakers were affected by Spanglish. (James, 2012) said that linguistics influences had created a cultural, social and linguistic fusion. That is to say students’ Spanish influences are permanent on English learning. (James, 2012) “For a native speaker of Spanish may lead to Spanish pronunciation when speaking English” (p.45), for example students tend to pronounce “zoo” like “soo”. In addition, Spanish word and sentence order is other case of linguistic influences, for example “The house big” instead of “The gif house”. Transfer learning also involves Spanish words who look or even in some cases sound similar for example: or “school” like
On the other hand the “public” language was the language that he felt threatened by. He says that he can only hear sounds people make while speaking English instead of the actual words. He remembers that those words sounded like ,"So many words were still unknown to me that when the butcher or the lady at the drugstore said something, exotic polysyllabic sounds would bloom in the midst of their sentences. Often speech in public seemed to me very loud, booming with confidence"(449) . To him whenever someone spoke English it was a complete blur .It was like he was living in a different world different to what he was used to. It wasn't until he realised that everyone around him aside from his family spoke the English language .Once he started learning English, he slowly began to realize that he needed to learn it in order to fit in society. Receiving bilingual education taught him that it was a must to learn both Spanish language and English language in order fit into the American society. And with that came the losse of his closeness to his family.
Many popular theories of second language acquisition have been analyzed throughout history. The socialization of L2 learners, their present emotional state that is present at time of acquisition, as well as the comprehensible input and output with the use of scaffolding play a major role in second language acquisition. Let us also not forget the importance of written expression as well as reading comprehension with these L2 learners. Each play a role in language development. However, I believe that in acquiring a language, one must use a variety of techniques that work together to create a balance within the learning environment. Furthermore, all L2 learners learn differently and so a variety of resources will need to be used based on the ability of each student. There are many theories that have been developed by highly qualified experts in the field on linguistics. However, I will address those areas that I agree with as I present my personal theories on second language acquisition.
Saying Adios to Spanglish is a piece of literature written by Leticia Salais which published on December 8th of 2007 by Newsweek. Salais argues that being bilingual is beneficial as well as a gift. Growing up Salais disowns her language by not speaking it. In order to escape poverty, she believes she must separate herself from the language of Spanish which she equates with being poor. She mentions surrounding herself with kids of affluent or wealthy neighborhoods that did not speak Spanish.Initially, Salais raises her first son without the ability to speak Spanish because of her own misconceptions and beliefs. She states that she had made the choice to have her son’s first language be English rather than Spanish.
In his essay "Bilingual education outdated and unrealistic" Richard Rodriguez, one uses many rhetorical strategies. Rodriguez uses ethos in order to make you decide if it is right or not. He uses appeals to the audience’s emotions and finally gives his personal testimony in the examples. Rodriguez does not use personal examples, but when he does he uses a lot of imagery and emotion to create an example that is perfected. His position is based on the two sides of his childhood: his public language and his private language. Overall, His public language of a very rough English was used in the classroom at school and when he was on the streets of town. One’s private language of Spanish was used at home and bringing him a sense of safety when using it.
In the essay about Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood, Richard Rodriguez reflects his childhood memory and challenges the idea of bilingual education. As a young child, Rodriguez finds comfort and safety in his noisy home full of Spanish sounds. Spanish is his family's' intimate language that comforts Rodriguez by surrounding him in a web built by the family love and security which is conveyed using the Spanish language. Throughout his essay he represents the power of the individual to defeat the language barrier and how he overcame this particular problem as a child. Rodriguez uses this essay to show how he fights through his childhood to understand English. Speaking English clearly will help him to adapt to the modern society.
At school, a Spanish word would suddenly slide into my English like someone butting into line. . . . I would bow my head humiliated by the smiles and snickers of the American children around me. I grew insecure about Spanish. My native tongue was not quite as good as English, as if words like columpio were illegal immigrants trying to cross a border into another language. But Teacher's discerning grammar-and-vocabulary ears could tell and send them back. (24)
The third language conflict makes the appearance when Antonio goes to school, where English is the medium of instruction. With Antonio being raised in the ‘hotbed’ of indigenous cultures, where he was taught only Spanish, he struggles to grasp and learn English. He finds the behaviour of the children in his classroom quite alien to
According to his work, “English is the fastest-spreading language in human history and is used by an estimated 1.27 billion people globally” (Neeley, 2012). The English language is already the most popular language in the world, accompanied by each person’s native language. Also, compared to other languages English is relatively easy to learn (McWhorter, 2015). This does not mean that the meshing of new versions of English are always pristine. Ana Lucia Gonzalez, reporter for BBC, wrote the article, “Life in Spanglish for California’s Young Latinos” to address this issue of blending language.
The existence of a large Latin American community living and working in the United States has been the main cause for the Spanish language to have gradually found its way into the North-American society. Those belonging to this community use both Spanish and English on a daily basis, although not usually to the same degree: Spanish is normally spoken in colloquial situations, whereas English is the language used in work or academic contexts. The code-switching between the two languages emerges as a tool of identification with both cultures. Over the past few years, the cultural reality of all those people who are able to alternate English and Spanish in the
The style and diction assist in describing the uncertainty of the English language, and make it evident that Rodriguez has a certain disdain for the language. The English language is described as calm and easy when he hears native speakers. In contrast, English is viewed as forced when the language is spoken poorly. However, Spanish is never described as forced, but rather as soothing and accepting. The characterization of Spanish as confident sets the tone of the paragraph as comforting. Rodriguez’s attitude towards the languages differs just as his characterization
Although the focus learner understood the use of pronouns in the conjugating of the Spanish “ar, ir, and er” verbs, he found it difficult to understand some of the similarities and differences between the indirect object pronouns and the pronouns. For example, the use of Spanish “te” and “le” singular and plural indirect objects with the verb form to represent the informal you and then he, she, and formal you seemed to confuse. It was also apparent through observation that the focus learner was off-task and resorted to doodling. It was essential to keep the focus learner on task and focus so that he could achieve the learning goals and demonstrate learning through correct usage of the singular gusta and plural gustan in writing and
The theories learned from communications classes can be applied in everyday life. They can especially be applied to films. Films are the outlets of human communication –mimicking life. The film that we will be examining and applying theories to is Spanglish. The film was written and directed by James L. Brooks and was released in December, 2004. The tagline “a comedy with a language all its own,” (IMDb) truly describes the motion picture.
This article speaks of different cultures and how different cultures have different languages. It talks about how many different languages affect the students. Students may speak Spanish at home and then once they are at school their teacher is speaking English. It takes time for these students to adapt to the change. It is harder for them because they have to learn both material and the language at the same time. “This language barrier has presented unique educational challenges to Hispanic students that African American students generally did not face” (Donnelly 2015). This article supports education for everyone and talks about how it is difficult of people of Spanish decent because they have to learn two languages. The article thinks
The Fulbright Commission’s English Teaching Program (ETP) is located in Quito, Ecuador. Its student population consists mostly of Ecuadorian adults with occasional foreign nationals from other Latin American or European countries. The ETP is geared towards teaching its students academic and professional English in the areas of grammar,
There are more than 6500 language around the world. We cannot control or decide where we are going to be born or we cannot decide our mother language. But we can choose which language we are going to use as our second language. The existence of large numbers of people who speak more than one language but who do not exhibit native-like control in both languages raises the question of how proficient a person must be to be classed as bilingual. Bilingualism may be defined as having some ability to use two or even more languages. Being of bilingual has practical benefits in globalize world and it is not limited to having conversations with more people around. In 1922 the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein said, “The limits of my language mean