Personal Narrative: My Identity As A Foreign Language

Speaking Spanish or any second language opens a lot of doors in life. While the little Spanish I do know is incomprehensible to most fluent Spanish-speakers, it has helped me in some situations. The article Se Habla Espanol by Tanya Maria Barrientos is the story on how she (Tanya) dealt with the tribulations of being born in Guatemala, moved to and raised in the United States, and attempting to learn her native Language once again (Barrientos 645). While many of us, including Tanya, have difficulties learning a new language and understanding others cultures, the struggle will prove to be worth it in the end.

Spanish is my native language, however, my mother advised my siblings and I to speak only English. This was because she was afraid that we would be rejected from professional careers if our English wasn 't unaccented, fluent, and similar in refinement to the working class whites. With time, I became a fluent English speaker with a developed Central American accent but like, any other young girl, I thought nothing of it. That is until one event, in particular, occurred that would cast a shadow of embarrassment onto my Spanish language. This event not only led me to desert my entire native language but a sense of my cultural identity, as well.

When studying any language, you gradually gain greater insights into the wide-spread range of cultures that these languages represent hence gaining a greater knowledge of the way the world works and your place within it. Learning a foreign language gives you immediate access to new literature, new music, new art and an undiscovered spectrum of opportunity waiting to be discovered. Not only are you raising your cultural awareness, you are improving your general knowledge of the country, the natives and their traditions.

How does our native language affect we think about the world and our place in it? How is speaking more than one language difficult? Tom Munnecke’s purpose was talking about how learning many languages frustrated him, and how each language frustrated him. Each of these languages he saw as “shells,” and he goes on to talk about each language and its limitations and/or opportunities. The audience for Nothing is Missing are people who are interested in learning one, or more than one, different language. This article could also apply to people who are already bilingual, or already know multiple languages. Munecke would like people who are interested in learning more than one language to know how the first language we speak affects the way we

And if so, how did you work around the language barrier you had with this person/people?

Language and literacy has to be the most powerful tool that a human can carry within themselves. It’s the way a human expresses themselves. The actions that they bring up with their language carries the culture of the person they are and where they come from. Now for me language and literacy come in a form that was out of the ordinary for myself. I come from a household that the english language is very rare, to speak in front of my parents. The language and literacy that is hold between the walls of my house and spoken in the most throughout the house is the beautiful language that my familia (family) speaks which is spanish. As in most mexican family households the family is quite big, but my family is quite small. I'm the smallest

The language is what identifies someone because is part of their culture, their native language is who they truly are and it is what defines them. I can identify to Anzaldua about her experience trying to resist changing her native tongue and accent. Yet, Anzaldua mentions in her article, she would have been considered a cultural traitor by her own people if changed from speaking her Native Language, Chicano Spanish, to speaking “American”. Like Gloria ever since I was a child, I felt pressure to change the way I spoke in order to be accepted. The negative attitude that some people have towards those who speak Chicano Spanish believe it or not has a big impact on them.

Knowing four languages became my strength these days for being a bilingual adult. I learn lots of things from my job. As I said earlier I speak four different languages, and I work at community center in Lawrenceville. My job is to help translate for people who need help with English. Every day I learn new stuff by talking to people and that’s makes me feel happy and proud of myself. I love what I do, and I am very thankful that I got this job

Most people don't know their own culture.So im here to tell you about mine so you can figure out yours. Figuring out your cultural identity hard what make up your culture is everyday things that you do as in your favorite tv show,food,music even things your family does like going to church or sweet 16. But when it comes down to it you don't decide what your culture is passed down from family and friends.Cultural identity defines you it comes from friends and family.

Being away from home the language that I speak is a slang type of Spanish or English. Sometimes it can be both as I mix them both in my sentences while speaking to my cousins. “Ey wey, what’s up?” you know that’s how I say what’s up to my cousins. It’s fun being able to speak that way and also being able to mix both languages in the same sentence while my cousins still understand what I’m saying. Some cousins just love to stick to the Spanish slang we use,” Que haces por aca wey?” Some also love to stick to English, “What’s good man?” It just depends who I’m talking

Today, it was a challenge working with an individual who spoke very minimal English. I found this challenge to be very helpful because this is a common problem in the area that I am from. Many individuals in my home town area only speak Spanish, so it was interesting in seeing how a language barrier can affect the direct health care for a patient. I felt that the language barrier was a problem for the care for this patient because I felt that we were not able to address and assess his pain as accurately as we could have. We understood that he was in pain but he was not able to describe the pain to or tell us what relived his pain or made his pain worse. The things that went well today was I was able to use many skills that I have not been

“Pienso que puedo ayudarte!” The first thing I ever said to a native Spanish speaker on a cruise to Mexico. I noticed a woman was lost, however upon asking she could not answer as she knew no English. Immediately I resorted to the Spanish I had been learning for a year in class, and it was that very moment when I found an intense love for language. From this point I began dabbling into every language you could think of: Russian, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Slovak, and so many more. Currently I primarily focus on three: Spanish, Chinese, and Slovak. However, the ability to communicate with others isn’t the only reason I find language fascinating, but the very idea of language and how we can produce it and process it fascinates me.

Language: I like to joke with people that I speak two different languages: English and something very closely related to English. My vernacular way of speaking is very much influenced by American Southern Vernacular English, and I make no bones about speaking grammatically incorrect English around my family and friends. However, I speak a much more proper form of English in public and professional settings. I attribute my patterns of speaking to my family background, the communities I grew up in, and the geographic setting of each, though I learned to speak proper English in school.

I have always been intrigued by the concept of language; whether it be from how languages originated, how people learn them, or how the language creates words different from the pre-existing languages, I draw an interest to all of it. I specifically remember when I was younger, trying to create a new language of my own. In today’s world, there are more than 2,000 languages spoken around the world. Some of those languages are only spoken by a single village while others are spoken by billions of people. Those who speak the less popular languages are most likely fluent in another major one. English is one of those major languages, although it is not the most spoken language in the world, it is a competitor; however, it is many people’s choice of a second language, and spoken regularly in many foreign countries. Many schools throughout the world make it a requirement for their students to practice another language while enrolled. Unfortunately, after graduation, students never retain the language, it was simply stored in their short-term memory. Becoming fluent in another language is not only alluring, but it is very beneficial to one’s self, and the global community. Being bilingual is proven to give a leg up to people in the business world, improve one’s mental health in many ways, and additionally advance other aspects in one’s life not ordinarily associated with the learning of a new language. Why is it beneficial for native English speakers to learn another language?

In the world, there are millions of different languages used by people. A language is a form of communication for people and it’s the reason why our own selves are able to understand each other. However, it is also a barrier if we can’t speak the right language. That’s why I consider learning a second language is truly important. Learning a foreign language can become essential to people as it opens up a new world and offers benefits to those who are willing to learn a different language. My first language is Spanish, but once I came to the United States I knew that learning English became a necessity since I wasn’t able to speak for myself. Now that I know English and Spanish I don’t struggle to talk to people and I also get to help