Richard Rodriguez Public And Private Language

1. One way to read Richard Rodriguez’s essay is as a discussion of two discrete educational philosophies. What are they?

Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood by Richard Rodriguez is an essay that shows his readers a part of life that many have never experienced. Rodriguez uses this essay to show how he fights through his childhood to understand English. Speaking clear English will help him to fit in to society. He faces society while forfeiting his happy home life, to try to become a typical English-speaking student.

The particular focus of Rodriguez’s story is that in order to feel like he belonged to the “public society” he had to restrict his individuality. Throughout his story, Rodriguez discussed such topics as assimilation and heritage. He goes into depth about the pros and the cons of being forced to assimilate to the American culture. Growing up Hispanic in America was a struggle for Rodriguez. This was due to the fact that he was a Spanish-speaking boy living in an English-speaking society, and he felt like he was different than the other children. Rodriguez writes, “I was fated to be the ‘problem student’ in class” (Rodriguez 62). This is referring to Rodriguez’s improper knowledge of English. It made him stand out as the kid that was behind. He wanted to find the balance between the public and private face. He believed both were important to develop. As I read this story it changed the way I looked at people who speak different languages, and how it must be hard to fit in with society if you are not all fluent in English.

Through both Tan and Rodriguez lives, they were faced with the challenge of choosing between the private languages that they spoke and shared with their family and the public language that was accepted by society. In Tan’s home, her mother combined their native Chinese language with English words she was familiar with. This subsequently formed a comfortable language that was only used within their family. Similar to Tan, Rodriguez grew up sharing Spanish, his native language, as a private language between parents and

According to the 2011 census, over 20.8 percent of the United States population spoke another language other than English (www.us-english.org). Language barriers, cultural differences, and immigration have been a part of life in the United States for decades. Language is considered a vital tool in the construction of someone’s identity and an expression of culture. In the last 200 years immigrants have chosen to make the United States their home, but some proceeded with caution by slowly adapting to the English language and culture.

English might not be the official language of the American nation; however, every immigrant knows that it is the language of the North American country and that it

When people come to the United States of America, they experience changes and many hardships. One of the biggest difficulties for them is not speaking English. In addition to having a hard time adopting to a new life and language, immigrants are usually oppressed by the English speaking population and have to deal with much discrimination due to their lack of English. As the United States was growing as a nation, Americans were hard on the non-English speakers in the name of good will. Whether they were Native Americans, slaves, Latinos, from south western territories, or European and Asian immigrants, the United States passed many laws that restricted the use of their native language in order to restrict their opportunities. America oppressed the non-English speakers by taking away many of their rights, forcing them to learn new ways of living, and threatening them with deportation.

. For centuries, America has continued to grow into a culturally diverse nation. Everyday immigrants come into the country with the goal to become successful, and for many this success comes through education. In many cases, children and adults have to learn the English language or improve on their English speaking skills in the first years of being in the country. The process of being successful in a language is a process that happens in more areas than school. People are able to pick up languages from television, shopping, listening to the language and practicing speaking and reading the language. According to Cummins’ dimensions of language proficiency, this process can take over 5 years of penetrating second language exposure.

The American English is used a lot around here, people who come to the U.S, they would have to learn to speak English. The United States have mixtures of many different cultures, such as Central Americans, Southeast Asia, and Middle Eastern; between these foreigners they all have to communicate some way because every day here in the United States they will cross each other and will have to communicate. It is troublesome for the foreigners to live in the United States, because they are not from here so they have to make a great effort to adjust in the U.S. The foreigners come to the U.S to get a better future for themselves and for their children. It is difficult for them to adapt to life here and English as their second language because it is very different to learn something that you are use too. English being the second language, there is a high percentage to have an accent; even those who are born here that have parents that were born in another region. In our everyday life, we will cross with other people who speak with other languages where we will have to communicate and be expressing what are we trying to say by body language for instance, the way we express the wording, and trying to have to figure out what one needs. Not only language and categorize one is stereotyping as well

Essentially, not every foreigner that comes to the U.S is prepared to handle the stress that comes with communicating with one another, that can be experienced as a result of not knowing enough of the language to speak English and be understood. This problem is presented, creating multiple obstacles for a newcomer to achieve their goals, either to obtain a good job to support their family or hoping the money in the United States is better than what they earned in their original country. But because many lack the skill to communicate with others, people who speak fluently English may get frustrated with those who can’t connect or have difficulty understanding what one is trying to get across to the other, decreasing the chance of the migratory to be granted a job, able to ace a job interview, open opportunities to find a home, make friends or even struggle with great difficulty getting the information they need. Struggling with their fluency will impact dramatically their self-esteem, causing one to feel ashamed and afraid due to them knowing they don’t have the ease of speaking freely their broken English without being laughed at or criticized.

Soon after his first opinion is stated, Rodriguez dives into another story, this time detailing his mother and father’s struggle to speak English in public: “In public, my father and mother spoke a hesitant, accented, and not always grammatical English. And then they would have to strain, their bodies tense, to catch the sense of what was rapidly said by los gringos. At home, they returned to Spanish. The language of their Mexican past sounded in counterpoint to the English spoken in public. The words would come quickly, with ease” (Rodriguez 572). This is the sad fate of many immigrants, as well as many people learning to speak a second language. The fact that this young boy noticed that his parents struggled is touching and sweet, while

Coming to a new place that is out of your comfort zone is an very difficult task that can take a very long time to adjust to and some people never adjust to the change .In the articles “mother tongue” , “leave your name at the border” and “mute in an English only world” the author'ss Amy tan, manuel Munoz and Chang Rae lee discuss the problems and hardships of being a non native English speaker such as getting employment, the language itself,and even accepted by native English speakers. Not just the speaker themselves, but also their families as well. All while trying to find their place in the United States. One of the huge problems that non native English speakers have to deal with is language.

The shift in literacy between Rodriguez’s school and home life showcases his childhood solace in his family amidst the overlooming fact that he is a “socially disadvantaged” foreigner in a large world. When he speaks English, his thoughts are not able to flow. His ability to communicate and express what he wants is stymied by the language barrier. From the impersonal sentiment of his catholic school filled with children of high-paid professions, to having people constantly lean towards him to listen, he is predisposed to feel distant to those who are not within his family.

In the current landscape of culture in the U.S.A. many ethnic minorities find it difficult to give up their native languages to speak the English language, because they feel that they are losing a part of their culture. However, what they should realize is that by accepting the English language into their lives they are not losing a part of their culture, they are gaining a new identity for themselves and their culture.

In the excerpt from The Hunger of Memory, Rodriguez discusses how he became assimilated to the American education system. He was brought about in a Spanish-speaking home and taught English at the age of six. Rodriguez explains his feelings of no longer having a connection to his parents, who were immigrants, and his Mexican culture, in which he claims is because of the rapid change to speaking English and being taught the “American way.” The author states, “The name I carry from my parents--who are no longer my