Native Language : Spanish And Second Language

Often, immigrant parents will push for their children to learn the official language of the country they live in. These parents claim that their children will be more successful in life if they acquire that second language, because of the pressure of versatility in society. By quickly enforcing second language, the children find themselves taken over by this incoming force. Constant exposure is the most efficient method of learning, but requires an immense amount of time and effort. Due to frequent subjection of practice, the second dialect will outweigh the original, taking its place as the most proficient language a person uses. Most importantly, the learner must have the eagerness within themselves to truly acquire a second language. Non-native speakers can be uncomfortable with residing in a country whose official language is not their primary. Virginia Gonzalez’s and Ana Celia Zentella’s reports analyze Latinos’ standard of living and the possible outcomes of children of immigrant families in an English governed community. Other works such as Aria by Richard Rodriguez reveals advantages from learning English, such as being able to communicate confidently and feeling included. However, the risk of losing the first language outweighs the advantages. The negative effects are often overlooked and unexpected as shown through the scholarly works of Lily Wong Fillmore, Monique Bournot-Trites and Ulrike Tellowitz. As I will argue in the paper, the common notion that learning a

Communication apprehension has been a struggle for me being an immigrant from Mexico. Conversing in my native language I am very vocal, participative and communicative with extensive vocabulary. Communication in a second language presented a language barrier and apprehension of making grammar mistakes and embarrassment of my accent.

Let’s talk about my English accent first. I came to the United States when I was in high school. I considered my English, especially my spoken English, was close to native speakers among the other international students, like Mexican students and European students, because I could recognize their nationalities by hearing them spitted out the first word.

I love my friends and family, and I love talking to them, but sometimes I can’t. As you might not be able to tell, I am mixed, even if it doesn’t say so on my birth certificate (thanks, Dad.) My father is white, but my mom isn’t. Her side is Puerto Rican, Italian, and Spanish. She has three sisters in which married wither a White, Dominican, or African American man. Altogether, her side of the family can speak English, however most switch to spanish when they talk to one another because it is more comfortable to talk in a native tongue. Plus, my great grandmother doesn’t even speak English, so I just end up nodding along. Also, family friends and even most of the people I am around in Massachusetts speak spanish. It’s great to learn another language because you want to, but wanting to learn because you want to be able to communicate to family is a different story. I never know how much time I have left to talk to them. This has made me love learning about any language. I memorized words and phrases from Spanish, Japanese, Swiss-German, Italian, and more by getting interested in the language and looking information up online. Again, I am not fluent in any other

To increase my knowledge of Spanish I speak it frequently at home, along with other family members and they help and correct me whenever I use a word improperly or pronounce a word incorrectly. In addition to that, I practice in school with the classes I used to take such as A.P. Spanish Language and Literature. Before that, I was enrolled in the Dual Immersion program which gave me the chance to continue practicing Spanish until high school. With learning Spanish comes the benefit of learning about the different cultures in education and outside of school. School helps increase the knowledge I have about a culture in which they give examples of how Spanish culture fits into learning the language itself. For example, in A.P. Spanish Literature

As a child, I had to navigate from an English speaking classroom to a Spanish speaking home. From eight in the morning I was given instruction in English by my professors at school. After three in the afternoon at home I engaged in Spanish conversation with my mother, father, and siblings. When the summer vacation came around, it was back to speaking Spanish only, and then I regained the Mexican accent that had faded away during the school year.

There are both positive and negative aspects of learning a language, but people are likely to equalize two sides and try not to lose the relationships with their family and the society. Amy Tan, in “Mother Tongue” and Richard Rodriguez in “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” explain how they viewed their private and public languages through their experiences and how they managed these two languages and established themselves in the society. Tan initially felt ashamed of her private language and favored the public language; however, in the end she showed that she could manage the balance between the languages and finally utilized both in public. On the other hand, Rodriguez preferred his private language which made him feel comfortable;

“Tienes tijeras?” asked a young girl. Not understanding what she had said, I asked her what she needed in English, but she looked back at me with eyes full of confusion. A simple question from one young girl asking for scissors had made me nervous and completely freeze in the moment. Through this, interacting with the children worried me because of the language barrier which would make it twice as hard as interacting with the children at home.

More teachers are trying to learn Spanish, but there are still many that do not understand the language. For years, researchers have been trying to think of a new way to teach Spanish-speaking students the English language. There

Language can be a door to a new world for most people. It can help the person get that higher ranking position in the office or stand out to a company during an interview. For others, it may be a door that gets slammed in their face. This could be losing connection with your family or many other scenarios. The text, Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” is about Amy’s life growing up with her “perfect English” and her mother’s “broken English”. Her mother is a very intelligent woman, but struggles with her English and has a hard time communicating with others. Amy is often used as her mother’s translator to help get her point across. The other text, Richard Rodriguez’s “Public and Private Language” is about Richard’s life growing up as a Spanish boy with a Spanish family in America. His teachers and peers cannot understand his Spanish so the Nuns come to his house and tell his parents to practice English for the children so they can strive in their academics. This soon tears Richard’s family apart from what use to be a happy, talkative family to a few words and alone. These two texts clearly show that language is a door is Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and Richard Rodriguez’s “Public and Private Language”.

I was only nine years old, the year 1991. I had to navigate from an English speaking classroom to a Spanish speaking home. From eight in the morning I was given instruction in English by my professors at school. After three in the afternoon at home I engaged in Spanish conversation with my mother, father, and siblings. When the summer vacation came around, it was back to speaking español only, and then I regained the Mexican accent that had faded away during the school year.

Last Tuesday, I was on your office asking about some questions about the hsc-application sections that I should complete. Your answers were very helpful, thank you very much for the help you provided. However, I forgot to ask one more question. My research involves bilingual Spanish-English speakers, the data will be collected in Spanish; in the form, it is required to have a letter to verify the accuracy of the translation. From what office/service do you accept this letter? I am thinking to go to the Department of Language, Cultures, and International Trade, do you think they could provide the required verification?

Without speaking any Spanish, I could tell that I was going to have a difficult time communicating. Luc kily my friend spoke and understood Spanish well, and helped translate and communicate with the children. I learned that I only needed to use a couple of phrases to communicate with the native people. However, after a couple days, I figured out we didn’t need to speak the same language to communicate with one another. Moreover, the language barrier put in front of us and the children didn’t affect how much we could understand one

I do feel and act differently when in speak in another languages. Oddly, it’s not the case that I act or speak formally in English, but I do speak formally in Spanish. I do feel like another person because most of the time that I do speak Spanish is with my father. My tone does come through this language only show respect to him. On the other hand, English is my native language. I am extremely comfortable speaking it; when it comes to English, I do not chose my words carefully or be afraid to express myself.

learning English for me was a struggle when I got to the United states. because the transition between the two languages is very harsh and for Spanish speakers it makes it much harder. For example Spelling – In Spanish, words are spelled exactly how they sound. They don’t have any