"My mother! My Father! After English became my primary language, I no longer knew what words to use in addressing my parents. The old Spanish words (those tender accents of sound) I had used earlier-mama and papa--l couldn't use anymore."
I don't understand why he felt the need to not use those words. English is my primary language and the primary language of both of my parents. It was not, however, the primary language of 3 out of 4 of my grandparents. Although I do not refer to any of my grandparents by non-English terms, I did refer to my great grandmother as "nonna" which means "grandmother" in Italian. My father also referred to her as nonna and to paternal grandmother as "Meme" which is a French-Canadian way of saying grandmother. I mean, if trying to learn a different language, I don't think you need to eliminate it from yourself. Speaking different languages and holding on to little bits of your native culture are good things.
"The moment after the visitors left, the change was observed. 'Ahora, speak to us en ingles,' my father and mother united to tell us."
This quote reminded me of stories my paternal grandparents told me. Both of them have told me when they were kids, their mothers would speak to them in French (for my grandfather) or Italian (for my grandmother)and expect them to talk back to them in English. I think this was a good strategy. It allowed both my grandparents to hold onto both languages, the language of their ethnicity and the language of the dominant culture. In addition, I think this really helped their parents fine tune their English as I know my Nonna had trouble early on with English (she emigrated from Italy in the 1910's)
"their English voices slowly prying loose my ties to my other name, its three notes, Ri-car-do."
That's sad. A name is a name. There is no need to invoke Anglicization on someone's given name. It should be the choice of the bearer of the name if they wish to go by something else.
I think the author of this piece was very whiny to tell the truth. Blamed the fact that he had to learn English on all of his problems. I was a bit relieved at the end though that he realized that assimilation was essential. As super liberal as I am, I believe the ability to speak English is a must in the USA (kinda like Lisa Delpit's work, stressing people to teach the rules of the dominant culture.). I do not believe in publicly catering to people's lack of understanding of English, as I feel this hinders more than helps. As I've hinted 3 out of 4 of my grandparents did not learn English as their first language, and all of them became adept speakers and fairly successful individuals. In addition, their parents were able to support their children and not blame it on discrimination as during the time of their emigration, the culture of power was even more narrow and only referred to WASPs which they were not.
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I agree that "Aria" seemed whiney, and had a 'woe is me' quality to it. It was like he was saying "Look how I suffered to get where I am! See what a martyr I am.."
ReplyDeleteI also agree with some of the other comments you made. I understand, especially after today's class, that it has to be so tough to go to another country and not understand the language. Yet, it bothers me that some non-English speaking people are resentful over the fact that they have to learn English to succeed. I feel guilty, like I'm saying oh you have to be just like us, but yet if we (as English speakers) went to another country we would be expected to speak their language, or suffer. I wonder if Japan has JSL classes for their non-Japanese speaking students....
Ha. Japan is the most racist industrialized nation on the planet. You would be shunned for first of all for not being Japanese, and second for not speaking Japanese. Japanese is one of the most difficult languages to learn. To be considered fluent in that language would require you to be born into the language. The language involves a lot of guess work on the listeners part.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, when I briefly went to Mexico, I did my best to speak Spanish, because it is the polite thing to do. I would do the same for any other foreign country I visited and ESPECIALLY if I were going to live there. I really don't understand why there is so much catering...it hurts a lot more than it helps.
I actually had Japanese roomates in college (ha, I mean my first time around), so I knew where I was going with that question...
ReplyDeleteMy roommates learned English through immersion, like what Yanna was suggesting in her blog. I'm sure they took English classes before they came to the US, but they were still pretty terrible at it. They had to take college courses along with the rest of us, and used translation dictionaries when they needed to. No one taught them in Japanese..they learned because they had to...