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Analysis Of Se Habla Español

899 Words4 Pages
“Se Habla Español” by Tanya Barrientos helped me truly identify what it means to be a proud Hispanic. As she explained, her experiences of being Spanish challenged Latina led to her being ashamed. Barrientos’ experiences reminded me of my experiences with Spanish. As I reflect on my own experiences, I can say that being a proud Hispanic is not about speaking perfect Spanish. I realized this when my extended family assumed I spoke Spanish; my mother threatened to pretend to not understand me when I spoke English. First of all, going to family parties or having family come over was terrible. In my house, very little English was used if at all. The only English used was between my siblings and me. I knew some Spanish, but couldn 't understand a full conversion or respond to one. Going to family parties was hell because they didn’t understand why I didn’t speak both languages like my sister and brother. I remember just nodding and smiling when a family member would come up and talk to me, hoping they would leave. There was this one time my aunt who had come to visit from Guatemala was talking to me, and I did what I always did smile and nod. Eventually, she caught on to what I was doing and was upset. My mother had let her know that when I smiled it was because I didn 't understand what she was saying. After she realized came “the look" that I would get from family members and strangers. It was a look full of disappointment, confusion, and judgment. It made me feel like I didn
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