Bilingualism In America By Martin Espada And Richard Rodriguez

Launguage is how we communicate with others. Language can come in many different forms. Some people can speak more than one language. Bilingualism means being able to speak more than one language. There are many bilingual people in the United States but in America English is the most important language. In the United States there is an English only movement. Martin Espada and Richard Rodriguez are both authors who wrote about bilingualism in America. This essay will show how the English-only movement is discriminatory.

This is the first of two texts that will be talked about in this essay. This text is written by Martin Espada, A professor of English at University of Massachusetts Amherst. Espada is best known for his poetry, making him be

META was doing a demonstration in front on the steps of the Massachusetts State house in boston were they were singing and chanting in spanish and Espada was waiting to speak to the crowd a man threatened to rip his tongue out just for speaking spanish. Then moments later, he was in front of a microphone, addressing the crowd, he spoke about the man who wanted to rip his tongue out merely because he spoke spanish. “That’s what they’re trying to do to all of us,” espada said, then proceeded to add: “He can rip my tongue out if he wants. But it won’t work , porque yo hablo español con el corazón”(“because I speak Spanish with my heart”). Espada said this to convey how the legislator in the Massachusetts State house were trying to silence and metaphorically rip thier spanish tongues out by making English the official language of massachusetts, which could mean Spanish speakers could be legally discriminated

Although Espada and Rodriguez have different opinions on the topic they still have some similarities between their texts. For example they both believe that not knowing english is a disadvantage in the US. Espada talks about this throughout most of their essay like with the refusal of various services that weren’t translated to other foreign languages. Rodriguez does touch on that same idea albeit with a different view on it with how although he would have preferred to continue primarily speaking in Spanish he believes that it was beneficial to him for those around him to force him to speak