Essay On Mexican American Culture

Diversity is not a barrier in communication, if anything it helps us build better relationships. I interviewed Ernesto Guerrero, a Mexican American, his culture is different from mine in many ways, but there are also some similarities. Ernesto was born in Chicago, but his parents were from Mexico in the city of Guerrero; which is ironic because his last name is Guerrero. I asked Ernesto questions regarding to the perception of the self and others and language and verbal communication. He explained to me how he greeted others and how their culture uses language as a means of control. Most of the information that the interviewee provided was relatable to my own culture. In different cultures it is important to be understanding. According to

Language can also be used to show who has more power. As stated in the text, “Language is used as an instrument of control, to exert influence over others and our environment (Real Communication 69).” For example, when talking to an elder in the spanish culture, Ernesto said that formalities have to be included, “usted” and “ustedes.” These formalities translated to english is “you.” These are formalities because there is another word used when speaking informally, which is “tu.” In my culture, we show respect both verbally and nonverbally. Bowing when we greet others is a form of nonverbal communication and verbal communication would be when we say “da” before we answer a question from an elder. In my culture we only bow to the elders, we can just say hi or bye if they are younger than us or about the same age. A difference in my culture is that we do not use different forms of “you” to show respect towards the elders. Despite this difference, there are different meanings to each word we use a formalities in our cultures. Ernesto explained to me that these terms were learned from childhood. Therefore they can be referred to as “language as ritual.” The book discusses this topic by stating that, “We begin learning these rules as children: peekaboo games require us to learn taking-turn in conversations (Real Communication 72).” This shows that both of our cultures learn these