ipl-logo

Languag Language In Laura's Melting Pot

1374 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Does language shape you identity essay

Laura is a Mexican immigrant currently living in Harlem, a city in New York that is notorious for having the majority of the population being Spanish speakers and some English speakers. Laura faces a challenge because she speaks Mixtec- an indigenous language, causing her to face a language barrier between her and the rest of her community. She worries that she will get lost in translation causing her to feel helpless in her own community “‘I feel bad because I can’t communicate with people, ”she said mixing Spanish and Mixtec. “I can’t do anything”’(Semple). America has always been described to the rest of the world as a “Melting Pot” where cultures from all over can “melt” together and live in harmony. However, because of the indigenous nature of Laura’s language, she faces a lot trying to assimilate into her new home. She’s not alone though as there are thousands of people that are struggling with the same conflict as her. …show more content…

Languages spoken throughout the United States differ throughout due to varying cultures; within the cultures are their own cultural norms and values that define them from the rest of the world. Culture is defined as a set of shared values within a group. These values within the culture affect the way one thinks, speaks and acts (Goman). Language is the foundation of communication that plays a role in personal identity. Being taken away from your home and culture and into a new world with a completely different culture causes those face challenges with realizing themselves and finding themselves due to variation of social norms. This is what contributes to the feelings of alienation that people like Laura

Show More
Related

Analysis Of Hispanic Pride Vs. American Assimilation By Stephanie Cox

487 Words | 2 Pages

Her story reflects this; “(w)hile she felt strongly about the importance of English for her son, she herself was proud of her Mexican heritage and had no desire to become an English speaker.” Cox tells another story to support her second and third ideas. She explains: “It was not uncommon for Hispanics to travel between their native and adopted countries on a regular basis. These frequent visits help reinforce the customs, values, and language of Latin America.” She also writes about how Chicanos, American-born Mexicans, “often humiliate new immigrants attempting to learn English.”

Read More

What Are The Barriers In The Devil's Highway Urrea

742 Words | 3 Pages

Very few, if any, immigrants have the chance to learn English before traveling to the U.S. Because of this barrier, it is nearly impossible for organizations such as the Border Patrol to warn, aid, and communicate with them as they travel to the U.S. Although there are helpful signs along the border, they are written in English and are therefore indecipherable. Furthermore, the language border hinders an immigrant’s ability to survive in American society once they arrive. English is the written and spoken language in almost every city, thwarting immigrants’ opportunity to find jobs and interact with others. As they struggle to communicate, they become ostracized and do not fit in.

Read More

Compare And Contrast Richard Rodriguez And Anzaldúa

701 Words | 3 Pages

Richard Rodriguez and Gloria Anzaldúa are two authors who both immigrated to America in the 1950s and received first hand experience of the assimilation process into American society. During this time, Rodriguez and Anzaldúa had struggled adjusting to the school system. Since understanding English was difficult, it made adjusting to the American school system increasingly difficult for Rodriguez. Whereas Anzaldúa, on the other hand, had trouble adjusting to America’s school system due to the fact that she didn’t wish to stop speaking Spanish even though she could speak English. Both Rodriguez and Anzaldúa had points in their growing educational lives where they had to remain silent since the people around them weren’t interested in hearing them speaking any other language than English.

Read More

Martin Espada Is A Mexican-American Author And Ambassador For Latinos By Richard Rodriguez

1063 Words | 5 Pages

This then leads to the problem that in this public life being bilingual or not being able to speak English was still being discriminated against. In public life, people need to be more accepting of others who speak different languages and also not contribute to getting rid of their language in America. Espadas claims culture is important and people who are a part of the English-Only movement are causing so many people to abandon their culture. While speaking out about the cultural warfare in America, Espada declares, “There are too many in this country who would amputate the Spanish tongue. Given this cultural aggression, it is astonishing that more Latinos have not lost their Spanish altogether, that so many Latinos still speak as much Spanish as they do” (Espada 26-31).

Read More

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter Essay

565 Words | 3 Pages

On one hand, she is proud of her Mexican roots and is frustrated by the way her family and community are treated in America. She is constantly reminded of the prejudice and discrimination that Mexican-Americans face, and this fuels her desire to challenge the stereotypes and expectations that are placed on her. On the other hand, she is also excited by the opportunities that America offers and is eager to explore the world beyond her family and

Read More

Yolanda

1321 Words | 6 Pages

Being different from others sometimes creates a desire for a person to change oneself. In the novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, by Julia Alvarez, the Garcia girls are stuck between America and the Dominican Republic, the two main settings of the novel. The girls are all dragged out of their homeland and thrown into an environment they thought would be welcoming. Even though they specifically come to America to live the so called “American Dream,” they hit some obstacles. When the girls see how different American culture is, and how much they do not fit in, they become self-conscious.

Read More

Literary Analysis: The Myth Of The Latin Woman

969 Words | 4 Pages

“The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named María” by Judith Ortiz Cofer and “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan depict the endeavors people take on in an attempt to integrate into society. Cofer demonstrates how stereotypes of Latina women have led others to misjudge her and explains the difficulty she had disassociating herself from those stereotypes. Tan demonstrates that the “broken” English her mother speaks has led others to think less of her and disregard her. One’s appearance instantaneously causes others to judge them. For some it is easier to blend in and be accepted by their community, but what is it that keeps some people from assimilating, and what effect does their otherness have on them?

Read More

Espadas Bilingualism

601 Words | 3 Pages

He supports this argument by telling his own story of being forced to learn English by the bilingual education system. The experience he had learning English made him experience great embarrassment, sadness, and change. Rodriguez concludes his experience by discussing how English had changed his personal life at home: “We remained a loving family, but one greatly changed. No longer so close;no longer bound tight by the pleasing and troubling knowledge of our public separateness.” By learning English, Rodriguez’s family is finally able to integrate into society without language barriers.

Read More

Summary Of How To Tame A Wild Tongue

951 Words | 4 Pages

That is why Mexicans have trouble accustoming because they are pressured to speak fluent English and Spanish at the same time and be both accustomed to the cultures. It is an incredibly hard thing to do because people identify with both however, people and society are telling them that they are only one and must choose only one. Language is also the first thing you learn as a human and so it is apart of us, a necessity and an imperative. Ironically, in the essay she talks about how she got in trouble for speaking Spanish, however, in reality it is essential. Her English is just as important as Spanish is.

Read More

Personal Narrative: Moving Into The United States

286 Words | 2 Pages

Challenge Essay Moving into The United States that has a different language has been the biggest obstacle that I have ever faced, especially with the fact that there was a time where I didn’t understand a single word of that language called English. This was a big obstacle in my life since I was raised in Mexico where the prime language, there is Spanish and that was the only language I knew back then, it was until the day had come where my family and I had to move into the United States due to the violence that has been happening in Mexico. I consider those times the most difficult ones of my whole life because I had to work triple than what I normally did in school in order for me to learn a huge complex language.

Read More

No Comprendo Analysis

438 Words | 2 Pages

“It’s the whole environment,” she replied. “All kinds of services are available in Spanish or Spanglish. Sports and after-school activities are conducted in Spanglish. That’s what the kids hear on the radio and in the street.” Until recently, immigrants made learning English a priority.

Read More

Dudley Randall's Ballad Of Birmingham

1523 Words | 7 Pages

Dudley Randall’s “Ballad of Birmingham” is a poem rich with historical context about the bombing of an African American church during a time of segregation. While the poem also addresses the social context of the event, it is primarily focused on the history behind it. Dudley Randall dove into the hearts of Americans by telling them the painful truth of what happened in Birmingham, Alabama with “Ballad of Birmingham.” On September 15, 1963, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama was in the transition from Sunday School to worship services at 10:22 am when a bomb exploded in the African American church.

Read More

Essay On Being An Immigrant

444 Words | 2 Pages

I was born in the capital of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. My family was native to the land having lived there for decades, but we were soon refugees due to famine and war between ethnic groups who had laid claim to the land we inherited from our ancestors. In leaving, my mother left behind her family, knowing that she may never see them again, so that we; her children, could have a better chance at life. She understood that we were susceptible to becoming victims of war, that it was impossible to foster a home during war. Ultimately, with the war progressing, we moved to the shacks of Nairobi, Kenya in an effort to seek asylum.

Read More

Analysis Of Jimmy Santiago Baca's Coming Into Language

916 Words | 4 Pages

Contrary to Baca, Marin knew how to write well and excelled in it. As a Mexican-American, Marin struggled with her identity as she wasn’t fluent in Spanish and desired to know more about and fully embrace her culture. Through out her life, she encountered many instances of discrimination toward her knowledge of language. During college, which was an accomplishment in itself, phrases like “Mexicans don’t write that well.” and “You people don’t even speak the language correctly.”

Read More

More about Languag Language In Laura's Melting Pot

Related Topics

Open Document