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Se Habla Espanol Summary

674 Words3 Pages

Identity Crisis
In “Se Habla Espanol” by Tanya Maria Barrientos, speaking multiple languages at the time of Barrientos being a child, was not perceived as a bonus on your job application. When she was just three years old she was moved to the states and her parents completely stopped using Spanish and taught their children English. They did this in order to provide a better education for their children in America. They knew that if they spoke Spanish, they would be perceived as poor individuals. Barrientos stated; “If I stayed away from Spanish, stereotypes would stay away from me.”(Barrientos 646) She knew even as a young child that people around her pegged their family as “Mexican”, which would mean inferior. She wanted to feel white so she could fit into society. Today, America teaches languages in schools. They want children to be bilingual because there are more opportunities in the world for people who speak multiple languages. However, stereotypes still exist and are very common in a lot of areas. Where I come from, people speak in a Southern accent. People tend …show more content…

After having the opportunity to meet people from all over, in my line of work I am given the pleasure of holding a conversation with people and actually getting the chance to know more about where they are from and why they chose to come here. Generally they talk about how the people are so nice and they didn’t expect to meet good people here. I have heard many people from northern states like New York, Maryland, or Massachusetts say “We heard that people around here just aren’t the brightest.” I have also been asked if there are a lot of “rednecks” here. This would be another stereotype that small, countryside towns are represented by. It could be easily interpreted by a select few people that “rednecks” lack intelligence, but there are so many people who prove the majority

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In both “Se Habla Espanol” and “Mother Tongue” their thoughts on the languages transition. In “Se Habla Espanol” Tanya starts off wanting nothing to do with her heritage and the spanish language. She could almost say she was ashamed and afraid of what accepting that part of her would mean; however, as time passed and the world changed , she eventually wanted to changed with it. In order to feel like she belonged somewhere she choose to learn to speak spanish and accept who she had been all along. (Se Habla Espanol 629- 632)

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Tan was raised in the English society and was already assimilated into society as she grew up. The language Tan was familiar with like Rodriguez was familiar to Spanish was her mother’s language, which she refers to as her “mother tongue” (Tan, 313). Tan writes about her experiences of her mother’s language as a child, and says, “…when I was growing up, my mother’s ‘limited’ English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English” (314).

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Growing up Mexican-American in the United States can be a challenge itself. Throw in the task, of learning two languages, it made for a very confused little girl. There was often times growing up when I wondered why no one, but my family spoke Spanish. Why everyone at school and all my friends spoke this different language. Sometimes it even seemed like I was two different people.

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Most individuals are apprehensive about changes, but there may be no reason. Changes can bring benefits to those who experience them. In the essay “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” Richard Rodriguez explores his life as a bilingual child. He discusses the many changes he experiences as he goes from being fluent in Spanish to being fluent in English. Rodriguez dissuades the reader against bilingual education which is the education of nonnative English speakers in their native language.

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The author of “Hispanic Pride vs. American Assimilation,” Stephanie Cox, presents and explains Hispanic immigrants’ hesitancy to learn English very effectively. She begins by telling a personal story about meeting a Hispanic woman who wanted her son to learn English but refused to learn it herself. Cox was confused as to why the mother would refuse to learn English, so she did some research and found three possible causes of this situation: a pride in Hispanic peoples’ native countries--most specifically, Mexican-Americans, a close proximity to their native country, and the lack of support from other Hispanic Americans to assimilate to American culture and ideals. Cox’s explanation of the Hispanic reasonings aids in further understanding their situations.

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This quote explains that the author feels out of place. When Barrientos came to the United States she stopped speaking spanish, partly because her parents wanted her to speak english. One reason she did not want to be classified as Mexican American was that society has negative connotations outsiders. Learning spanish

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