Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” is written by Richard Rodriguez and “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me What Is?” is written by James Baldwin. In their presentations, both authors imply that language is a part of a person’s culture and a key to one’s identity and how people around them were all trying to change in order to make them similar to everyone else. “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” is written by Richard Rodriguez. He was born in San Francisco and raised in Sacramento, California. Rodriguez was a literary scholar and teacher who later became an essayist and journalist.
“Amy Tan: Mother Tongue” In Amy Tan’s essay ¨Mother Tongue¨(1990), Amy Tan, a Chinese American Author, asserts that all languages are very significant. Ms. Tan explains her idea by praising her mother´s broken English, and sharing personal stories and conversation between her Mother and her husband The purpose of of praising the broken English is make her book easier to read and have the people who have mixed Englishes understand her life story. Her audience is the many people who speak broken English and people that understand her writing. The tone of the story was very solemn and hopeful because of the mixed Englishes to tell her story.
In the short story Gate A-4, written by Naomi Shihab Nye, the narrator of the story is supposed to board a flight to El Paso yet the flight is delayed, so an elderly Palestinian woman who is unable to understand English gets worried that she won’t be able to arrive at her destination to receive immediate medical attention. The narrator, who happens to speak Arabic, translates to the older woman in order to console her. This begins the beautiful friendship between the narrator and the older woman, along with a valuable life lesson. No matter what part of the world you come from, it shouldn’t deny one the ability to be united despite our differences. Being united despite where we come from is a valuable lesson that everyone should learn.
From his perspective,being a bilingual person is not so easy because ” A change of language brings with it a change of role.” I think that is a great advantage to be bilingual because you can communicate with people from other countries , you can know their culture , customs and traditions . Moreover , you can get involved in various activities that you can learn something new, gaining experience. We know that when meeting new people , cultures, traditions
Thus, statements like, “I have OCD,” or “I’m depressed” will not be used haphazardly in our speeches. Looking at Richards Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood, reading the memoir published in 1981 is a privilege that many may not have if they depend on print reading. The memoir provides various aspects of language using narration, description, comparison, and contrast while arguing against bilingual education. Through the experiences that Rodriguez went through as a child, readers are able to understand the confusion that bilingual education brings to children at a young age. Online reading is necessary for the people of this digital era because it provides them with information about the past, present, and future while ensuring that they stay abreast of the changes that take place in terms of language, science, and history, among other subjects.
While at a public speaking, Tan realized that she was using all these large words that her audience understood but her mother did not. “I was saying things like, “The intersection of memory upon imagination” and “There is an aspect of my fiction that relates to thus–and-thus…the forms of English I did not use at home with my mother” (Tan 58). Tan’s mother was in the room while Tan was giving the speech and that was when she realized that language could be a powerful tool that can connect each other in different ways. The English language can also bring people together who speak English but not in such a common way. “We were talking about the price of new and used furniture and I heard myself saying this: “Not waste money that way” (Tan 58).
In the essay “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” by Richard Rodriguez. The author uses his memoir to show how he has fought through his childhood to understand English and how the english language had formed his identity. To him, Spanish was a private language, spoken only at home and in the comforting presence of his family. The Spanish language allowed him to connect with his parents because that was all they knew. However, After he was somewhat forced to speak English by the public, he became an outsider to his own culture, unable to speak Spanish, but still able to understand it as it states “we remained a loving family, but one greatly changed.
Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue,” really moved me emotionally because of the way in which the piece was written, and the relevance of the situations to my own life. The piece is about how Tan had struggled with her linguistic identity, and explores her mothers broken english, and her relationship with her mother. The primary purpose of this piece was to show people that there is no right form of English, and that it comes in many different forms and as a result there should be no prejudice against these variations. Tan discusses how many people have very narrow minds and misconceived views on people of different cultural backgrounds. In the essay she had used the example of how people would not take her mother serious because of her broken English.
The article 'Mother Tongue ' by author Amy Tan is about the variations in the English language the author uses in her life. She describes her English when giving a speech to a other people, English she uses when speaking to her mother, and English she uses in her writing. She tells of difficulties faced by both her mother and herself from these many differences. Amy 's goal in this article is to show that a person does not have to speak proper English to be seen as smart or intelligent.
Our identity is a place upon many attributes of a human being. Whether the person is someone who goes on promoting themselves to the world or not, and it shows how people communicate to others around them. Language is one of the main components that unveils the person’s identity in their everyday life, and they are many different ways to approach a person’s language. Relating to the article of Yiyun Li, “To Speak is to Blunder,” she knows two languages that has its positive and negative outcomes in her life. I to relate to her understanding of language, but a different view of what language means to me.
Nancy Huston’s Losing North: Essays on Cultural Exiles, ascends plenty of thought regarding the experiences of individuals who voluntarily choose to leave their native country. One can connect with the author immediately with her writing style seeming as a conversation between herself and the reader. A deeper connection may be formed when one has personally experienced adopting another country just how Huston did. The aftermath of fully becoming part of another country may not be full of butterflies and rainbows the entire time but consequently also filled with struggle, loss, confusion, and betrayal with one’s self.
Multilingual ability is a journey of continual learning and self-discovery. The amount of territory visible on one’s map is equivalent to the amount of territory one has dared to
Once years pass and age begins to accumulate, there is a period in one’s life where age begins to catch up to those three things. The body begins to ache a little more, the mind begins to lose its sharpness and a spirit may begin to have a different perspective. The same is said to happen to bilinguals and the aging effects that occurs with children and adults. The aspect of aging in bilingualism can be broken down into two different sections. The first is the age at where bilinguals begin the process of learning their second language and the second section is chronological age.
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction Definition and backgrounds of theories and concepts connected to this study are provided in this chapter. Reviews of previous studies on code-switching, bilingualism and computer mediated communication which are homogenous to this study are provided. 2.1. Bilingualism 2.1.1. Definition of bilingualism
From that day on, my ability expanded to create a basis from which I built off of in a year I spent at the local international school, and what I consider the most pivotal comeback of my lifetime. Fourth grade was the most difficult year of my young life, but also the most beneficial, as that one year strengthened my dexterity of the language to the point where those single sentences became two, then three, then whole paragraphs, and this time it was the Germans’ turn to balk at my inane grammar choices. My abilities have fluctuated since that fateful yet successful year, but nowadays I am frequently mistaken for a local in Vienna, which continues as one of the most humbling experiences I have yet to encounter. My bilingual finesse is a quality I utilize with my family, everyday, whether we wish to simply get away from the associations of English, or we wish to have our own language in public, it’s definitely a life-altering addition to my already phenomenal life, an addition I would not give up for anything. The merging of the two worlds I have come to embrace continues to push my boundaries every day, even without the language portion, always adjusting to the differences between the two, and missing whatever land I am not visiting at the moment.
