Blogs » Digital Babble » Lenguaje sin barreras

Subscribe


3
 
Lenguaje sin barreras
By cjcastillo in Digital Babble
April 11, 2006




Source: Whittier Daily News
Language Barrier

According to a survey by the market research firm American Dimensions, only 15 percent of third-generation Latinos speak Spanish, compared with 73 percent of second-generation Latinos who speak the language.


I pass no judgement on those who can't speak Spanish and don't want to learn, but I have a problem with people who criticize those of us who can't speak Spanish properly.

And then you have those who criticize us because we want to learn Spanish. "This is America, we speak English here. This ain't Mexico!" But that's a topic for another blog.

It is important for me to continue learning how to speak Spanish, I want to speak it and write it properly. I want the words to become just as part of my world as the English language is. Spanish is like a family member I cannot ignore. I must learn everything about it so I can fully embrace it.

It may be difficult for those not familiar with the Hispanic/Latino culture to understand what the big deal is when it comes to talking or not talking in Spanish.

Many Latinos did not teach their own children Spanish because of the pain and ridicule they had to endure back when they were in school. I remember the cuentos of my own family members who would talk about their school days in South Texas. They told stories about being made fun of because of their accents when they said words like "chair" or "shoes." When lunchtime came around, the Latino children would go hide and eat the lunches packed by their mothers and grandmothers: bean or potato tacos. They would not dare eat a taco in front of their Anglo classmates, that was just asking for trouble.

Twenty years later things didn't change much. In elementary school I watched as kids with Latino surnames and thick accents were called "wetbacks" and laughed at when they said words like "chicken" and "sharing."

I recall one time in junior high, we were out of bread at home, so my mom sent a taco in my lunchbag. The incredulous looks and snickering I received from classmates were something I will never forget.

"What IS that?"

On a positive note, some things take a while to improve.

Fast forward another twenty years to a time when my little sister was the hero of the lunch table because my mom made extra tacos to share with her Anglo classmates.

Anyway, the point of this is about language. It can bring people together just as much as it can divide them.

Case in point:

Language barrier
Lack of bilingual ability a stigma for Latino educators
By Christina L. Esparza Staff Writer
Click here for article

Montebello High School swim coach David Argumosa has heard all the insults before, and he doesn't like them one bit.

Just because he is Latino but speaks very little Spanish, "I've been called `pocho,' `coconut,' `white-washed' - all that stuff," said the 30-year-old Montebello resident.

"It bothers me because it's so frustrating," he said. "I can learn Spanish on my own, but it doesn't come overnight."

Thirty-year-old teacher's aide Marin Dominguez, who works at a middle school in East Los Angeles, also grew up speaking very little Spanish. Because of the ridicule his Spanish-speaking immigrant parents endured when they first arrived here, they decided to teach their son English only.

...

Straddling two worlds - their lives in the U.S. and the world of their parents and grandparents - is tough for second- and third-generation Latinos. But not speaking the language of their descendants can also curtail job opportunities, put a damper on social activities and be a source of embarrassment.

They often hear insults like "coconut" and "pocho" - derogatory terms for non-Spanish-speaking Mexican-Americans and other Latinos - and are sometimes assumed to know the language by both Spanish-speaking Latinos and non-Latinos.

Argumosa, who coaches swimming and water polo at Montebello High, said some of his Spanish-speaking students are "code-talkers," who sometimes say bad things about him in front of his face.


...

Francisco Balderrama, a professor of history and Chicano studies at Cal State L.A., said the loss of Spanish among some U.S.-born Latinos in many cases can be traced to the 1920s and 1930s, when immigrants were not allowed to speak Spanish at school. Often, the ban was enforced through corporal punishment, he said.

As a result, many immigrant parents chose to teach their children English only, and the cycle continued with each new generation.


You see, language is much more than the combination of words, nouns and verbs used to communicate. For many people language is a huge part of their culture, to deny it is to deny who they are.