Listening to the past few guest lecturers have given me some things to think about that I find pretty interesting. More specifically, because I'm taking a linguistics class that Professor Satterfield teaches, I want to comment on her lecture a little bit.
I found a lot of things that she talked about similar to the topics that we cover in her class. One thing I found particularly interesting was the theory of code switching, and how some people criticize those who use code switching frequently, deeming them "ni-lingual", which I find completely untrue and unfounded. I feel to be able to code switch while maintaining both forms of grammar for each language is really an acquired skill- I would love to be able to seamlessly code-switch at some point. These bilingual speakers (because I believe that they are bilingual) will become increasingly more pertinent to our society, no matter how monolingual the government tries to make this country.
Another thing that I found interesting that was just commented on was the concept that the third generation of native speakers no longer knew how to speak Spanish fluently. This was also applied to my grandfather. His mother was Spanish and Mexican, and spoke fluently, but as he was growing up, he was taught to not speak Spanish, because that meant that he would be discriminated against, and I believe that he carried that train of thought with him throughout his entire life. None of my aunts and uncles or my mom know how to speak Spanish, and I remember my mom telling me that I could try speaking Spanish with my grandfather, but not to get my hopes up, because he has always associated speaking Spanish with a negative connotation. Seeing some of the things brought up in lecture apply to situations that I have experienced is really interesting, and makes these issues that more relevant for us to learn.
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2 comments:
I agree with you. I speak two languages fluently and I don't consider myself "ni-lingual". There are times when I speak "spanglish" but that always happens when I speak in Spanish and I can't think of the right word to say, so instead I say it in English. I don't speak perfect spanish, but I do believe that I am a fluent speaker in Spanish. "Ni-lingual" is a ridiculous term, that I don't think applies to someone that doesn't know a language perfectly.
I found your reflection post dead on. My aunt and uncle recently had triplets and my entire family was outraged that they were being taught Polish before being taught English (my aunt was born in Poland). However, whenever at family get togethers I try and explain that I think it is great thing and that either way they will eventually learn English. Although they may have some troubles at school at first, they will eventually be brought up to speed. The amazing thing about learning languages when you are young is that you are definitely capable of being able to do so and I think that that in itself is beautiful. I would love to be bi-lingual and I am very jelous that I am not fluent in any other language besides English. Also, I agree that this should definitely be a "permanent thing" where everyone should eventually become bi-lingual.
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