Writer's Choice Piece

Writer’s Choice, “I Speak, therefore I am…?” Identity Discussion Board Two

In Gloria Anzaldua's, "How to Tame a Wild Tongue", the Anglo teacher boldly states,” If you want to be American, speak American. If you don't like it go back to Mexico where you belong." Such an intense statement has such a negative impact on the author and her views throughout the story. The author views her language as unimportant in America. Gloria feels such a strong connection between language and identity that she uses the following quote from Ray Gwyn Smith,” Who is to say that robbing a people of its language is less violent than war?” This is another intense statement that really brings the reader to feel the author’s frustration. The author portrays learning another language as losing a sense of self. The way she explains the evolution of language and how it has changed is her way of expressing her loss of culture as a Chicano.

There is an enormous amount of separation in America because of linguistic differences. If you are an immigrant from another country you are expected to adopt the native language. In fact it is almost necessary to do so if you want to succeed in American society. The authors negative feelings about learning another language made me think about other forms of communication. Should we put more effort into exploring these? Or should we all just speak the same? Putting so much focus on identity in language can sometimes limit our diversity. Will we never learn another language because we are afraid of losing our identity? On page 82, the author talks about how over time English not Spanish will be the language spoken by Chicanos. There is definitely a very real possibility of that. So why are the roles not reversed? Can Chicanos learn English and in turn Americans learn Spanish? Would the author’s frustrations be met if the world worked more like that? If the world worked both ways there would be more acceptance of different languages. It is almost a welcoming feeling to learn something new. The author states, "Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity--I am my language", a statement that is a definite summary of the author’s feelings throughout the story.

In my own experience I have found it necessary to learn the language of another. A little over a year ago, I interviewed a Spanish woman who spoke absolutely no English. She brought a friend with to the interview to translate for her. During the interview I did not feel that I could make a fair judgment on which she was as a person or a worker, because I could not speak to her directly. So, I went with my gut and talked my boss into hiring her. It was difficult at first. She did her best to understand me and I did my best to train her. Today she and I are good friends. It has been over a year now and she speaks significantly better English and I am speaking un poco (a little) Spanish. Sometimes I even translate to others for her! Learning bits and pieces of another language has helped me greatly. It has helped me meet new friends and broadened my hiring at work. She has also benefited. She is now able to help her son with his homework and eventually move up in her career. We have embraced each others cultural differences and learned to work together as a team. I can only hope that Gloria Anzaldua lives to experience something such as I have in order to calm her frustrations.