Language can bring people together but can also isolate. The United States is known as a melting pot, not only does that refer to culture but also the many different languages. We know of language barriers, but very seldom do we think of the language barriers within our borders. Even with the language barriers it solidifies the need for a national language, the United States of America should allow the freedom to express one’s culture while maintaining English as our national language, therefore offering common ground to its citizens. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” author Gloria Anzaldua portrays all the negative aspects of having to dispose of her hispanic roots and taming her wild tongue to do so. She begins the article by describing her …show more content…
“Flies don’t enter a closed mouth.” (Anzaldua 2947) That was a spanish saying her parents would tell her when she was growing up. One should try to balance himself by being respectful but also not losing one’s heritage while doing so. Anzaldua talks about all the different types of slang and dialect that she knows of and speaks. Anzaldua also refers to herself as a “Chicana” which refers to an American woman of Mexican descent. Chicano, also is an American man of Mexican descent. She says the Chicanos speak Standard English, Working Class and Slang English, Standard Spanish, Standard Mexican Spanish, North Mexican Spanish Dialect, Chicano Spanish, Tex-Mex, and Pachuco. She refers to Chicano Spanish and Tex-Mex to be close to her heart. Everyone can relate to having a certain dialect or slang that says a lot about them or is close to their heart. If you are skeptical about my last statement just think how the english language has been distorted from Proper English to Standard English. To take it a step further think about the dialect of the northern states versus the southern states. Hearing slang words or different dialects can help you pinpoint where someone is …show more content…
It is illegitimate, a bastard language.” She rephrases this by saying Chicano Spanish is an “orphan” language. In other words Chicano Spanish is neither Spanish nor English. It is more like a mix between both. Because it is neither one or the other, Chicanos would get in trouble for speaking Chicano Spanish while they were growing up. Not only were they chastised by their English speaking teachers, but also by their Spanish speaking parents. Chicanos often times speak English to Latinos when conversing. Anzaldua implies this has to do with their linguistic differences of the Spanish Language through dialect, regions, and how they translate/perceive it. Anzaldua was very fortunate to grow up in America and have Mexican descendants. Being bilingual can have many advantages, such as being able to communicate with two different cultures and to make up a subculture or group that has speaks both English and Spanish. Anzaldua exhorts, “I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself.” In other words your culture and language define who you are and you should hold onto your heritage and not be ashamed. There will be times that you shouldn’t tame your
Gloria Anzaldua, wrote the essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” communicating and describing her adolescence in a society brimming with sexism, cultural imperialism, racism, low self-esteem, and identity formation. The reason one comes to America is to finer themselves academically, and intellectually. One must learn to speak English to live among the American’s, because that is the language they speak. Though, no one has the right to deprive you of your familiar tongue. At a young age, Anzaldua was scolded, even mistreated for speaking her native “Chicano” tongue. Anzaldúa described this ignorance, cruelty, and discrimination when she states: “I remember being caught speaking Spanish at recess – that was good for three licks on the knuckles with a sharp ruler.” She overcomes this hostility throughout her life.
In this country, we live in a mix culture and a mix race. When we walk out in the street, the first thing we notice is people from different ethnicities. The United States has always been the country where we come to make our dreams come true. Yet we never forget the country we came from. The languages is one thing we do not forget about our country but we should also know the English language. In this country it is essential for a person to know 2 or more languages. Regardless of how many languages we know, we all have a language we prefer over the other.
How to tame a wild tongue is an essay by Gloria Anzaldua. This essay focuses on the different types of Spanish people spoke, and in this case, Anzaldua focuses on losing an accent to adjust to the environment she was living in. The issue that was applied in this essay was that the Spanish she spoke wasn’t exactly considered “Spanish”. The essay was divided into different sections as where the author tries to let people know, her Spanish speaking language should be considered valid just like every other Spanish speaking language out there.
Anzaldua grew up in the United States but spoke mostly Spanish, however, her essay discusses how the elements of language began to define her identity and culture. She was living in an English speaking environment, but was not White. She describes the difficulty of straddling the delicate changing language of Chicano Spanish. Chicano Spanish can even differ from state to state; these variations as well as and the whole Chicano language, is considered a lesser form of Spanish, which is where Anzaldua has a problem. The language a person speaks is a part...
Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong somewhere? Do you know what it feels like to be told you don’t belong in the place of your birth? People experience this quite frequently, because they may not be the stereotypical American citizen, and are told and convinced they don’t belong in the only place they see as home. In Gloria Anzaldúa’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, Anzaldúa gives the reader an inside look at the struggles of an American citizen who experiences this in their life, due to their heritage. She uses rhetorical appeals to help get her messages across on the subliminal level and show her perspective’s importance. These rhetorical appeals deal with the emotion, logic and credibility of the statements made by the author. Anzaldúa
In the expert “How to tame a wild tongue” from Gloria Anzaldua’s book Borderlands/La Frontera, Anzaldua emphasizes the interrelation of language with social and personal identity. In the text, Anzaldua relays her experiences of racial and cultural barriers embodied throughout language, both of which have led to a degraded version of her ultimate sense of self and personal identity. The underlying message is portrayed in one way with the use of intricate rhetoric, in which Anzaldua makes use of the inclusion of particular phrases in “Chicano Spanish” to bring insight into the dynamic of the linguistics system. She also includes first hand experiences to provide vivid descriptions and realistic accounts of how she has experienced a curtailed sense of self. Lastly, Anzaldua employs an emphasis to the overall message through the use of a profoundly distinct yet personal tone, which contributes to the depiction of societal turmoil.
The question that stems out of Anzaldua is can you be the dominant discourse and then have another group of people come in and put you into the role of the “other”. Both Pratt and Anzaldua distinctively show the dominant discourse and the “other” in their essays. Anzaldua shows that she and the Chicanos are considered as the “other” but the problem is that they were there first and were treated like they were not important. Pratt spoke of the Incas and Spaniards. The Spaniards thought that they were the dominant discourse and they treated the Incas as if they didn’t matter. Anzaldua started her essay by saying “We’re going to have to control your tongue, “the dentist says, pulling out all the metal from my mouth. After reading that I realized that the dentist is the dominant discourse and he is
Like many Chicanos, she developed a strong sense of cultural belonging. This is primarily due to discrimination amongst neighboring Mexicans, whites, and anyone in between. Latinos and latinas would attack her, saying “...cultural traitor, you’re speaking the oppressor’s language, you’re ruining the Spanish language” (Anzaldua 412). It was this ethnic struggle that drove her to latch onto her cultural background so strongly. In the personal narrative “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua, Anzaldua states “When other races have given up their tongue, we’ve kept ours. We know what it is to live under the hammer blow of the dominant norteamericano culture” (Anzaldua 419) when referring to the resilience of her native people. She states this in response to other cultural groups having abandoned their language, meanwhile they retained theirs. The Chicanos are aware of the harsh standards of North American society. By saying “When other races have given up their tongue, we’ve kept ours,” she means that even when other ethnicities have been pushed to eliminate their languages, her ethnicity stayed strong; they refused to cave in. Likewise, when Anzaldua states “We know what it is to live under the hammer blow of the dominant norteamericano culture,” she draws pride from her culture’s ability to fend off even the most suffocating adversities. In this way, Anzaldua conveys
The author began the story by using a metaphor, she compares the process of acculturation to a painful dentist visit where the dentist is trying to control and hold down her tongue, which is a representation of her language (Anzaldua 8). She appeals to the readers by using a clever metaphor comparing her tongue to freedom of speech or language, and the dentist to the oppressors of her culture and language the people who are apart of the dominant culture. Anzaldua also discusses how different cultures and influences determine which language people use to speak to one another. Anzaldua herself writes, “ Often with Mexicanas and Latinas we’ll speak English as a neutral language” (Anzaldua 8). Anzaldua’s point is that it is difficult to know which language to speak when feeling afraid or ashamed of what others may think. Moreover, Anzaldua discusses problems such as not being allowed to speak her native language. She writes about remembering as a child how during school speaking Spanish was forbidden and being caught speaking it would mean you would be reprimanded. Anzaldua writes “ I remember being caught speaking Spanish at recess--that was good for three licks on the knuckles with a sharp ruler” (Anzaldua 5). In making this comment she is showing us that throughout the school day you’re
According to Anzaldua, “ Chicano Spanish is considered by the purist and by most Latinos deficient, a mutilation of Spanish”(Anzaldua 32). The Chicano Spanish versus Spanish conflict that occurs in Latino society is a prime example of people considering themselves to be right in a situation where there is not a right answer. The Latino’s who speak Spanish that they believe to be normal are disturbed by the Spanish language changing. They believe that their own views are being challenged, they believe that they are correct, and they believe that anyone who challenges their views is inferior. The people who view all other views are, in reality, just trying to make themselves look more powerful. Like in Tan’s essay, people demeaned others in order to promote their own views, therefore, gaining power over the others who they demeaned. According to Tan, “ She said they would not give her any more information(...) And when the doctor finally called her daughter, me, who spoke in perfect english-- lo and behold-- we had assurances the CAT scan would be found”(Tan 2). The doctors treated Tan’s mother differently due to her use of what they considered “broken language”, leading to her being treated inadequately. People have an image of what they consider to be the right English, anyone who does not speak the right English is usually considered to be uneducated. In both Tan’s and Anzaldua’s essays, the lack of open-mindedness is one of the reasons that people want to become more powerful than others. People fail to realize that what they believe in is not always the right answer, like with stereotypes, the people are trying to gain power over others in order to make themselves seem more
From the time the Pilgrims landed in this great nation at Plymouth Rock, immigrants have been culturally diverse and have spoken many languages. When the Pilgrims arrived in the New World, they did not know how to communicate with the natives. Through intense study the natives learned the Pilgrims’ language. Even with the common language they were still a melting pot of different culture. Some would say that America has gotten over the language/ cultural barriers and now almost everyone speaks the common language of English, but there are still many immigrants who do not know English. Bilingual education is put into public schools for this reason, so that immigrant children can be assimilated to English gradually. The national language should be English instead of the official language because America has prided herself in being very diverse. If we take away the diversity, then we take away the core values that America has always had since her founding.
Language is part of the few benefits that immigrants bring with their culture. United States benefits from cultures of the many immigrants that migrate to the U.S. the variation of different languages brings great benefit to the U.
The United States is made up of many different ethic groups. These groups vary from Latinos, Asian American, African American, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, and etc. These ethnic groups come into America speaking many different languages. However, many people are still surprised to learn that the United States has no official language. Many assume that English is the official language of the United States. But despite efforts over the years, the United States has no official language. Because the United States has no official language, it is suffering with large costs. These large costs will lead us on a road to wasteful government expenses, language battles that fuel ethnic resentment, and in the long run serious ethnic and linguistic separatist movements. An official English legislation is the answer to the problem.
English as the official language of the United States could benefit the U.S. Government and America as a whole. America has long since been a multicultural nation and has been an English speaking nation since it was founded. The constitutional and federal documents are all in English, which furthers the American people, believing English should be our official language. The majority of states already have English as their official language, for English has always provided a much needed cohesion to our diverse citizens since it was founded.
English becoming the official Language of the United States is not just a controversial topic, it is necessary to keep America alive. American history and tradition is falling, and the ground on which she was founded is slowly fading. Americans must wake up to the importance of preserving the history of their culture. America is considered to be the greatest country in the world by even some who are not Americans. The “American Dream” is something people fantasize over all around the world. In order to keep the desire to be American, one must truly understand what it takes to be American. English is essential in living the American life. English should be the official language of the United States to give the people what they want, to recognize the historic role, and to limit controversy.