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Immigrants in America and the challenges they face
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The non-native English speakers had to assimilate. When they came to the United States to live their new life in the states. In the article “Leave Your Name at the Border,” Munoz’s stepfather had to change his name so that he could better support his family in the states but if had never changed his name he was at risk of getting passed over for a job. “This isn’t to say that my stepfather welcomed the change, only that he could not put much resistance,” for a country that’s supposed to have freedom but does not allow to keep your name which is part of your culture so that you could be better accepted into their
society.
The story “Public and Private Language” was written by Richard Rodriguez. He is an American writer and a journalist with many of his publications widely known to the public. He is known for Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, one of the best written creations throughout his career, which resulted him to grow a substantial amount of supporters, even today. In this story, I am well pleased that Rodriguez has written a memento in which many of the Latinx community could well relate to. Overall I concur with this story based on the fact that there may be two different identities a Latinx person could have throughout their life and that having a public identity could mean more achievements made. However I don’t believe that the more Americanization means the decrease of bonding with your family, finding this statement absurd.
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.
The article shows her ideas with a specific focus on the Latino community in English-language country. The writer said “After my first set of lessons, I could function in the present tense. Hola, Paco. De que color es tu cuaderno? El mío es azul”. (Barrientos, Tanya p.64). This is evidence throughout the article that she said such as this sentence and writes some words in Spanish that she don’t know. The writer was born in a Latin American country, and feels like a Latina (the brown-skin) even if she was raised in the United States and does not speak Spanish anymore. In addition, this article also serves as inspiration for people with different backgrounds that suffer from the same problem, helping all the people that face the same problem. I’m also have same experience. I’m growing up in Shandong province, but born in Guangdong province. It is so far from Guangdong to Shandong. And China is an old country, the culture and habit is not similar from place to place. If there are a few mountains between two cities, the language is total different. So every time when I come back to my hometown, the citizen, especially my grandparents, which growing up in tradition, will call me “yuasangia”, which like the writer’s struggles in American. However, the different is that this noun just for others province people who live in or travel to my hometown. Every time when I say my hometown language
Rodriguez would, for example, use words such as “unsettling” “cloistered” and “alienation,” to describe the beginning of his assimilation in the public English speaking world. While he would use “calm” “enchantingly” “consoling” and “intimacy” to describe Spanish. As Rodriguez is being pushed to assimilate and English is heard everywhere including his home he becomes “increasingly angry” only from being obliged from his parents and trying to participate in class he begins to feel a sense of belonging in public. Rodriguez’s diction was evident and continuous in his essay which abetted the audience to understand that the author wanted the audience to be addressed formally and be known that he wants to be taken seriously and able to connect to his background and why he made his
Immigrants have helped shape American identity by their languages they speak from their home country. Richard Rodriguez essay “Blaxicans and Other Reinvented Americans” reveals Rodriguez’s attitudes towards race and ethnicity as they relate to make people know what culture is really identified a person rather than their race. For example, in the essay, it states that Richard Rodriguez “ that he is Chinese, and this is because he lives in a Chinese City and because he wants to be Chinese. But I have lived in a Chinese City for so long that my eye has taken on the palette, has come to prefer lime greens and rose reds and all the inventions of this Chinese Mediterranean. (lines 163-171)”. Although Rodriquez states”he is Chinese”, what he actually
Throughout Richards early childhood development he quickly understood that in order to succeed in America he would have to learn to confidently speak in English. Richard is Hispanic American and although he was born in America, Spanish was the only language that he was exposed to as a young child. He grew up in a home where Spanish flowed freely, but he soon realized outside of his home the language that he primarily knew was foreign. His parents spoke fluent Spanish along with all of his relatives. The brief encounters he experienced of his parents speaking English were only in public places and the proficiency was very poor. Rodriguez’s home was as a safety net for him and his Spanish speaking family with they are his only real connections to the outside world. It wasn’t until Richards encounter with his teachers that he and his family was heavily impressed on the importance of developing a public language. After the encouragement of the visit home from a teacher as a family
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.
In the beginning of the article, Richard started out by mentioning how his public language which is Spanish will not get him nowhere in life, however by learning a public language which is English will help more in life and make stuff way easier for him. He mentioned being scared and hard for him to learn a public society language. When I came to America 11 years ago, it was hard for me to learn a second language and I doubted myself all the time, however I had family members, teachers and friends pushing me to learn and telling me to not give up even
Because of internalized racism, Latinos and Hispanics distance themselves from the Spanish language to support the English only movement. They are embarrassed of their inherited language and rather choose English to complete assimilation. “Almost 40% of Latino/a respondents prefer English as their dominant language…” (Padilla 20). Where I currently live, I always see on the day to day basis Hispanics and Latinos that immigrated to the United States from other countries sounding “white.”
Another struggle for identity with Latinos is their struggle with the Spanish and English languages. While some Latinos may speak Spanish in their homes, the language may not be conversationally used in their schools. Some Lat...
In the essay “Mother Tongue” Amy Tan, the author, gives a different, a more upbeat outlook on the various forms of English that immigrants speak as they adapt to the American culture. Using simple language to develop her argument, she casually communicates to the audience rather than informing which helps the audience understand what is being presented at ease. Her mother plays an important role in her outlook of language, because she helps her realize that language not only allows one to be a part of a culture but create one’s identity in society. Amy Tan shares her real life stories about cultural racism and the struggle to survive in America as an immigrant without showing any emotions, which is a wonderful epiphany for the audience in realizing
Many people immigrate to the United States from different countries to begin a better life. Once in the American territory, the first step for success is to learn the English language. Richard Rodriguez, the writer of "Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood" describes the language decisions he faced as a child: "Outside the house was public society; inside the house was private" (16). The English language is the primary language in the United States, and it must be learned to be able to communicate with the public world. The language that we speak at home is considered to be private because it is only used in the presence of the people we feel comfortable with, our family. Families immigrate to the United States from Mexico to find and give their children a better opportunity to succeed. The children of immigrants who have been raised or born in the United States were able to adapt much faster to the English language. The Spanish language, in the case of Mexicans, is part of our origin that most of us inherit from our ancestors although in the United States many, including me, seem to add a new language, which gives us better opportunities.
Lorna Dee Cervantes said that: “the children run to me, laughing, spinning me blind and silly. They call to me in words of another language.” (lines2-4) I can feel her loneliness through her poem. Because she doesn’t feel she is American or Mexican, even though she doesn’t know who she is. The Native Mexicans call her a prostitute because she gets the influence from America for a long time. Cervantes thinks isn’t her fault, is her ancestor’s fault because she can’t control that. So that’s why I think immigrants should keep their “old language” alive. If we learn English and don’t know our own language, we won’t be able to communicate with our cousin. Even when we came back to our home country, we can’t communicate with other people. I don’t want to feel like I am a stranger in our home.
Living in California comes with a social-cultural belief that the only approved and acceptable language to be spoken is English. Looking at our schools and diversely multi-cultural society it’s quite the opposite. From an education perspective we see the influx of languages and students either born or migrating to America. Most non-English speaking children today are now born within the United States. Our civil rights state that we are equal in human rights to receive the same treatment even in educational programs. In California our primary language taught in public school education is English based. Our English Ethnocentrism brought on the Nationality Act of 1906 that required immigrants to speak English for naturalization purposes which lead to the Security Act of 1950 that required reading and writing as well in English.
Over the years it seems as though our country has become more populated and unsafe from the illegal immigrants and smuggled goods, such as drugs and weapons, which make it into the United States. Although there are many illegal immigrants and contraband that are able to make it into the U.S undetected, there are a significant amount of people and contraband that are caught by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The CBP is a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and was formed in 2003. “It is one of the world’s largest law enforcement organizations and is charged with keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the U.S” (CBP). One of the departments of the CBP is border security, which is a team of individuals that work together to protect our country from “illegal immigrants, narcotics smuggling, and illegal importation” (CBP). Border patrol was established in 1924 and has changed dramatically over the decades. The one aspect that has not changed is “the overall mission to detect and prevent the illegal entry of aliens into the U.S” (CBP). The border patrol is responsible for patrolling the 6,000 miles of Mexican and Canadian land borders and 2,000 miles of coastal waters. According to CBP, “In 2013 420,789 nationwide illegal aliens were apprehended and 2.9 million pounds of drugs were seized.” As one could tell, there is a significant amount of illegal immigrants and smuggled goods coming into the U.S. However, the number of illegal immigrants that have been seized is lower than it has been in the past, but I still believe that having a strong border security is necessary in continuing to keep immigrants from trying to come into the U.S illegally and transporting illegal goods. “The primary goal of bo...