Personal Narrative: My Speaking Spanish

0. Introduction I grew up in a Spanish speaking environment in Westmont, California. Although my mother and everyone else in the family only spoke Spanish, I was also exposed to English at the age of three or four. I was exposed to English at a young age through preschool. I further improved my English through classes I took from elementary through high school. Since most of my family members only spoke Spanish I would mainly use Spanish at home but, I would sometimes use English to talk to my brothers and cousins who lived in the household as well. I used English at school more to communicate with friends, teachers and school officials. Unlike English, I never had an official class on Spanish, other than what my family had exposed me

Spanish uses different forms of words when addressing to older people than when addressing to friends or siblings. Unlike English, which does not have distinction between formal and informal pronouns, Spanish has the formal ‘usted’ and informal ‘tú’ second person pronoun “you”. A Spanish speaker would use “usted” as a sign of respect, they would use it to address a parent, older adult, or someone that they believe to be higher than them. When addressing an adult in spanish one would say “¿Hola, cómo está usted? But when addressing a friend one would say “¿Hola, cómo estás?” to emphasize informality. This would support Whorfian hypothesis that the presence of formal and informal pronouns cause Spanish speakers to view the world in a way that is not shared by English speakers. On the other hand, this thesis is not fully supported because English speakers can also express formality and informality in different ways. When an English speaker wants to be formal they would say “Hello, how are you today?” As opposed to “What up Fam, how you doing?” when they know a person and want to be informal. This shows that Sapir-Whorf arguments are not fully supported because English speakers can express formality and informality as well as Spanish speakers

This means that, unlike English, in Spanish the verbs can implicate the subject. For example, I can say “Comí papas ayer.” ([I] Ate fries yesterday.) This sentence is grammatically correct in Spanish and shows that the verb “Comí” (ate) is the first person conjugation for the verb “Comer” (to eat) further implying that the subject is in first person “yo”(I). In English not only would this sentence be ungrammatical but it would also be ambiguous as well. We can’t say “Ate fries yesterday.” because “Ate” can refer to various people, instead we say “I ate fries yesterday.” because English verbs do not account to one subject. Because the Null subject parameter is applied in Spanish but not in English, English speakers to have to properly state the person they are referring