Living in Tag-lish: Locating Identity in Language Many circumstances oblige people to move from their native country to a foreign one. Some people tend to bury their habits and accommodate a new way of life while others hold on to what they were raised to such as food, traditions, religion and most importantly, their language. Language has been considered as one of the most commonly used determinants of one’s identity. If someone speaks in Cantonese, people would assume the person is Chinese. In my case, I was raised with a language called Tag-lish, which is a blend of Tagalog and English. So would I be considered a Filipino or American? And if I am one of either, what does that tell me about myself? In the political blog, “Why Should Married …show more content…
People use language to connect to their identities and communicating realities and values to themselves and to the world around them. Language is important because people use it to express their thoughts and beliefs. “People evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances” (Baldwin 109). Consequently, language does not necessarily define identity as much as identity defines language. People decide on what language to use in order to communicate with their communities according to their identities. One’s identity defines and regulates the use of language and not the contrary. For example, my mother, being bilingual, for me, has two different identities. Whenever she speaks English, my mother tends to act subtle and a completely different person whenever she speaks Tagalog. When she speaks Tagalog, she seems to have a lot more pride, is a lot louder, laughs and jokes around a lot more. However, language can also be a restriction on one’s identity which means that language does not necessarily define a person 's identity. A person maybe not as well educated as someone else probably uses weaker language than someone with a very good education but just because they don 't speak as eloquently as a well-educated person should not be seen stupid like most people would. So language can define a person 's identity but not …show more content…
People tend to avoid making conversations with the fear of being misunderstood and misinterpreted because of their limitations to speak the English language. The struggle of communication makes it difficult for people to develop relationships, further lowering their self-esteem. In my case, moving to a different country was a struggle due to adjustments to the language. I tend to avoid engaging in making social interactions due to my dread of being ridiculed because of my accent and limited command of English. The inability to build relationships hindered me from opportunities in life; as a result, I ended up having negative attitude toward my capabilities, role in society and self-identity. Similarly, according to an academic journal, Identity Through a Language Lens, “Language serves as underpinning, emblematic marker of self-identity… However, one’s self concept toward language impacts how society views us.” (Ciepiela, 13) In other words, language is only a medium of naming or labelling something or someone, but not necessarily defining who they are and who they will be. Overall, language through names and labels serve as determinants of self-identity. Languages are developed within common groups of people to unite and to create strength through communication, but they are not meant to define us. Who we are and who we will be does not depend
In Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood, the author Richard Rodriguez argues that since there is a lack of bilingual education taught in American schools, many students face a loss of intimacy to their native language, leaving them identifiable-less. He makes this claim by expressing that although native language can cause divisions in communication, it is the basis structure to a person.
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
In Gloria Anzaldúa’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, an excerpt from her book Borderlands/La Fronter in 1987, she demonstrates that identity can be asserted through language. You can tell a lot about a person by their language. Language is your way of representing who you are as a person, and most importantly, your culture. Culture defines the most about a person. Anzaldúa shares her aggravation of not being able to speak her language, “until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself" (Anzaldúa 378). Being seen as an individual of English as Second Language (ESL), Anzaldúa does not appreciate how she has to assist in translating to English or Spanish, where she would rather speak Spanglish. “[A]s long as I have to accommodate the English speaker rather than having them accommodate me, my tongue will be illegitimate” (Anzaldúa 378). Talking bad about her language severely impacts her identity, “I am my language” (Anzaldúa 378). A person’s identity should not be seen less because of the language they speak. Anzaldúa states that she will have her voice, though she cannot express her passion for her language with the restraint of no freedom act to embrace it, she will. Her audiences that she is reaching to are those who share the same struggle of their identities just like her, and also speaking out to people who do look down upon people like her because of where she is form and what language she speaks.
Most people who grow up with a foreign language spoken in there house grow up with an advantage in society. This advantage can only occur once the individual learning that foreign language also learns the dominant language spoken in that country. Once both of these languages are learned and mastered, the individual has now placed them se...
When it comes to languages- language is a major role that helps us communicate. Whether it's solving an issue or informing one another. In society, language can either make you feel as if you're apart of a civilization or it can make you feel isolated if you don't speak it the proper way. In the article, Se Habla Español, by Tanya Maria Barrientos, Barrientos talks about how growing up Hispanic and not being able to speak her native language (Spanish) was very challenging. Barrientos came to America from Guatemala in the year of 1963 at the age of three. Since then, Barrientos wasn't able to speak her language due to her parents assimilating into the American culture. Back then, America wasn't the most accepting country. Anyone who identified themselves as Mexican American or Afro American was viewed and considered dangerous radicals. Barrientos parents just wanted Barrientos to grow up, living outside of the American stereotype of minorities. Another writing that supports my accusation about how language and physical appearance can make a person feel isolated is Mother Tongue by Amy Tan. Tan expresses that her mother is Chinese and she speaks what Americans called "Broken English". According to http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=broken+english "Broken English is a "Incorrect or awkwardly structured English, usually spoken or written by non-native speakers." "Broken+English." Urban Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2015.
However, it is true that language people speak or write represents who they are and the way society looks at them. The article “ Always Living in Spanish” the author Marjorie Agosin demonstrates, how the author would feel comfortable speaking her own language. Marjorie Agosin admits “ Only at night, writing poems in Spanish, could I return to my senses, and soothe my own sorrow over what I had left behind” (557). Agosin demonstrates that through the day she would speak and talk like an American would do, but at nights she would speak and write in her own home language which was Spanish. Writing and speaking in Spanish would remind her of her identity and where she came from. She felt through her writing she would be able to explain the way she felt without telling the world herself the way she felt about life, but her writing would expressed and speak for itself for
In the essay, “How To Tame A Wild Tongue”, by Gloria Anzaldua and the essay, Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan, the ignorance shown by many people is highlighted. Amy Tan’s essay focuses on how some people look down on others who do not speak English without an accent. Anzaldua’s essay focuses on how people do not have a broad view of language and often look down upon others who do not speak the language that they speak. Both of the essays address language, but the broader topic that they acknowledge is more important. The essays both acknowledge how humans feel uncomfortable around people that are different from them, and often demean others. People demean others due to people wanting to look more powerful by giving their views correctness while discrediting
The first and second year after moving from China to the United States, I was afraid to talk to strangers because my English was not very well. I had to depend on my husband for dealing with my personal business, such as making a doctor’s appointment, calling to the bank, or questioning to DMV officers. Douglass says, “being a slave for life began to bear heavily upon my heart” (62). For myself, being a dependent and helpless adult is a shame. Moreover, I lacked of extra money to go to school to improve my English. Thus, I stayed home all the time to avoid embarrassment of talking to strangers. After a while, I realized that improving English speaking skills are the essential to gain my self-confidence. So, I spent time to read various articles on the internet and watched English dialogues’ videos on YouTube. As a non-English speaking immigrant living in the U.S., I inevitably encountered a series of difficulties to integrate myself into a new
Anzaldua point out that a person’s identity is through her culture and their native language. In this text, Anzaldua emphasizes that many people especially teachers and her family encourage her to lose her language and perfect English because that is the way for them to be successful. However, Anzaldua states that, “Until I take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself...I will overcome the tradition of silence” (21). Anzaldua points out that if she can’t take pride of her own culture and her background then how can she identify herself? I feel like education cannot be the only factor that contribute to how individual view life. For example, For Anzaldua, her family and her community always criticize her for either not knowing Spanish or because she knows English and does not embrace her culture. In addition, she is constantly in a battle between what she should follow or what her family and her teachers tell her to. I think on this point, Anzaldua knows that if she can’t take pride in her own language then how can she think about English when she can’t even embrace her own culture. Her family 's influence on her on becoming a “certain one” greatly impacted her thinking about her surrounding. Her perspective on learning different language also stem from the feel of wanting to feel acceptance or to fill
“Communication problems, beyond the obvious language differences, became a real barrier to honest dialogue”.
Boroditsky concludes that “Language is central to our experience of being human, and the languages we speak profoundly shape the way we think, the way we see the world, the way we live our lives.” (Core reader p. 49) I would like to add that language is also the foundation of a person’s culture, pride, and self by exploring articles written by Eric Liu, Amy Tan, and Gloria Anzaldua. In his book, The Accidental Asian, there is a chapter called Notes of a Native Speaker: Growing Up Across Racial and Cultural Divides, where Eric Liu describes his assimilation. His parents “didn’t tell [him] to do anything except to be a good boy,” C.R. p.62) so there he was, at a fork in the road between being the typical Asian and the atypical Asian.
Nevertheless, it is important to remember that language is a significant component of ethnicity. However, as any other (component of ethnicity), “it can be perceived and dealt with differently in analysis and classification” (Jenkins): for many ethnic minority groups language proved to be a cornerstone of their vitality, but for such countries as Canada it is rather an optional characteristic in formulating modern ethnicity.
What language we use, how we use it, and why we use it are all essential in others perceptions of us. If a man’s first comment to somebody is “Hey Baby, how you doing?” with a gloating tone and boastful...
To commence this discussion, it is first essential to establish an understanding surrounding the role of language in relation to national identity. Theoretically, the more power language has in this relation, the more powerful language planning may be when creating a national identity. However, the role language plays in this respect is somewhat problematic to define and has proven to be a debatable topic among nationalists, sociologists and sociolinguists. For instance, May demonstrates that ‘sociological commentators, unlike sociolinguists, have generally been loath to apportion a prominent role to language in the explanation of minority ethnic and national identity claims’ (2001: 8). Consequently emulating distaste from sociologists to credit language with significant power in a national identity. In a similar sense, de Vries notes that, in relation to a language community, ‘social scientists have generally ignored the systemic properties of language’ (1991: 39), thus, concurrently suggesting with May, a disagreement from the social sciences over the role of language in terms of identity and national identity. Similarly, circa the French revolution, the concept
For instance, some skeptics think multilingualism create trouble in cultural identity. However, an article from Linguisticator, a website for learning languages and something related, mentioned that being multilingual is like having multiple identities to a certain extent. It helps learners question and think about who they are, helping them to find out if the “I” is completely decided by accent, speech, body language, or social habits. In effect, the “I” does not change even when they put on the “identity” of a new language and culture. Cultural identity problem is somewhat scary at first to face, but it is also comforting when knowing the unchanging core and successfully confronting the difficulty.