Lizbeth Sanchez
My first language is Spanish and English is my second language. Sometimes I feel more comfortable talking in Spanish and sometimes I only feel comfortable talking in English. It really depends where I am and who am I talking to. I had problems at school when I tried talking in Spanish to some of my friends, there was always a random person coming to me to stop speaking Spanish, because we are only supposed to speak “English” here. I feel good about myself for speaking two languages, I don’t feel embarrassed to embrace my culture. My language represents who I am as a person.
A lot of non Spanish speakers think that Spanish is really hard to learn and that the ones that speak it , talk really fast. But just like with any other language , there’s different accents . I’m from Mexico , from the north . My accent is different compared with some members of my family from the south. even though I considered myself fluent in Spanish , there’s still some words that I have trouble understanding.
I don’ think that Spanish is seen as a prestigue from a higher status, not even the people. I feel like we are always seen as less or as not educated. But like I said before, Spanish is part of me and I always love embracing my culture.English has also become now part of me and my thoughts are always in English, my notes and the shows that I watch are also in English. So I use both languages equally and I think it has given me more opportunities in jobs, school and in my daily life.
To conclude I think we always seem to judge what we don’t know. Every language is different , but all of them have the same purpose which is to communicate and express ourselves. Language is what makes us who we are and we should always embrace it.
Questions
was I straight forward to my point of view?
is my opinion clear or do I need to make some changes?
Hi Lizbeth, I think your essay’s pretty straight-forward. And you also have a clear opinion as well. I wouldn’t necessarily think that you have to make any changes….but possibly some additions? For example, in regards to being from Mexico and speaking Spanish, what do Spanish speakers from the north think about how Spanish speakers from the south speak? And vice-versa. Or perhaps, how do Mexicans feel about/or communicate with other Spanish speakers like Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, or Spaniards? Do you use different words for certain things? You can also explain from your perspective on what it was like learning English and also how you feel (or felt, when you were learning) about it. Just some extra ideas if you wish to include them…
Your essay is really straight forward to your point of view but maybe write a little more to increase the length of your essay. Your opinion seems really clear and it seems like you don’t need to make much changes. You can add more of your thoughts and use more examples to make your essay a little longer. Nice essay!
Lizbeth, your ideas in your draft are a good start, but they need to be explained with more detail. Make sure to check my comments, I think that you have identifies the language attitudes towards your dialect/language (in this case Spanish), but you need to explain why. The readings that we did this week could be really helpful in order to explain and identify the reasons and the social factors that contribute towards these attitudes.