1. Difficulty Paper (Finished)

When reading “How to Tame a Wild Tongue" by Gloria Anzaldua was sort of hard for me. I do not speak Spanish, but I know some words here and there like “ruca” and “vato” and some other ones. I never realized how many different variations of a language there can be depending on the region. Someone in Arizona can speak a different slang compared to California or in Texas. The different variations are Standard English, Working class and slang English, Standard Spanish, Standard Mexican Spanish, North Mexican Spanish dialect, Chicano Spanish (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California have regional variations), Tex-Mex, Pachuco (called calo). The paper was hard to understand at times with different language used. I would try to use context clues, but for some I just looked it up on a translator. I think it must be hard for people who have yet to learn Spanish. They will be taught the language, not the slangs and the different regional slangs. The person learning the language would just have to adapt. Being half Mexican I would like to eventually learn Spanish. No one in my immediate family speaks Spanish, but it would still be something of good use (and it would make my Great-Grandparents very happyJ).

 I also work at a place where the majority of the employees speak Spanish. Sometimes I feel left out, but it doesn’t bother me too much when everyone else around me is talking. If they feel like they want to include me they will, and they do for the most part. On occasion they even scold me for not being able to speak the language. Some customers will come up to me and start speaking Spanish right away. I have been able to take a food order and get it correct with the customer speaking in Spanish. When I need help, my co-workers are always there to help, and they do so without any judgment.

I think that everyone should be bilingual. In Europe, many people know at least one other language. The cause of this is because there are smaller countries that are closer to each other, and they learn the language of border countries. There is more of a variety of languages that are learned, in my opinion. I’m not saying that in the United States people don’t know a variety of languages; I just think it is more common to grow up knowing more languages when living in Europe.

People who have immigrated to the United States have brought over many useful and instrumental qualities, values, culture, and have influenced us greatly. Without the influence of other cultures, we would not be the United States that everyone dreams of. People move here to start new lives… to have the “American Dream”. The United States occupies a great quality, that we are a “Salad Bowl”. Acquiring the languages and cultures that other people have brought here, have influenced and shaped us as a culture and into the country that we are today.