English
Copper
English
December 20, 2008

“Erik, ¿que fue lo que dijo?” -“What did he say?” This is the very question my father would ask me when I translated for him at the lawyer’s office and everywhere I went with him to translate.
In my family there are two main languages that are used, Spanish and English. At home I speak Spanish, but my Spanish is not perfect. In my family we speak the Caribbean Spanish. There are many different kinds of Spanish.
I was born in Puerto Rico, to a Dominican man and a Puerto Rican woman. When I was two I moved to Philadelphia. In that same year around fall, I started my first day at a daycare/preschool. My parents did not know English at the time, so they wanted me to start learning English while I learned Spanish at home. By the time I was in kindergarden I was able to speak both Spanish and English. My English had a bit of an accent in the beginning of kindergarten but then I improved and starting speaking correctly. When I was older, my parents started using me as a translator. They would take me to their most important appointments.
My parents were really proud of me, but it seemed like what I had achieved was not what they expected, especially with my father. I would translate everything they would want me to translate.
I started to learn more and more and so did my parents. When I went with my dad I helped him with some translation. This is what happened…
“Erik, ven conmigo. Yo te voy a necesitar para que me traduzcas lo que yo le valla a decir al abogado.” said my dad.
“Ok, Pa’. I’m coming down in a few minutes.”
“Bueno avanza”
When we got to the lawyer’s office, I knew that my “job” was about to start.
“Good Afternoon sir, how may I help you?” said the secretary.
“Hi! ¿Erik, que fue lo que dijo?” said my dad.
“Ella dijo, Buenas tardes, ¿como lo puedo ayudar?”
“Bueno tu sabes para que venimos, dile.”
“We are here to see Edward…”
“Your name sir?”
I gave her my father’s name and she told us to wait. When we went into the lawyer’s office, my father started to tell me what he wanted me to say. Then, it was my turn to explain to the lawyer. When I was explaining my dad told me some other things that he wanted me to tell the lawyer. This is something we went through a lot over the years.
When I speak to my parents I have to speak to them in Spanish. This rule has a reason, my parents, especially my dad, hates it when we speak English. He thinks that if I keep speaking in English, I will completely lose my ability to speak Spanish at home. This is what he thinks:
“Ustedes son hispanos y su primer lenguaje es el español y por ley ustedes deben de hablar en ingles en la calle y en la casa deben hablar en español.”
My dad gets very flustered when he does not understand us and he starts making up stuff like, “it’s the law to speak Spanish at home and English outside.” My father is very judgmental of English speaking people. He has gotten in arguments that have had no point at all. This is very stressful and it embarrasses me whenever he does that, but now I’ve started to feel comfortable with that because it’s his way of coping with his inability to speak English. Today I try to help him learn more and more English, which is somewhat helping.

Have you ever seen someone walking down the street that just made you decide to move over on the sidewalk or cross the street? Physical appearance and how you present yourself affects people’s opinions of you drastically. Whether it may be for a job interview or if you are just walking down the street, the way you look really plays a part in how people judge you. Whether we like it or not people judge all day everyday. That’s what first impressions are, judgments. How about language? Have you ever ended a conversation because you just simply couldn’t understand the person’s dialect or accent?  We are constantly judged on our appearance so some people change it to fit into society, but what about our regional accents, our dialects, and the language we use?
    We are judged a lot more on what comes out of our mouths a lot more than how we look. For example if someone comes into a job interview for a high-class job well manicured dressed in a $300 suit and starts speaking “Improper English” they would most likely not get the job. America has set a standard of speaking which is in a lot of ways unfair. The way you speak does not necessarily define you as a person. The American society forces “Standard English” upon it’s inhabitants. It is said to be the “proper” way of speaking. Those who have trouble speaking “properly” are considered to be uneducated and ignorant, but who’s to say the people who don’t understand “Improper English” aren’t the one’s who are ignorant. I personally had to learn the limitations of speaking “Improper English” when I became a teenager and started to notice some of the prejudices in this world.
    When I was a young child in elementary school I spoke the only way I knew how to speak. I never saw any problems with any of the words I pronounced or any of the sentences I formed. For the most part I didn’t notice any different treatment for the way I talked either. It wasn’t until I became a teenager that I noticed that some people treated me differently when I didn’t speak “Standard English.” It wasn’t that it was an unfair or bad treatment it just wasn’t the same. When I used “Standard English” and used educated words it seemed as if people felt as if they could have a conversation with me without having to dumb the conversation down. When I began to realize this was when I found the difference between my home language, my public language, and when it was okay to integrate the two. For example if I’m at home talking to one of my family members I feel comfortable saying, “Can you pass me dat jawn ova dere?” However, when I’m in school or in another somewhat professional environment and I want to be treated like a well-educated young man I feel obliged to say, “Can you pass me that thing over there, please?
    I’ve now accepted the differences between “Standard English” and “Improper English.” I know that there are certain times when it is okay for me to use “Improper English,” and certain times when it is not okay. For example if I one day happen to be the well manicured man in the $300 suit I know the language barriers that have to stay within. Otherwise I will most likely not get the job. We are constantly judged based on our regional accents, dialects, and the language we use. This will probably never change.