Advanced Essay #2 (Three Codes)

The Three Codes

“Just put some of this on it y el vas estar bien.” I Said

“What are you talking bout’ bro?” my friend said in a giggling voice.

“Oh shit, sorry. I meant to say he’ll be fine” I replied.

Literacy is a topic filled with hundreds of different meaning and versions. This is a nice example on how I forgot to switch my “Home Speaking” to “Friend Speaking”. This is known as code switching. As a bilingual individual I need to switch my way of speaking when speaking to people outside of my home. Although, being bilingual is not the only thing that affects the code switching. Growing up in certain environments affect whether you need to code switch because certain environments make you speak certain ways. There are tons of different way you could code switch but for me I only use three codes.  “Home Speaking”, “Friend Speaking” and “Public Speaking”

‘’What’s good Bro” I asked curiously

“The jawn I’m talking too is on some sh#t” Jack Replied in a upset tone

“What she do?”

“She ratted on me bro.” He said

When reading that short dialogue you probably didn't understand, that's why this language is exclusive to Friend Speaking. Reason being is that If I were to use this language at home, they would not comprehend what I will be trying to say to them. Same goes for Public Speaking. This language is considered improper english to most people. In this code things are more short and to the point. We using a lot of abbreviations and make up words to get right to the center of our message. There has been plenty of situations where I mistakenly talked to my friends in my “Home speaking” language and they would think I'm crazy. This code is affected mostly affected by the environment you were raised or grew up in.

Home speaking is slightly different but is under the same category. This type of language is used only at home when speaking to my parents, cousins and other family. This code can be different for all different types people. Culture also plays a big part in determining that. For example, in the passage “How to Tame A Wild Tongue”, the main character states “My home tongues are the languages I speak with my sister and brother, with my friends.”. In this sentence she explains what her “home tongues” are. In our case “home tongue” is considered “Home Speaking”. Although, the way I choose to speak at home with my family is slightly different than the way I communicate with my friends and the public, conversations in this code would look a little like this,

“Como que tu no tienes mi correa!” I yelled

“No lo tengo Alex, yo no uso las cosas tuyas.” He replied.

“Tu siempre me molesta” I said,

Spanish speaking is commonly used in my household which brings out my cultural background. This really brings out the culture and background that I am from. Trying this language with my friends or in public, people would look at me at strangely and would not comprehend what I am trying to get across. This brings us to the last code “Public Speaking”.

Public speaking in my case is considered to be standard english. Standard english is a language everyone who speaks english can understand. This code isn't exclusive to itself its is open to everyone. There are a great deal of literacies in the world, although there are also certain literacies that everyone can understand. In my case, “Public Speaking” is under that category of the language that everyone understand. For instance, if I were to go in public and enter a store to buy something and were to have a conversation with the cashier, I would code switch to Public Speaking because he would not understand me if I spoke in ”Home speaking” or “Friend Speaking” language he would have trouble understanding me that's why Public speaking is essential to my variety of codes. Public Speaking is the language everyone understands, no matter what code you are in or type of english you speak.

For different people, speaking and comprehending english will be different. There is not one correct literacy that everyone has to follow or that is proficient literacy. Although there is definitely a type of literacy everyone understands and use to communicate. This literacy or language is determined by noone but ourselves. We determine what is understood by everyone and what kind of language we need to speak in to communicate with people who are not familiar with your original language or literacy. There is not a wrong way of speaking english, we choose what literacy is proficient. There is not one type of literacy or language that is correct but there is a type of literacy or language that everyone understands.

Citations

Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands = La Frontera. San Francisco: Aunt Lute, 1999. Print.