Language Autobiography

Jalisa Smith

 

Introduction/Reflection:

The project that I did was based on how I viewed the language dynamics in America. I thought about how we use it to communicate and how we have to take time, which is if we do not speak English, to learn Standard English. Foreigners, as they are called, have to be understood by Americans, and vice versa. In writing this piece I was grappling with the idea of saying the right things the wrong way. I struggled with telling the right stories at the right time. I knew there was a lot to say, but I didn’t want to offend anyone. Neither did I want to offend America. So in the end, I concluded with something lighter than what I intended on saying. Although, I still do believe I got my point across.

 

Story:

Jalisa Smith

Language Autobiography

Language is what differentiates one culture from another. A language can evolve, it can morph, it can even grow, but it will always exist. When you think about it, your language is what makes you unique. Sometimes, I wonder what America would be without the variety of languages. It is distinguishable because it consists of so many different dialects, but in the end, we all eventually sound “American”. But what is the American language? It consists of slang, cussing, standard English, and other ethnicity’s entire accent just trying to fit in. Yet as a society, we struggle with the barriers that language builds.

My mother and father are from Barbados. In Barbados, they speak broken English, more British English, if anything. When my mother and father first met my teachers, doctors and friends, they would have to repeat themselves to be understood. I began to realize how it was either good or bad because some people would say, “I love your accent! Say this in Bajan!” or, “What’d you say?” Normally I thought it was ignorant, other times I brush it off because I do the same thing when a foreigner tries talking to me. At the same time, what type of person does that make me? This is where it becomes confusing because I know what it feels like in their position, but now I know what it feels like in an Americans’ position also. So what I can I conclude of this?

I begin to wonder where my place is in this long strand of language. I fit into both roles, (American and Foreigner) perfectly. That is, if I wanted to. So am I wrong for being an interested outsider of another language? I don’t think I am. Because the way I look at it, a language is so influential upon a society. Therefore if a person joins a society that speaks a different language than they do, everyone wants to understand them. When a person decides to open up to you in their language, they assume you are comfortable with the language too. I guess that’s why there are so many people that find it easy to converse with people who speak the same way, because they understand each other. It’s an easy way out of conflict.

 I see it happening everywhere. For example, I was at the African Hair Braiding Shop watching the women doing hair. There was a lot of conversing and laughing. But there were two conversations happening. One conversation was with the hair braiders and the other was with the clients. The division between the two was very obvious but they could have been talking about the same thing, yet everyone stuck to their own group because it’s a comfort zone. Another time I was walking downtown with a group of diverse friends, and we all speak Standard English and all of my Asian friends drifted into a completely different conversation.

It’s the moments like these, which make me wonder if the variety of languages in the United States is good. I know it’s good to be unique, but we all have to come to some sort of understanding. The conflict occurs when there is a frown upon those that don’t speak Standard English. It occurs when Americans train foreign children to create a new language or when a foreigner is speaking to some person who doesn’t understand anything they area saying. But problems such as these are only very hard to solve because in the end we all have to understand what we’re saying because to be successful in America, you should know Standard English.

 In the story, “this is the oppressors language / yet I need to talk to you: Language, a place of struggle” the author, Bell Hooks was discussing the United States and language. She said, “In the United States it [Standard English] is the mask which hides the loss of so many tongues. (LPS, Bell Hooks)” When I was reading this, I thought of how every day, Americans are millions of foreigners who are gathering together to form a country. To be a sufficiently working society, we have to have an understanding. That’s when there is a “mask, which hides the loss of so many tongues”. It can be looked at in a bad way, but in my opinion, it’s the only way we can survive. I do love the word choice for that quotes the author used. She called Standard English a mask; a mask is something that can be taken off. It’s interesting to see the wordplay because she gives the reader a choice. What I got out of it is that there can be a time where we all put on a mask, to hide what others won’t understand, accept and appreciate.

America’s diversity is what makes it so hard to take into consideration every language that it contains. Because our leaders speak Standard English, we have to speak Standard English. It makes it easier for all of us. Like Bell Hooks said, Standard English is a mask in the United States. The barriers that languages build aren’t for a bad purpose. It’s because as a society we have to come to an understanding, therefore, barriers are ways of avoiding conflict. No one wants to lose apart of what makes them the person they are, so we cover it up. I believe the largest problem that can come out of the language in America is when we forget our roots, when we forget to take our masks off.

 

Digital Story:

 

Script:

 

Language is what keeps us united.

As a Country, what would we be without a main language? (English)

As a Country, what would we be without a main language? (Spanish)

As a Country, what would we be without a main language? (French)

As a Country, what would we be without a main language? (Italian)

 

You see, if I didn’t have translator I wouldn’t be able to have said the things I just said.

The phrase, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”, can be very universal.

So when in America, do as the Americans do.

Sit back, and relax from your fast paced daily life.

Take a sip of black coffee and make sure to have only one wife.

Traditions shouldn’t be modified but language can tweaked a bit.

Make sure you make the best of it.

Because there is no way to make a living without understanding what your boss is saying because your time is not only being wasted but it is conflicting with what he/she is making so therefore accept ESOL classes and build a home with crystal glasses.

 

My mother used to say,

That’s when we have something to offer, make the people listen.

How do you expect to be understood?

If there is no understanding,

How do we expect to be sustainable?

Community, when one can’t understand the other.

Therefore, we all come together.

A language.

Standard English, is what we all use in America

It’s the way we communicate.

Somehow, it’s the only way we navigate,

There only becomes a problem,

When we put down our personal history,

When we forget our roots.

And never look back.

When the youth of the next generation,

Is completely the same.

Lets not make it that way

Let’s enjoy

 

I will never forget when,

My grandmother told me how hard it was to talk to others.

So she made it easier for everyone,

She began to learn the lingo.

She spoke the slang, but never let her accent go.