"Laura Language"

Laura De Jesus

 

Your English, My English

 

“LAURA!!!!”

 

“What chu want Jordan, damn?!” I replied.

 

“Areeeeeeeeeed, you deff aint have ta reply like that, b.”

 

“Jordan, if you don’t just shut the hell, talking fa?” I replied with an attitude.

 

“What the hell is the matta with chu? Betta pipe that shit down young.”

 

“Ared, now who you talking to?!” I said with my fists balled up.

 

“YOUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!”

 

“Get the hell out of here, b.” I replied laughing.

 

“This why I don’t like you now, always think someone playing with ya ass!”

 

“Now Jordan you know . . . ” We both go into laughter.

 

            As I enter school every day this is a daily ritual that occurs often with me and my friend, least three times a day. People look at us all types of ways.  Like “What in the world is wrong with these two?!” That doesn’t stop us and the way we communicate with each other. People tend to stop and laugh or they join in the conversation.

            Thinking back on it the way I speak is nowhere near the same as it used to be when I was younger. Being the fact that Spanish is the first language I was taught, I was fluent. Learning English was hard, especially at the age of five. Entering kindergarten and not being able to speak the native language was very challenging. The main people I knew spoke pure Spanish. I felt like I didn’t belong with them. Once they opened their mouth words flowed right out, but once it came to me, the words stood at the tip of my tongue, stuck.

            Time passed and passed, my speech was still not on the needed level. Common words like “hello, yes, no, etc…” were easy to say. Words with similar sounding letters are what killed me, kitchen for example I would pronounce “kichin”.  Switching from public to catholic school made it easier for me. By the second grade English became my official second language. Went from phrases to sentences.

“ Hi my name is Laura De Jesus.”

“Hello my name is Chelsea” she replied.

“ Can I sit with you?”

“Yes, we can be best friends” she answered with the biggest smile on her face.

            From that day forward that is how I started to meet people and make new friends. It was difficult to keep it up being the fact that my mother and father had their own way of speaking. English was foreign to my father, somewhat known to my mother.

            Entering high school was when everything really changed, I spoke English but also created something called “Laura Language” few people have understood it. Laura Language is somewhat like English and Slang but put together. For example “Idunno, yaw’ll, hellur” are a few of the words that I use often. Just mean, “I don’t know, yall all and hello.” I was switched all around, placed in three different advisories. Mr. Lucci’s advisory is where I ended up. I hated it there with a passion. I missed my other friends that I had meet but I had no choice.

“ Hi, Hi, Hi, Hi, I’m Victoria!!”

“Umm, hello.”

“ Whatcha doinnnnnnnnn?”

“ Chillin’, actin’ like you ain’t able to see that.”

“ I like candy, do you like candy?”

“ Why the hell are you talkin’ to me?”

            So on and so forth. Ive been told I speak with an attitude which I know, but I really don’t pay attention to. It comes out to be “disrespectful” I don’t mean for it to be in that way, but I don’t necessarily stop it. Like Mike Rose says in I Just Wanna Be Average, “ But I did learn things about people and eventually came into my own socially” I learned a lot about the world and how they speak I just meshed it all together. My friends and I speak very similar, rude and not caring about what we say to each other because we know that we are all comfortable. When it comes to adults, or my parents my whole language flips.

“Hi, my name is Laura.”

“Hello, how do you do?”

“Fine, thank you and yourself?”

“I’m good as well.”

“That’s good to hear.”

            Growing up with a family who speaks only Spanish is harder than a child with English speaking parents. Jobs and higher positions are given to native speakers because they have more to offer. Society makes fun of people who have accents and speaking deficiencies only for the simple fact in their eyes we have “issues.”

            I learned to love myself and the person I am, even my speaking is not as well as others. I’m not saying that I sound like I don’t belong and cant speak to save my life, but people have to question what race I am, and if I’m telling the truth. I wouldn’t change the way I was raised or where I attended school, I like the fact that I am different, where people have to question “ Who is she?” “Is she white or Rican?”