One day his teachers came to his home and explained that he was not doing so well in school and therefore the English language needed to be enforced in the house (453).
The teachers asked for his parents to try to speak English with Rodriguez and his siblings. Rodriquez explains how speaking Spanish at home was the family language and it made him feel a intimate and close with his family and it seemed easier to bond. Rodriguez felt after the switch to English they lost the closeness and the bond within the family and started to fall apart from one another.
The essay starts off with Rodriquez knowing only Spanish and English sounding like only noise to him, and later towards the end as he concludes the essay he ends with knowing English and losing his ability to speak Spanish, the language he remembered speaking with such warmth and love. One reason why this essay fascinated me was because I was able to relate to Rodriquez since I grew up in a bilingual home. This essay is like the journal of Rodriguez’s life.
Reading about him made me open my eyes to see that I was not the only person going through problems between languages. I understood as Rodriguez says, “English was intrinsically public language and Spanish was intrinsically private” (453) because I remember feeling the intimacy and warmth of my parents communicating with me in our language at home. It was almost hard for me to hear my parents speak English because I felt as if they spend more time trying to figure out what to say correctly in English that I lost the sense of the emotion they were trying to express.
The Essay on Our Fluid English Language
It is generally known that as time goes on, most things tend to change, evolve and grow. This could be said about a long list of thing, including humans, music, fashion, technology and many more. But what isn’t commonly thought about is the evolution of language; more specifically the English Language. Being one of the most spoken and rapidly learned language worldwide, one might ponder the ...
As my parents spoke in our language at home it was easy for them and I was able to see the love and emotion behind their conversation which kept our family close and intimate. Another reason why this essay caught my attention was because he was against bilingual education even though I thought he would be for it since he comes from an immigrant family. But in his essay he makes the point that you do not have to lose your heritage to find your identity.
He believed to be successful one needs to dominate the public spoken language and culture (452).
Rodriguez says, “Supporters of bilingual education imply today that students like me miss a great deal by not being taught in their family language. What they seem not to recognize is that, as a socially disadvantaged child, I regarded Spanish as a private language” (452).
Even though he learns the English language it does not take away his heritage (461).
His private language is what made him unique and be different from everyone else. “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” makes me appreciate the advantage I had to be born in America into an immigrant family because I get to find my identity as a successful American citizen and keep my heritage alive through my family.
