Hello Everyone,
I really enjoyed watching and listening to you discuss the essays in class today. We really don't have enough time in 50 minutes to get too deep into it, but we made great progress today, I think. Special thanks to the groups who stood up and presented.
If you haven't contributed to the previous prompt, you are still REQUIRED to. Everyone should have made a contribution to the previous prompt by class time on Monday if you haven't done so already.
And here is another prompt for you to respond to:
Choose the term below that most interests you when you think about your own experience with language and identity. Begin paraphrasing the author's definition of the term or idea, then explain how you've experienced this particular dynamic in your own life. (Note that one does not have to be bilingual to have something important to say.)
Consensus (the correct spelling)
Borders
Public/private language dichotomy
Linguistic communities
Hierarchies
Post your responses as comments by click on the "comments" link below. Remember to try to respond to one another in your comments.
Tim
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25 comments:
Public/private language dichotomy because when I used to go to elementary school I was told to speak English during class since no one could understand my language, but when at home I would speak Korean. By separating the two languages during school, it kind of limited my speech, but I did learn English a lot faster. Don't know if this is right, but to busy to change it. Gonna go watch Juno with some friends.
JUNO is an awesome movie!
borders because if a group of people are speaking another language than english, they seem to be on the other side of the border of english. Separating people because they speak different languages just makes them not speak english and build up the border.
Rodriguez talks about public language and private language in his essay. The public language is english and the private language is your culture language. I agree with Rodriguez because at home I'm accustomed to speaking spanish/english and outside in the public i program myself to just speak english.
Since it's necessry to know english to live in the united states, now all of my family knows english. At home we speak spanish mixed with english. I really like speaking this way at home because when i dont know a word in spanish i can replace it with an english word.
Andrew pointed out that speaking english limits him from being able to speak korean and i agree with him. Speaking the english language has caused me to forget a lot of spanish words. I would have to say that Im probably in the lower part of the linguistic communities scale.
Sometimes I even feel shy to speak spanish outside in public because my spanish isn't that good. Anzaldua brings up that chicanas sometimes feel uncomfortable speaking spanish because they think they speak poor spanish. I can totally relate to that because thats how i feel when i have to speak spanish in public. I think I shouldnt feel that way because I should feel proud to know a bit of 2 languages. The spanish language is part of my culture and I should feel proud ot it because its part of me.
I guess consensus would be the one word that relates to me. Consensus basically means that an agreement is reached within a group. This language stuff really doesn't apply to me. Everyone in my family, from my grandparents to me, was born in the U.S. I grew up around everyone speaking English. I said that consensus relates to me because a basic agreement in the U.S. is that English is the main language. It is not a law or anything, but it is the most common language used in the U.S. I think that to live in the U.S., you need to learn English. Speaking other languages at home is fine, but English should be spoken in public. I think it is really rude of people to be speaking anything other than English in public. I say this because I was in the library reading, and than two people sat right next to me and started speaking Chinese. I couldn't concentrate and I got really annoyed. I think if you live in the United States, you have to learn to speak English.
Speaking a public and private language to me creates many borders.Many people speak their private language in public and that may cause some controversy to others.I agree with Andrew how at school you are forced to separate your two public and private language. I also think that since i was told to speak English in school and to use it as much at home as possible; I have seemed to lose my ability to speak my private language as a child. Now that i am not as fluent in my private language i am further lower in the hierarchy in that community,because I am not able to communicate and come to terms well with others of that community. I find myself struggling to mumble the simplest of Chinese words to my relatives now compared to before.
DONT'T WATCH BE KIND, OR REWIND .... lol --- worst movie I've seen in my life. God knows how the idiots allowed it to make theaters.
I absolutely one-hundred-and-forty-nine percent "%" in a half of another fraction PERCENT "%" - AGREE WITH SCOTT.
Consensus has to be the term that I'd have to go with, even though I didn't know a fraction % of what the word met before my fellow classmate explained it. Now I do, thanks to that brilliant comment. Language is language, I should be proud of my cultural language, but you know like Scott said "basic agreement in the U.S. is that English is the main language. It is not a law or anything, but it is the most common language used in the U.S. I think that to live in the U.S., you need to learn English. Speaking other languages at home is fine, but English should be spoken in public" - ( PS: no plagiarism there - that's a DIRECT QUOTE )
That's true, I am 100% Greek Orthodox, my grandparents and other cousins/family use Greek when they are home and talking with each other in public when they are together, they even talk to me and Greek and I'm like OK...I am the only Greek person that doesn't speak the language in my family, I don't know what you just said. I never went to Greek school, even though I should I didn't want to spend time learning a new language, because I was only interested in speaking English. I only cared for the curse words and Greek and that is what i know today...mostly.
Yeah, it's also annoying when your doing something in a quiet place such as in the "library" like Scott said and they starting speaking Chinese and that goes with any other language. If it was English, it wouldn't effect your concentration as bad. I also find it annoying when your working in a place or talking with someone and then they pause for a minute talk to each other in their language and are probably " saying this person is a idiot, lets get the hell away" Yeah, that's also a benefit of knowing your cultural language, but I just hate the way people use it. It's perfectly fine to use in emergency situations when something bad is going on, and you have to communicate on another level.
As i said about the 100% and more from line one above "agreement" ------> I believe if you live in the US, you must speak English...otherwise " Hmmm i guess you would be annoying" from what I've agreed with and wrote above.
The word border is the word that interests me the most because we have to know where to draw the line of when to speak your native language and when not to. I believe that their is a time and place to speak 'your' language. At school, while in a english class... everyone should be speaking english. If we were in a Spanish class of some sort... i feel that english should not be used.
I have to disagree to scott when he says, "english should be spoken in public." If i am out w/ my mom or my dad in chinatown... I for one am not going to be speaking english because the people there do NOT speak english and the people who do, usually gets ripped off. Like I said before, there's always a time and place to decide when and where you want to speak your language.
On a different note, that doesn't have to do w/ this blog.. I tried this German place on Laguna and Hayes in the city called Suppenküche... Has anyone else been there..
vIC's rating:
Food~8 out of 10
Crowd~7 out of 10
Beer~10 out of 10 (Only because you can drink it out of a boot)
Wait~4 out of 10 (Get here early)
Price~Pricey, but I can afford this without a job.
Public/private language dichotomy is the word i pick because even though i grew up knowing how to speak english, at home i would hear my parents talk their own language which is tagalog. Even though i don't speak it i could understand it. I just feel for my parents coming from a different country on how hard it was o learn english butit grew on them and yeah i think there is a time to speak our own cultures language which is basically with family but when your in public it is good to learn english because as it was said on friday it can open oppurtunities for you
I agree with Jenelle because I was also raised speaking Spanish and English, but since I use English more I feel like I have lost practice speaking Spanish. I do speak Spanish when I talk to my aunts, uncles, and grandparents but it's not enough.
From the words in the prompt I would have to choose public/ private language. I chose this one because it closely represents what I have gone through. English is the public language which I have used more, and since some of my family members don't know much English then I have to use the private language (Spanish). Since I have used English more I feel like I have lost my practice of being able to translate from English to Spanish. When I used to work at Safeway I found myself having to translate to many people because I was the only one (courtesy clerk) that knew Spanish and sometimes would forget how to say some words in Spanish (easy ones too).
I believe that Rodriguez made a good point about the linguistic communities. If you are limited to one language, you are almost always limited to one community. The more language you know, the more doors and or borders will be opened to you. As my group said on Friday. I agree with Scott when he says you should have to learn English when you live in the US. For safety reasons only. The street signs are in English and most warning labels are in English. Don't be so closed minded if two people in a private conversation want to speak in another language. That is their right and if that is what they want to do, then so be it. But there should be some accountability for the people living in the US to be able to read and speak English. It is just simply unsafe for driving and other activities.
Public/private language dichotomy is the word I decided to write about. I picked this word because it relates to me the most, I don't speak another language besides English, so this won't be a bilingual debate over public vs. private language speaking.I do believe that I have my own private language and my own public language though. My "private language" is the way I talk when I am with my friends. I swear, I talk smack about people (don't lie! you do it too!), I basically say whatever is on my mind about everything and anything! My "public language" is what I use while talking to classmates, teachers, my parents, etc. My "public language" is still very opinionated, since I am a pretty opinionated person anyway, but I know how to get my opinion across without swearing and just basically having more class.
Tame those wild tongues! Keep those alien languages behind closed doors! Draw borders between yourself and your neighbors!
Only speak to me if you speak MY language! It's my way or the highway! You'll never really learn my language as well as I know it, so you can forget about being my peer! Don't even think about getting too powerful; you're not one of US and I'll never be one of you. This way we can all get along.
I would have to pick public/private language that i feel somewhat passionate about. Im bilingual, so at school and when im with my friends i speak english, but when im with my family i speak spanish and im somewhat forced to because several members of my family only speak spanish and don't understand english. Now when we were discussing in class about this topic i thought an interesting concept was brought up about when was the "right time and place" to use your private language. I feel as thou why should there be a specific time and place to speak another language besides english. Why because people don't understand you or feel uncomfortable. we live in a free country where you can speak any language you want at any point in time. Its not fair to people who speak other languages to only speak it at home when it shouldn't even matter to other people because your not even speaking to them your most of the time speaking to another native speaker of your language. I think people need to start having more of an open mind and stop judging people. I see how people look at hispanics when they are speaking in spanish or any person who speaks another language. People are like "oh my god what are they saying, are they talking about me, they must be talking about, they need to stop talking like that i cant understand them". Really think about how you act when your around someone who speaks a different language?
I think that there is a big difference between public and private language that, as Ashley said, exists even though I don’t speak another language. The way I talk to my friends is way different than the way I talk to my family, I would consider both of those private language because I actually can let my guard down and be who I want to be. I consider the way I speak at work and school public language, a more formal professional tone in which I don’t let people get too close.
I also feel the paranoia, when people switch from speaking English to another language when I’m around. But I understand enough Spanish to know I’m not being talked about, people just need privacy in public sometimes.
Public/private language dichotomy relates to me the most because when I'm at school I speak English, as well as write and read in English. At home however, I usually speak tagalog so it is easier for my parents to understand me. My parents came to America unfamiliar with the English language, but they started to understand it because of work and the people around them. Now, I am very proud to say that both of my parents are now bilingual and they benefit from it.
I agree with Tim's message that says "speak to me if you speak my language". I cannot speak anything but English, so if you want to talk to me, than speak English. If you cannot do that, than don't waste my time.
I sometimes feel like i am on a border... I have a job where i encounter people who try to speak to me in spanish, and i have no clue what they are saying.. For the most part they know i do not speak spanish, so they will speak english. But i feel like like i am on a border, where more people are bilingual, and clearly i am not. When we were talking about power, and how you loose power once you learn english, i almost think you are more powerful. Knowing english and spanish is so much more powerful than just knowing one language. I feel like you get to experience life in different ways.
I picked borders because i grew up only learning english and no other languages but ive had a lot of friends since i was young that spoke both english and spanish so i picked up a lot just by hanging around them and their families and i also think its beneficial to learn different languages to communicate with other people who you normally wouldnt be able to talk to and seeing their perspective. and i think rodriguez would agree.
damn 21st post... it's legal for me to go to vegas now.
I agree with Vince. I think there is a time and a place for everything and it is a good practice to keep your family traditions. I grew up in an English speaking family, when I was 17 I moved in with a Spanish speaking family. Being around their language and culture, I was able to pick it up. When you are able use your cultural language within your family, you can share the knowledge, but in public, it is better to know the main language to be able to communicate effectively.
I finally joined...
Well, I guess I will talk about public/private language dichotomy. I grew up in a Chinese-speaking household and majority of the schools I went to consisted of mostly Chinese students. I remember when I was in elementary school I would always speak Chinese and had problems reading out loud because it was difficult for me to pronunciate certain words. It wasn't until my teachers threatened to put me into the special reading classes that I started to speak English in school. I can still speak Chinese fluently and I speak it at work, school, and at home but I also know there is a time and place for me to speak English. I guess what I am trying to say is that if my elementary school did not force me to speak English and only English at school, maybe I would be able to read and write in Chinese as well. I just feel that English, the public language, somewhat inhibited my learning of my private language, Chinese, because I had to stop my Chinese school to work on my English skills.
I think thats it...
For me i think it's "Hierarchie". This is a very interesting word. I had'nt really thought about it but almost everything has an hierarchie. No matter if it's at work where they use seniority to seperate and rank people. Or at school with diffrent clubs that you need certin GPA's to get into. If your a 3.4 your here if your under3.4 your there. It makes you think why does everything always have to be ranked? Why do people always need to know their status? Or where their ranked in life? Is everyone just insecure? Or is there an underline meaning to all these diffrent types of Hierarchies.
The more language you know the more doors that are open to you period. The more versatile you are to your community the better for yourself as well for them. If you ever think that one language should be dominant over another i think that you are a very close minded person. The more we embrace in our world the better it becomes. So be kind to others and let their be diversity.
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