My parents, my little sister and I came from Barcelona, Spain in 1993. My sister and I were very little, I was nine and my sister was four, and what the best part was, we didn’t speak a word of English. It was great let me tell you. My parents had learned English at school, but by Peruvian teachers who had a really thick accent and they themselves didn’t know how to speak it well. All my parents knew is that they could carry on a basic conversation, but if the person spoke too fast, (in other words normal speed, but to them it was fast,) they were not able to understand a word. My little sister was still learning how to talk so it wasn’t hard to change her language from Spanish to English, for me it was another story.
When I arrived here it was April and the school year was almost over. What my mom could understand from the teacher was that if I didn’t pass the third grade I was to go to summer school in order to start fourth grade in the fall. I wasn’t going to have that, but how was I going to learn English in two months? Although I tried I felt that I couldn’t understand a word my classmates or teacher was saying to me. One language I did understand, though. Math language. When it came to this subject I left everyone else in the dust. For some reason third grade math in Spain, was more life fourth grade math in the United States. Needless to say this wasn’t enough. I was not able to write a sentence in English by the time school ended in June.
I began summer school one week later and that was it. I went for one day and I couldn’t stand it anymore. That day something in me snapped and I knew how important it was going to be for me to learn English. I was determined to learn it by the end of the summer and start the fourth grade with my old classmates. In going to the library and picking up pre-school books as well as repeating the things I heard on the radio and TV, I was able to speak as well as write in English by the end of August. My teachers couldn’t believe it and neither could I, but I had done it! I had beat the odds and I was off to a great school year.
My parents felt guilty that they hadn’t put my sister and I in English classes since our coming to the United States was inevitable, but they were proud that we learned it. They learned an important lesson about language that summer and they knew how vital it was for us to be able to communicate. Although they knew this, they didn’t want us to lose the Spanish that came from our heritage, so that fall a very valuable rule took place. In the home only Spanish would be spoken, and outside English.
It was this rule that has made not lose the language spoken by my parents and grandparents and I am very thankful for that. Now that I am grown I understand the significance of the lesson they learned back then and now I pass this on to my children as they grow up I make sure Spanish is spoken in the home and English everywhere else. This will help them not only be bilingual and help them with jobs in the future, but I’m also passing on culture and heritage which is something that I know they will treasure forever.
Lorena, I can’t agree with you anymore I admire all that you and your family have accomplished and you should be honored to be able to say that you have come a long way. I too can relate to some extent, I speak both languages and I owe this to my wonderful grandparents who spoke to me in Spanish and school, which taught me English. I must say being able to speak my family’s primary language is something I am definitely proud of. I cant even explain how being bilingual has helped me succeed. I am a sales representative and most of my clients are Hispanics it is nice t be able to speak Spanish and help everything be much more clear to them. I as well plan to speak Spanish at home so my children can be bilingual and maybe later in life they will even study more languages as well. I have to say I admire all individuals who take on a new language because this is definitely a challenge. My grandmother is not literate not in Spanish or English this has made her dependent of others, which closed many doors for her own success. Being able to speak and read is vital to our cultures progress and success.
ReplyDeleteAs I read your story I couldn’t help but think what that must be like to move from your home and having to learn a new language. I see people every day who probably have similar stories, and I have always given my respect to them because of the perilous journey that each one of them had to take just to get here. It is humbling to hear stories like yours, stories of struggle to triumph are an American favorite; the heroes are always unsung, but the reward by story’s end is usually great. Your particular story is extra screenplay worthy, I say that because of how much you accomplished in a short amount of time; it is very impressive. It kind of makes me wish that a lot more people possessed that kind of determination, sometimes when I engage in one of my excursions of people watching, I see a lot of people who have so much available for them to take advantage of, but they have very little gumption to pursue what it is they want in life. It’s just refreshing to see that there are still those who have the guts and will to follow through. Good story Lorena, thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your experience with us bloggers! I’m sorry you didn’t know a word of English when you moved here. My first language is English and I could never imagine not being able to comprehend the main language spoken in a place I moved to. It must have been hard when your parents did have an idea of what they were saying and your younger sister dint even have to bother with learning a new language because she didn’t speak much at her age and you were the only one who had to adapt to speaking a new language. Assimilation actually sucks when it seems so foreign to you, but it’s forced upon you to basically succeed.
ReplyDeleteIf I were in your situation I would have probably been really mad or really excited to learn a new language. I’m actually proud of you after reading this, you had the patience to pick up a pre-school book and somewhat taught yourself how to read, that is pretty amazing to me. Very respectable, and very daring, I don’t think I would have the patience, but that’s just me. Your kind of story is the kind that makes me mad at my siblings who refuse to speak English in a correct way or even at all, they prefer to text, which is horribly taking over young society. Thanks for sharing this with us and this is very respectable!