I was born to immigrant parents, a Mexican father and an Ecuadorian mother. They both moved here from their countries to live a better life in America which to them was a land of opportunities. Spanish was my first language but I was taught English right after. I was often told by my parents that I was lucky to be born here and that I should take advantage of every opportunity given to me. To them success was education; there was no bigger dream to them than to see their children graduate college and pursue a career. Their dream of seeing me on that stage gave me motivation to do well in school. However, I was often switching between speaking English in school and speaking Spanish at home. I believe the constant switch of language made it a bit harder for me to truly excel in a specific language when I was younger. 

There was a time when I was fairly young, when I would converse with my family in Spanish and I would forget words. I felt incredibly embarrassed because I could tell they would notice with their slightly annoyed faces. My aunt would tell me “solo por ir a escuela aquí no debes olvidarte tu Español.” She then proceeded to tell my whole family to only speak to me in Spanish so that I wouldn’t forget it. It worked but at the same time it made me begin to forget words in English. When I would freeze up, I would just think “what is that word I know that I know it.” During the freeze ups, I would think of my head as a dictionary with limited vocabulary. In the next few moments my face would either turn joyful if I figured out the word in time or defeated if I didn’t. It was a very confusing time of my life. I would especially hate forgetting words in Spanish because I would think that I was rejecting my family and culture. I would feel guilty or as if I was an odd one out because of these forgetful moments.

My grandparents also had a huge impact on my life since they helped my mom raise my brother and I; growing up, I spent a huge amount of time with them. My grandparents only speak Spanish and know a few common words in English. I would only speak Spanish when I was with them. The few times I would try to have a conversation with my brother in English, my grandma would exclaim “en esta casa se habla Español.” She would feel disrespected if I spoke English in front of her because she would think that I was saying something I didn’t want her to hear. In reality, I spoke English out of habit since English was all around me outside of her house. My grandma is partially deaf so I would have to yell when speaking to her. In addition to that, I was one of the youngest in my hispanic family and a female. Before me, my family only had sons. Like the hispanic stereotype, the males in my family were favored and heard. My grandma would always tell me that a woman was meant to be quiet for a guy to like her. Those sexist statements infuriated me ever since I was young. I would argue back and forth with my grandma telling her that the times have changed and women had no such role. My family would always ignore and talk over me until I got loud and yelled at them to hear me. No matter how many times I exploded on them, it would always shock them to hear me have a loud voice with them. It eventually became a habit to speak with high volume since I would have to be loud to be heard.. At school, my classmates would tell me that I was obnoxious because of how loudly I spoke. I never realized when my voice would raise because I was accustomed to speaking as such to be listened to.

Besides speaking different languages, I speak each language in different ways depending on who I’m speaking to. My family taught me to always speak formally and be respectful to adults. I believe in hispanic culture respecting your elders is more than important. Growing up in Queens, I can admit that I have a slight “New York accent” around my friends and people around my age. I remember the instant feeling of regret when I would slip up and say “bro” or “yo” when speaking to my aunt. My stomach would drop and I would just wait for my aunt to correct me. Luckily for my impatient self, she wouldn’t wait an instant before saying “oye I’m not your bro” and “where did you get this ghetto talk from, do you think you’re a callejera?”  

I love the Spanish language because it makes me feel more connected to my family and it’s a great part of my culture. Learning Spanish and English at the same time impacted the way I speak both languages. I never picked up a full Mexican or Ecuadorian accent for Spanish. When my cousin’s from Mexico visit America, they say I have a slight American accent when speaking Spanish which I believe is due to the amount of English I speak. Overall, several aspects affected the way I speak: my culture, family and surroundings affected it the most. The way I speak is obnoxious to some because of how loud I speak or incorrect because of the slang I use around certain people but I’ve learned to accept all the flaws in my way of speaking. Every person has attributes that make their way of speech unique. I like to believe that these attributes don’t make your speaking wrong or broken, rather they add a little bit of spice to your way of speaking. Regardless of the way you speak, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be heard because the thought behind everything you say is important.

Cover Letter

My literacy narrative was meant for people who have gone through a similar experience as me. I included some Spanish phrases in my paper to increase the relatability to Spanish speakers. I tried to use my experiences of being one of the only girls in a hispanic family and having to be loud to be heard as a way to express a sexist and sort of bad side of the culture. I know that not every hispanic family follows that side of the culture but I wanted to share that if you are one of those people whose family does try to silence you with those views, you are not alone. I know a lot of people that have been in my situation so I thought that it would be easy to find a relatable audience. 

While writing this paper, I had to explore the several aspects that made up the way I speak. It is important to understand why a person speaks the way they do because several reasons can interfere with their way of speech. It made me learn the effects on how my surroundings, culture, and family had on my language. Language is spoken in so many different ways and every way it’s spoken is beautiful. I was not born speaking the way I do now; the way you speak changes based on several factors. Usually those around you influence the way you speak and act. I’ve learned to appreciate language and the backstory of how a person speaks.

This assignment helped me find joy or meaning in the act and practice of writing this paper because the thoughts on what to write came slightly easily. The assignment asked to recall an experience or experiences in your life that shaped how you use language and literacy. Unlike a hard or boring prompt, this assignment prompt made me think back to specific moments in my life. I was remembering events that I hadn’t thought about in so long which gave me a feeling of nostalgia. I am a person that loves memories; I believe every memory helps make the person you are today. I also already enjoy writing my feelings when I want to clear my head and this assignment was basically that. I was writing down how I felt on what made me speak the way I do. It barely felt like an assignment because I was just writing my thoughts on a subject I knew a lot about. 

I realized that several writing concepts make up a good paper. There is a lot to think about when writing such as who you want your audience to be, the context of the sentences you are writing, the vocabulary or level of language you want to use, and the purpose of you writing the paper. I chose the audience to be people who could relate to me. I made the reading easy enough for most people to understand. It took me a while to figure out the purpose of writing this paper. After putting a lot of thought into it, I realized the purpose was to show how my experiences affected the way I spoke and what made my way of language unique from the rest. The purpose was to understand the different ways someone’s language can be affected and to accept that not everyone is going to talk the same way.