Carolina Gonzalez

English 5M
September 17, 2017

Literary Narrative Draft 1

To be born a multilingual writer does not only signify that I am fortunate enough to speak
and understand two different languages and cultures, it also means that I had to confront and
overcome many hurdles to get where I am today. I grew up in a Spanish speaking atmosphere,
although my dad tried sneaking in some English every now and then. At a very young age I
learned to speak, read, write, eat, breathe, sleep, and live in the Spanish language. It came so
naturally to me because of the literary sponsors that were available to me, and the same thing
applied to when I learned the English language. To learn and adapt to the American style was
not much of a hassle, but just like every multilingual person, I had my hardships.
To learn and fully comprehend an unfamiliar language, it comes down to the sponsors. And
you may ask, what is a sponsor? As Deborah Brandt explains it, Sponsors, as I have come to
think of them, are any agents, local, or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach,
or model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacyand gain advantage by it in
some way (2). Growing up I was exposed to numerous sponsors that expanded my knowledge
of the Spanish and English language and style. The Spanish language was more or less
embedded into me. Every single family member of mine spoke to me in Spanish so reading and
writing it was a breeze. My Spanish skills increased as I went to a catholic school as a child, and
later on in high school when I took AP Spanish and graduated with a biliteracy seal. Although I
was already quite educated about the style of Spanish language, I reached further out to my
sponsors and broadened my education.
Adapting to the English language and the American style began with the sponsors that
were available to me in preschool. Each school year after that I was exposed to and
comprehended more and more about the American style that was expected of us. With just the
simple practice of repeating the letters of the alphabet after my teacher, reading the famous
Decodable Books, and tracing over my name; my education of the English language grew
stronger at a young age. I remember in kindergarten my mom made up a matching game of all
the important parts of speech. We would play it every night before going to bed. She was also
going to an adult school at the time, so we were learning together which made it all so special.
Overall, school was the basis of my sponsors and all the apprehension I contain about the
English language and its style.
Being a multilingual writer is truly a gift to obtain in the real world; but it comes with its
weaknesses as well as it does strengths.- Being engraved with the Spanish language formed a
hurdle to adapt to the style expected in school. What I learned in catholic school was very
distinct to the style expected in regular schools. As Dana Ferris explains in What is a
multilingual writer?, English is considered a writer responsible language meaning that it is
up to the writer to think about the knowledge and what is expected of the audience. The writer
has to communicate to the reader in a way that is clearly understandable. Different from other
languages and cultures, in American English it is presumed that it is not the readers doing to
endeavor with the writing until it is comprehended.
Just like I did, many multilingual students have struggled and still struggle with the process
and challenges of adapting to the American style of writing. Some of these challenges are the
different styles we have, inadequate knowledge of the English vocabulary, sentence structure,
etc. Multilingual students have different styles and approaches to writing. None the less, it is
crucial to have an understanding pf the expectations of colleges in America and the audience we
will be writing to. ...there is nothing wrong with that style, and the student should not be
expected to change the way s/he writes in that other language or to change his/her opinion about
the best ways of writing. However, it is important for ML writers to understand the
expectations of the American college audience and to adept to them (Ferris 24). Being in high
school and having to write in both English and Spanish was helpful in the aspect that my
language strengthened in both, but it did cause some confusion switching styles back and forth.
It started becoming tedious for me to further adapt to the different style once I reached the
sixth grade. My teacher at the time told me that I had the potential to reach the advanced classes,
but I was held back from entering the advanced classes due to the lack of my knowledge and
speed of reading and writing in English. It became even more difficult when I reached middle
school. It became coherent that I struggled with English style expected in school, it was
frustrating to feel overcome by the challenges. I felt as if no matter what I did, I just could not
reach those expectations.
The person, writer, reader, and multilingual student I am today is not the same one I was
years ago. Although I still face many struggles today, I have overcome many difficulties. From
being surrounded by only the Spanish language, to now being in college and adapting to the
expectations, I have gained plenty of knowledge; not only about the language but about myself
as well. The struggles I face in everyday life due to having a language before English, have built
me up as a reader, writer, student, and person overall. It had made me realize that I in fact have
potential to becoming a stronger scholar. Overall, being a multilingual student has opened up
many opportunities for me. Just because we, multilingual students, struggle more than English
speaking students, we are opened to more job, skill, development, and life opportunities. We are
not any different from any other student.