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Yesenia Muñoz

English 305

Dr. Sherman

02/25/18

Language Autobiography

To many people who are born in the United States, with parents who are also

born in the United States is very difficult for them to understand that English is not a first

language. My parents are from Guatemala, growing up my first language was Spanish,

once I started school I started English. Starting with Spanish it made it hard for me to

speak and write “proper English”, which is what Professors call it now “proper”. I can

relate to Tan’s writing a lot. How she has to go to appointments with her mom because

she needs to translate and do the speaking for her mother. Tan says that they call her

mom’s language “broken English.” It goes beyond just languages. It is a way to connect

to another person.

Most people use texting as a communication method, in which you can see on

my picture slide one. My siblings and I have a text message group where we are all

connected and we can all see what we say. In this group message we talk about

anything, and whatever way we want. The way we text is the same way we speak to

each other, but in texting we can add more “flavor” to it. By adding a lot of punctuations
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and emoji’s we get to express our feelings. For example, if we use all capital letters that

means we are upset. We also use a lot of slang and mixture of English and Spanish

words.

When I see my text messages like in picture two, my best friend and I have our

own language. One day my sister asked me, “what does that mean?!” which was my

best friend who left a comment on one of my pictures on Instagram. There are times

where we even send each other memes and emoji’s to better describe the situation. For

example, if she asked me what I was doing, then I would send her a picture of what I

was doing at that moment.

Our second language, Spanish is very important to us because it is a way we

connect to each other in a deeper way. We find words in Spanish that we cannot

translate into English. Making our own words makes our conversations more dramatic

and meaningful. The feelings are shown with each and every word. In “This Is How you

Lose Her” by Junot Diaz, the way he speaks to his friends reminds me so much of how I

message my friends. The ways he speaks the way he feels and says the word that best

describes the moment, even if it is not English.

My two sons have taught me a lot about language, recording one and two show

that they even though they might be two little humans but their language is very

important. I have two boys who speak to each other and understand every word they
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say, and most of the time I do not understand them at all. My oldest son understands

my son who is three years old more than my husband and myself. They might not have

proper language but that is the best way they know how to speak and connect to each

other. When I speak to them I have a mixture to speak both languages, Spanish and

English. Especially when I am upset I tend to use Spanish and my voice sounds more

demanding.

Communication with my professors I usually use the email method. The way to

talk through an email is very different then texting or emailing friends. In emails with the

professors there has to be a “Hello” at the beginning and a “Thank you” at the end of the

email. Proper grammar and punctuation is required. They expect you to write to them in

this manner, if you do not they think it is rude or they simply not reply.

After collecting data and evidence on the languages that are used around me, I

have come up with the conclusion that there is no proper way to speak or write.

Everyone has their own unique way of connecting to others. It might be by texting,

social media, or email. There is a right way to speak and write for each occasion. We

should never feel that we have a “broken English” because at the end of the day the

way we speak comes from where we came from, our roots.