Language Freewrite
Due Monday or Tuesday, January 27 or 28
How many languages do you speak? What circumstances cause you to shift between tongues? If these shifts are variations of the same tongue, English, why are some Englishes more appropriate than others? Do you do this out of necessity? When did you learn to code shift? What of yourself do you leave behind or alter or hide when you consciously take on another voice?
In Adam Pitluk's essay, "The Growl of Poetry," the editor of American Way magazine reflects on the power of poetry, specifically that of Jimmy Santiago Baca's poem "Spliced Wire," to changed a life.
Extras . . .
I have pasted the poem below. Here is a link: http://www.angelfire.com/home/cougarhome/sw.html
More Extras . . .
Here is a link to more about Santiago Baca http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/jimmy-santiago-baca#about.
Extras are just that. Extra reading assignments for those of you who are interested in a bit more depth. If you do not have time, don't worry about it. It is not mandatory.
Writing Assignment due in class Saturday, February 1, 2014
Bring a paper copy to class and an electronic copy (in your email).
Now think about a a poem or a song or a piece of writing that changed or shaped your life and why. Reflect on this as you reflect on the essay. Respond in a two page essay. Make sure you include a works cited page. Afterward post your essay in Moodle or here if you are in the Saturday class. You will probably have to post it in two parts and the MLA will lose its formatting, but that's okay.
Review MLA for an essay in Hacker (Seventh Edition) pages 409-411. Review MLA for works cited on pages 469-478; 479-532. It is okay if it is not perfect.
You can also visit Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/675/01/
The Article
The Growl of Poetry
from http://hub.aa.com/en/aw/ed-note-01-01-2014
BACK IN 1992, when my high school English-literature class was studying contemporary American poetry, we read a poem that somehow spoke to this 16-year-old boy unlike any book or magazine or cassette tape or television show. I don’t remember whether it was because I’d been a victim of high school puppy love — puppy love that went unrequited — or whether it was because I could see the passion, the angst, the ire, the wrath and the love in the poetry. Of course, I didn’t exactly let on to my buddies that I could relate better to a 40-year-old Santa Fe, N.M., orphaned poet, released from prison just over a decade earlier, than I could relate to any popular-culture figure at the time.
But I could. The poem, “Spliced Wire” by Jimmy Santiago Baca, is still a very real, very important part of the man I’ve become. Over the years, I’ve kept an eye on Baca’s writing. After all, I feel as though he’s somehow shaped my life. He’s certainly shaped my literary life. And so it was that when I received a copy of his forthcoming book, Singing at the Gates, due to be released later this month, I took it home and read it in one sitting. The prose made me laugh out loud in some parts, weep like the bereaved in others; it made me desperate for love like a wayward cupid, and it made me blinded by white-hot anger and arresting fury.
Those of you who are familiar with Baca’s work are nodding in agreement because you know what the self-taught poet is all about, and you know that the challenges he’s had to overcome are manifold. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Baca’s work (and are somewhat surprised to learn just how profound an impact a poet could have on a 16-year-old boy), let’s clear something up: This is not but-soft!-what-light-through-yonder-window-breaks poetry.
No, this is rust-under-your-fingernails, dust-in-your-eyes, blood-in-your-mouth poetry. This is the kind of poetry that reflects the maddening of souls and chronicles a yearning for justice. This is the kind of poetry that was shaped in a maximum security forge, fathomable only to someone who had been institutionalized for 25 years. This is the poetry of a violent street kid turned-nonviolent drug offender who’d been jacked around his whole life, first by a foster-care system after his parents abandoned him, then by the Santa Fe and Albuquerque authorities, who viewed him as nothing more than a transient scourge who’d be in prison before too long, so might as well lock him up pre-emptively now. On many levels, they were right. Yet even after he was paroled in 1979, Baca harbored no ill will. “Instead of sitting in the day-care nurseries of dreary university classrooms, I was gifted to be an eyewitness to life on the edge.”
Reading Singing at the Gates
inspired me at 37 the way “Spliced Wire” had at 16. While the
16-year-old me secretly kept Baca’s poetry close to my soul, the
37-year-old me — the me who’s been around the block a few times — no
longer wants to keep the prose as a dirty secret. The 37-year-old me
wants you to know that Baca’s poetry — that Baca’s story — is out there
for public consumption, and you should drink your fill.
The 37-year-old me got on the phone with Baca’s publicist the day after I read Singing at the Gates and pleaded with her to schedule a lunch with the National Endowment for the Arts poetry-award recipient. She said that’s a tall order: Baca could be anywhere. Apparently, although he has now been out of prison for 34 years, the mentally institutionalized Baca still wins out over the free man, and he prefers to stay secluded.
But persistence paid off, and I am now on flight 163 from Albuquerque to DFW after lunching with Jimmy Santiago Baca. The man is everything I envision a poet to be. He has a soft demeanor, and each sentence is more eloquent than the one before it. Like this, for example: “I’ve had people tell me that my poetry gives them enough hope to go on living. And I think I write because it gives me enough hope to go on living.” I tell him that when I read Jimmy Santiago Baca, I think of a working man’s poet. “I consider myself more of a living man’s poet,” he replies. “I’m tired of criminals. I’m tired of the criminal mind. I just want to live. I just want to sit at the kitchen table with someone and talk.”
This inaugural 2014 issue of American Way is indeed a collection of poetic stories from throughout time and place. Imagine, if you will, a world in which Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” existed only in textbooks. Were it not for the Monuments Men, that hypothetical would have been a reality. For decades, when someone said “Chicago” in an artistic context, an artistic reply would be, “the Picasso.” These days, it’s “the Bean,” and our writer tries to determine if that’s a good thing. And pay close attention to the quotes by cover subject Kristen Bell, whose regular, everyday conversational voice is quite poetic.
Flight 163 is nearing its point of disembarkation at DFW, and as perfect timing goes, I’m through writing this note. Today was a complete success and this column, hopefully, was an inspirational one to kick off the new year. I hope Jimmy Santiago Baca agrees.
“From inside the walls that hold us and divide us, language has the means of breaking through into light, love, freedom and celebration of life,” he writes in Singing at the Gates. “All of us experience conflict with joy and pain. All of us with genuine voices — not scarecrow mimicry that borrows and copies — we create a sublime journey to find beauty in what is considered the mundane.”
Happy New Year, humanity.
Adam Pitluk
Editor, American Way Magazine http://hub.aa.com/en/aw/ed-note-01-01-2014
The Poem referenced in the article:
"Spliced Wire" By Jimmy Santiago Báca
I filled your house with light.
There was warmth in all corners
of the house. My words I gave you
like soft warm toast in early morning.
I brewed your tongue
to a rich dark coffee, and drank
my fill. I turned on the music for you,
playing notes along the crest
of your heart, like birds,
eagles, ravens, owls on rim of red canyon,
I brought reception clear to you,
and made the phone ring at your request,
from Paris or South America,
you could talk to any of the people,
as my words gave them life,
from a child in a boat with his father,
to a prisoner in a concentration camp,
all at your bedside.
And then you turned away, wanted
a larger mansion. I said no. I left you.
The plug pulled out, the house blinked out,
Into a quiet darkness, swallowing wind,
collecting autumn leaves like stamps
between its old boards where they stick.
You say, or carry the thought with you
to comfort you, that faraway somewhere,
lightning knocked down all the power lines.
But no my love, it was I,
pulling the plug. Others will come, plug in,
but often the lights will dim weakly
in storms, the music stop to a drawl,
the warmth shredded by cold drafts.
from http://www.angelfire.com/home/cougarhome/sw.html
How many languages do you speak? What circumstances cause you to shift between tongues? If these shifts are variations of the same tongue, English, why are some Englishes more appropriate than others? Do you do this out of necessity? When did you learn to code shift? What of yourself do you leave behind or alter or hide when you consciously take on another voice?
In Adam Pitluk's essay, "The Growl of Poetry," the editor of American Way magazine reflects on the power of poetry, specifically that of Jimmy Santiago Baca's poem "Spliced Wire," to changed a life.
Extras . . .
I have pasted the poem below. Here is a link: http://www.angelfire.com/home/cougarhome/sw.html
More Extras . . .
Here is a link to more about Santiago Baca http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/jimmy-santiago-baca#about.
Extras are just that. Extra reading assignments for those of you who are interested in a bit more depth. If you do not have time, don't worry about it. It is not mandatory.
Writing Assignment due in class Saturday, February 1, 2014
Bring a paper copy to class and an electronic copy (in your email).
Now think about a a poem or a song or a piece of writing that changed or shaped your life and why. Reflect on this as you reflect on the essay. Respond in a two page essay. Make sure you include a works cited page. Afterward post your essay in Moodle or here if you are in the Saturday class. You will probably have to post it in two parts and the MLA will lose its formatting, but that's okay.
Review MLA for an essay in Hacker (Seventh Edition) pages 409-411. Review MLA for works cited on pages 469-478; 479-532. It is okay if it is not perfect.
You can also visit Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/675/01/
The Article
The Growl of Poetry
from http://hub.aa.com/en/aw/ed-note-01-01-2014
BACK IN 1992, when my high school English-literature class was studying contemporary American poetry, we read a poem that somehow spoke to this 16-year-old boy unlike any book or magazine or cassette tape or television show. I don’t remember whether it was because I’d been a victim of high school puppy love — puppy love that went unrequited — or whether it was because I could see the passion, the angst, the ire, the wrath and the love in the poetry. Of course, I didn’t exactly let on to my buddies that I could relate better to a 40-year-old Santa Fe, N.M., orphaned poet, released from prison just over a decade earlier, than I could relate to any popular-culture figure at the time.
But I could. The poem, “Spliced Wire” by Jimmy Santiago Baca, is still a very real, very important part of the man I’ve become. Over the years, I’ve kept an eye on Baca’s writing. After all, I feel as though he’s somehow shaped my life. He’s certainly shaped my literary life. And so it was that when I received a copy of his forthcoming book, Singing at the Gates, due to be released later this month, I took it home and read it in one sitting. The prose made me laugh out loud in some parts, weep like the bereaved in others; it made me desperate for love like a wayward cupid, and it made me blinded by white-hot anger and arresting fury.
Those of you who are familiar with Baca’s work are nodding in agreement because you know what the self-taught poet is all about, and you know that the challenges he’s had to overcome are manifold. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Baca’s work (and are somewhat surprised to learn just how profound an impact a poet could have on a 16-year-old boy), let’s clear something up: This is not but-soft!-what-light-through-yonder-window-breaks poetry.
No, this is rust-under-your-fingernails, dust-in-your-eyes, blood-in-your-mouth poetry. This is the kind of poetry that reflects the maddening of souls and chronicles a yearning for justice. This is the kind of poetry that was shaped in a maximum security forge, fathomable only to someone who had been institutionalized for 25 years. This is the poetry of a violent street kid turned-nonviolent drug offender who’d been jacked around his whole life, first by a foster-care system after his parents abandoned him, then by the Santa Fe and Albuquerque authorities, who viewed him as nothing more than a transient scourge who’d be in prison before too long, so might as well lock him up pre-emptively now. On many levels, they were right. Yet even after he was paroled in 1979, Baca harbored no ill will. “Instead of sitting in the day-care nurseries of dreary university classrooms, I was gifted to be an eyewitness to life on the edge.”
The 37-year-old me got on the phone with Baca’s publicist the day after I read Singing at the Gates and pleaded with her to schedule a lunch with the National Endowment for the Arts poetry-award recipient. She said that’s a tall order: Baca could be anywhere. Apparently, although he has now been out of prison for 34 years, the mentally institutionalized Baca still wins out over the free man, and he prefers to stay secluded.
But persistence paid off, and I am now on flight 163 from Albuquerque to DFW after lunching with Jimmy Santiago Baca. The man is everything I envision a poet to be. He has a soft demeanor, and each sentence is more eloquent than the one before it. Like this, for example: “I’ve had people tell me that my poetry gives them enough hope to go on living. And I think I write because it gives me enough hope to go on living.” I tell him that when I read Jimmy Santiago Baca, I think of a working man’s poet. “I consider myself more of a living man’s poet,” he replies. “I’m tired of criminals. I’m tired of the criminal mind. I just want to live. I just want to sit at the kitchen table with someone and talk.”
This inaugural 2014 issue of American Way is indeed a collection of poetic stories from throughout time and place. Imagine, if you will, a world in which Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” existed only in textbooks. Were it not for the Monuments Men, that hypothetical would have been a reality. For decades, when someone said “Chicago” in an artistic context, an artistic reply would be, “the Picasso.” These days, it’s “the Bean,” and our writer tries to determine if that’s a good thing. And pay close attention to the quotes by cover subject Kristen Bell, whose regular, everyday conversational voice is quite poetic.
Flight 163 is nearing its point of disembarkation at DFW, and as perfect timing goes, I’m through writing this note. Today was a complete success and this column, hopefully, was an inspirational one to kick off the new year. I hope Jimmy Santiago Baca agrees.
“From inside the walls that hold us and divide us, language has the means of breaking through into light, love, freedom and celebration of life,” he writes in Singing at the Gates. “All of us experience conflict with joy and pain. All of us with genuine voices — not scarecrow mimicry that borrows and copies — we create a sublime journey to find beauty in what is considered the mundane.”
Happy New Year, humanity.
Adam Pitluk
Editor, American Way Magazine http://hub.aa.com/en/aw/ed-note-01-01-2014
The Poem referenced in the article:
"Spliced Wire" By Jimmy Santiago Báca
I filled your house with light.
There was warmth in all corners
of the house. My words I gave you
like soft warm toast in early morning.
I brewed your tongue
to a rich dark coffee, and drank
my fill. I turned on the music for you,
playing notes along the crest
of your heart, like birds,
eagles, ravens, owls on rim of red canyon,
I brought reception clear to you,
and made the phone ring at your request,
from Paris or South America,
you could talk to any of the people,
as my words gave them life,
from a child in a boat with his father,
to a prisoner in a concentration camp,
all at your bedside.
And then you turned away, wanted
a larger mansion. I said no. I left you.
The plug pulled out, the house blinked out,
Into a quiet darkness, swallowing wind,
collecting autumn leaves like stamps
between its old boards where they stick.
You say, or carry the thought with you
to comfort you, that faraway somewhere,
lightning knocked down all the power lines.
But no my love, it was I,
pulling the plug. Others will come, plug in,
but often the lights will dim weakly
in storms, the music stop to a drawl,
the warmth shredded by cold drafts.
from http://www.angelfire.com/home/cougarhome/sw.html
posted by Professor Wanda's Posse at 3:33 AM
13 Comments:
Nadia Cade
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A
January 27, 2014
Language Freewrite
Language Freewrite
Unfortunately, I only speak one language currently which is English. I do not speak other languages except Ebonics but I do not truly consider that to be a language. I do plan to learn to speak Spanish throughout my journey of becoming a better me. So for this assignment, I wanted to give my opinion of people who are bilingual and answer the questions from my perspective.
I have come across a lot of bilingual people in my life and I currently work with an English/Spanish speaking woman who can speak both languages fluently. I think she shift’s between languages because she has been speaking Spanish for most of her life and that is the language she is most comfortable with. Although she speaks English and is aware that it’s the only language I speak, sometimes she’ll speak to me in Spanish because it’s an easier for her. In the business that we work for, sometimes she comes across some customer’s that only speak Spanish, but that’s the only time it’s necessary for her to speak Spanish. Other than that she will speak English.
There are other bilingual co-workers of mine that speak Spanish and English fluently and when they are speaking with each other, their conversation will go back and forth between the two languages. Sometimes they will use both languages in the same sentence sometimes. I think they do that because it may be easier to say a term in Spanish rather than thinking about how to express that same term in English. That code shift part I can relate to because there are some slang terms consisting of two words that I can say that will be equivalent to me asking or saying an entire sentence in proper English. When speaking other languages, I think people may alter their sense of comfort and become more calm or relaxed when you’re speaking with someone you don’t have to be grammatically correct with all the time.
Ms. Cade
Victor Chen
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A Saturday
Friday, January 28
Language Freewrite
When I was younger, I spoke Chinese to my parents at home, while at school I spoke entirely English. I feel that the words in Chinese really captures the relationship and bonds between my family and me, and so many experiences and emotions that we have shared each other are well captured and well remembered in Chinese. As I’m writing this, I am thinking how much I have forgotten this as I’m growing into adulthood, and it’s when I’m writing about this that I realize that no matter how much I’ve grown, I’m still the child to my parents that I was when I was born. It’s funny that I even use the word “adulthood” at all because I know in America, when you’re an adult, it’s normal for people to move out of home and start to become independent. I don’t know if I can use the word “adult” and for the word to mean the same to me. In Chinese culture, a child’s bond with his parents goes for the child’s entire lifetime. I’m aware that if I told my parents that I wanted to be independent and move out of home that they would ask me to remember the times that they took care for me when I was younger I could not care for myself, like when I was sick. They would also point out that when they become older, that I should still be there so that at times I could help them when they can’t take care of themselves on their own.
I think as I am writing, it’s easy for me to use these words without keeping in mind whether they completely match up with my own experience as a child, and now, even as an “adult”. As I took courses in Chinese language last year in college, it was then that I began to understand that the meaning of words in languages have cultural contexts which reflect the experiences of the people living in the culture. I think being born with parents born and raised in China makes thinking in English sometimes a bit harder for me than others whose parents were born and raised in the United States. I think for me, learning from both American and Chinese cultures and incorporating American culture into Chinese and understanding American culture as Chinese person would is challenge for me as I get older and older. This would mean I would have to respect both the Chinese and American cultures and languages in their respective contexts.
Mark Lopez
Professor Sabir
English 1A Saturday
31 January 2014
Language Freewrite
My Everyday Vernacular
Learning a new language is difficult; I had experience adapting to a new foreign tongue. I was born in the Philippines, so naturally, that was the language I grew up to speak until I was four years old. I moved to America in 1999 and consequently, I had to learn English. Apart from speaking two languages, growing into American culture allowed me to develop different sets of vernacular; one around family, one around friends, and one around my superiors.
The reason I shift between tongues is quite simple: Expectations. When I am with my family, they expect me to watch my words carefully because I was raised to be respectful (with some exceptions to my siblings). When I am around my friends, I am free to express anything and everything in any way, appropriate or inappropriate. Likewise with my family, when I speak to my superiors I speak with an elevated tone of sophistication and utmost respect. These shifts in tongue are variations of the same language, however, there are times necessary to speak in a certain manner. For example, when speaking to someone who is your superior, you must speak and act accordingly with respect and sophistication because they expect you to do so.
Learning to code shift is easy because it is common sense to say things appropriate rather than inappropriate in certain situations. I learned to code shift through the years I have been at school and eventually, I knew when and when not to say things to different people. Most of the time I consciously know that I am code shifting when I am with family or friends. I alter my way speaking when I go out with friends and I become outrageous, fun-loving, and saucy. I leave behind all the latter qualities once I set foot inside my house, and immediately I become respectful and polite. Overall, in any language there is bound to be code shifting within the population. Language to me is a metaphorical mullet; we speak suitably to our superiors, and we speak in another way towards friends.
India Mecca Harris
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A
February 1, 2014
Language Free Write
As of now I only speak one language, English. Becoming bi-lingual is a personal goal. From the perspective of learning to speak another language I can understand why a multilingual individual would shift between tongues under certain circumstances. I believe that when speaking any language, a person should feel comfortable enough using the language to express his/herself to others. However, that isn't always the case for everyone and that's okay. There is always some one who is learning to speak the language of a majority and are hesitant or self conscious because they are not native speakers and/or have yet to become fluent in the language. No one wants to be judged. It is much more comfortable to speak to some one who shares your native tongue and is fluent in the same language because, it is the primary way to communicate and connect.
This perspective is the same for the different variations in the English language. Some Englishes are more appropriate than others because there is formal communication and informal communication. For example, when I speak to clients and peers in business, instructors, parents, or elders, I use formal English to a degree that it necessary per situation. When I am with my spouse, friends, siblings, relatives, or associates, I do not usually use formal English because, it is appropriate to be casual and I feel comfortable enough in those relationships to do so.
Whatever the language, I believe that it should always be spoken in a manner that shows respect- which I learned at a very young age. That is also where I was able to identify the differences in my relationships and make the appropriate "code shifts." I find that when I am in situations where I need to use my formal voice, I tend to be somewhat guarded and less up close and personal. Depending on the situation/individual I am communicating with, the time it takes for me reveal more of my personal side varies.
-India
Mervin DeGuzman
Wanda Sabir
English 1A Saturday
27 January 2014
Freewrite
Tongue Twister
There are people who can speak multiple languages other than English. Like myself, I can speak another language other than English. I speak, write, read Tagalog very fluently. The reason why for this is, I was born and raised in Philippines. I did not come to United States till December 5th of 2001. It was a very strange environment when I first came to this country and my English grammar wasn't as good either. I had to watch a lot of T.V. in order for me to learn the English language. Eventually, I learned. My penmanship didn't change, though, I will try and fix it as much as I can. I shift from English to Tagalog whenever it is necessary. I talk to some of my Filipino friends in Tagalog but most of the time I speak to them in English just so I can practice it more and more until I get rid of my accent. But my accent comes back whenever I talk to them.
English is a universal language that mostly everyone can speak. There is a formal way and informal way of speaking it. Speaking the English language formally is easily recognized by others and this is the language I've learned before I came to this country. After a few months of settling in, I learned more and more of the English language and this I picked up quicker. Although it contains more informal words, it was good to add to my vocabulary even if I don’t use it as often. A good example of informal English would be “heck of” means a lot and “skinny” means thin.
I believe that whichever language you speak, whether it’s English or Tagalog or what have you, it represents who you are and what you do.
Anne Norris
Professor Sabir
English 1A Saturday
26 January 2014
Language Free write
Languages I speak fluently consist of the English Language, which I have found to use in many different ways with different people. I speak Spanish half fluently and know some (probably a handful) words native to El Salvador. However, I only use Spanish when absolutely necessary, although this was not always the case.
Let’s touch on the Spanish first since that is the less complicated of the two. I learned minimal Spanish as a student in grade school and high school. When I say minimal, I mean just the basics such as “hello” “where’s the bathroom?” “what is your name?” Of course all were in the proper form. Coming out of high school I had a child with a man who was from California but whose family was predominantly from Mexico. I took an interest to learning more of the language in order to communicate with some of my new family. Two children and 7 years later we split. I had learned a tad more Spanish by that time but not much. I then met a man, fell in love and had one more son. This man did not speak English, so I was forced to learn more Spanish, simply stated. He has since passed away and I no longer have the need to speak the language fluently. I find myself not wanting to speak it unless I absolutely must. I believe there is a part of me that hurts, deep in my soul, when I speak Spanish. A remembrance of the relationship and love I once had. A home I ran in primarily the Spanish language. Me, a white American woman, who spoke only Spanish to her son and fiancé. A son that has since forgotten the Spanish Language, with the exception of very few words. All that is now but a mere part of an ugly past. One that is haunted by the outcome of a man risking his life, torn between legalities. One being to re-enter a country that was legally not his own, and that of the heart, where you feel as if you will die without the physical touch of your child.
The English Language. Where does it begin and end? Growing up it was all the same. I was not even aware another language existed until I was maybe the age of ten. Since then, I’ve learned to adopt many forms of the “simple” language. I have friends that I have kept since a very young age. We seem to use a more relaxed version of the English Language. Using slang, cursing, joking etc. As I have seen with most people, they tend to have a different demeanor around those they are comfortable with. Although when around my family I tend to be more reserved and proper. It is sad in a sense. I feel that I am this way because they are more judgmental than my close friends. Even though family will always be family, they seem to like to interject their judgments and opinions when not asked for. It tends to cause less ripples in the water when the “tongue” is kept proper around them. Then I have the acquaintances I have acquired over my more adult life. Never being young with them, I notice that the language is kept more “adult-like”. My most commonly used form of the English Language is that which I use with my children. I tend to be sterner and matter of fact with them. Teaching, guiding and nurturing them.
I switch my languages as necessary, depending on who I am around I suppose. Although in doing that, always stay true to myself and who I am. There are so many ways to relay the same message using different tones, words, expressions etc. In reflecting on this during the free writing assignment, I realized that I change “tongues” as I see fitting, to make sure that the message I am sending is being presented properly to the audience I am speaking to.
Athena Knowles
Professor Sabir
English 1A
28th January 2014
Assignment: Language Freewrite
I speak the strange creation birthed from so many languages we know today as English. I used to know a little bit of German in high school. But like so many other topics I was taught back then, it escaped from my brain to be replaced by new information. I believe everyone, whether they are bilingual or not, speaks in different tongues of the same language. For example, I speak differently to, and around my friends then I do around teachers or my family. So I guess what I'm getting at is that I speak in a few different tongues of English in order to convey or hide my thoughts and feelings.
I like to imagine that I keep all my different emotions and the words to go with them in different layers of myself. I chose between them basted on which ones I need at any particular moment or interaction. But some of them never get let out and others take over the stage. Example: I have a very hard time finding the language to express anger, so I'll do everything in my power to defuse such conflict and the anger gets tucked away. This is not so much necessary as it is a preference, because anger makes me very uncomfortable. On the other hand, it is necessary for me to mask my sadness with a fake smile and “positive language” in order to appear as though I am okay. Because I think if people really knew how little I achieve in my day to day life they would look down on me or treat me differently.
I suppose I learned to “code shift” in grade school based on social norms and observing classmates reacting to language that was considered different or inappropriate. Interactions with family and peers has also taught me that there are different, more effective ways to express opinions, arguments or ideas. I feel like most of the voices I use are meant to cover up my true self and hide her away. By using these different voices and “languages” I know that I am in a way, distancing myself from my true self and feelings. But I do it because I don't want to let the world know just how fragile and afraid I feel.
kholood Gaid
English 1A
February 1, 2014
Language Freewrite
When I was younger, I spoke Arabic very well and it was easy as it was my first language, But coming to the United State as young child I had to learn my second language which was English. I learned English so fast and it has become my everyday language. As I was a young teenager my family had to take me to Arabic school so they can teach me how to learn how to write and speak Arabic fluently. Merging from one language to another can really confused me. I had to take a minute if I want to translate to my family if I attend with them somewhere like to the doctor . At the same time they have to do the same to me when I attend a lecture in Arabic, some words are so hard to understand so I have to ask them.
I think learning two language can be very hard but beneficial to others.
Rashell Baldry
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A Saturday
26 January 2014
Lanuage Freewrite
The only language I currently speak is english, but would love to be fluent in spanish at some point in life. I definately shift from a more casual, or "chill" english from my home to work. I am more professional at work; Using more appropriate language from not swearing, to saying phrases like, "I'm going to powder" instead of announcing I am going to the bathroom. I remember when I first discovered different forms or tones of english. I was sitting in the back of my Mom's car, probably around seven years old, getting repremanded for one thing or another. I then responded to her, "okay" with such a harsh attitude. Now I'm sure I had gotten bratty with her many of times, but this was the first time I felt like I had the power to use that certain tone. I then got older, started working very young, and learned how to speak in a more proper manner. Changing our english at certain times I believe is a necessity, its a way of communication, a way to excel and be respected in the workplace, or any public, professional enviroment. It's not as if I am changing who I am, just bringing it up a notch. The way I engage with guests at my work Bocanova is through my personality, I would never hide that. I alter my english and pitch of my voice when I need to, I leave my personal life at home, my exaggerated work gossip with my roommate, funny volger humor, innapropriate stories, extra "sass" I give my boyfriend; The entertainging laughs and love I look forward to coming home to. I walk out the door with a smile and bring the amplified respectful personality out into the world.
Laisa Oliveira
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A Saturday
Saturday/1/2014
Language Free write
I speak three languages two of which I speak fluently; Portuguese , English and a tad bit of Spanish. My mother married an American man who brought us to the USA. I learned English at a very young age. I do not remember whether or not it was difficult to learn a new language but did I learn it fast that's is I believe I did, also something I can not say for sure.
I speak more of English only because I live here in America and I grew up speaking mostly English due to the environment I grew up in. Portuguese I speak when I feel as if my mother does not completely understanding what I am saying, and when I call Brazil to speak to my family who only speaks Portuguese. Now when it comes to Spanish I only speak it when I am trying to prove that I can speak it to someone who doubts the languages I speak, or in a Spanish class and when I am trying to help someone who I see speaks only Spanish and is in need of help.
When speaking in English I tend to be more comfortable talking and might talk a slight bit louder than I do in Portuguese or Spanish. Speaking in Portuguese I am a bit shy and less confident depending of who I am speaking with and the words I happen to use that I can not pronounce correctly or that I am unsure of. As for Spanish I speak it just as I would Portuguese if not in a softer tone because I am not confident of how I pronounce mostly all the words because of lack of practice.
Being that my first language is Portuguese I feel that it is the main reason why I am able to understand and speak Spanish, the two are very similar.
I believe we all learn to "code shift" at a very young age. Something as simple as simple as when a teacher in grade school tells the children to use their inside voices. When in elementary I feel that is when we understand more of how to communicate with different people speaking with a certain tone of respect or excitement or even leaving it up to our body language.
When I speak a certain language out of the three I mentioned I might hide anger or I may express anxiety and or frustration due to lack of ability to express myself as I feel I could if speaking in another language other than the language I am having trouble with at the moment.
Learning new languages at a young age is easier than learning it when you are older. but non the less learning more than one language can be very beneficial in ones life.
Laisa Oliveira
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A Saturday
February/1/2014
Language Free write
I speak three languages two of which I speak fluently; Portuguese , English and a tad bit of Spanish. My mother married an American man who brought us to the USA. I learned English at a very young age. I do not remember whether or not it was difficult to learn a new language but did I learn it fast that's is I believe I did, also something I can not say for sure.
I speak more of English only because I live here in America and I grew up speaking mostly English due to the environment I grew up in. Portuguese I speak when I feel as if my mother does not completely understanding what I am saying, and when I call Brazil to speak to my family who only speaks Portuguese. Now when it comes to Spanish I only speak it when I am trying to prove that I can speak it to someone who doubts the languages I speak, or in a Spanish class and when I am trying to help someone who I see speaks only Spanish and is in need of help.
When speaking in English I tend to be more comfortable talking and might talk a slight bit louder than I do in Portuguese or Spanish. Speaking in Portuguese I am a bit shy and less confident depending of who I am speaking with and the words I happen to use that I can not pronounce correctly or that I am unsure of. As for Spanish I speak it just as I would Portuguese if not in a softer tone because I am not confident of how I pronounce mostly all the words because of lack of practice.
Being that my first language is Portuguese I feel that it is the main reason why I am able to understand and speak Spanish, the two are very similar.
I believe we all learn to "code shift" at a very young age. Something as simple as simple as when a teacher in grade school tells the children to use their inside voices. When in elementary I feel that is when we understand more of how to communicate with different people speaking with a certain tone of respect or excitement or even leaving it up to our body language.
When I speak a certain language out of the three I mentioned I might hide anger or I may express anxiety and or frustration due to lack of ability to express myself as I feel I could if speaking in another language other than the language I am having trouble with at the moment.
Learning new languages at a young age is easier than learning it when you are older. but non the less learning more than one language can be very beneficial in ones life.
Victor Chen
Comment to India: I think I should communicate better with relatives. Good thing you mentioned that. I think if I could communicate better with them, then I might be better in more formal situations.
Comment to Athena: I think I can relate to you here. When I speak English, I tend not to reveal my emotions as much as when I speak Chinese, since use English in more formal situations, so I feel like I mask my emotions more so in English. I think for me, balancing my strengths and weaknesses in my languages can help me minimize conflict.
Michael Martinez
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A
February 13, 2014
Language Free Write
Growing up with a Hispanic name many people that knew are learned my full name will instantly assume that I speak Spanish. I can remember the day like yesterday fifth grade, sitting in the back of the hot classroom that always had a weird strange odor. “Michael Martinez” my history teacher Mr. Kim will always say something in Spanish after he announce my name.
My father side speaks Spanish and English fluidly, while my mother sides speak English. As kid I only visit my Hispanic side of the family two times in my childhood. Once a toddler and when I was six when both my two front teeth had accidentally been knock out while playing on the monkey bars at school. As I got older my curiosity grew about my father and mother complication but it never bother me to ask them about the situation. But the memories I do have of my Hispanic side are precious to me I will never forget my grandpa tossing me my first cold beer as he rap to me about life. As his discourse I drunk my beer I felt so mucho/grown. After his short lecture it didn’t really synchronize because I couldn’t relate to the culture. I will never forget how my older and young cousins made fun of me for not being capable of speaking Spanish and boy did the teased me but really I didn’t care what they feel or think about me. But as I look back I do regret not being able to grow up and have priceless moments and memories that make a person laugh out loud outer know where. Another thing I can’t forget is my grandma and aunties cooking I don’t know what all they had on the table while my short visit but I sure do remember the steak and chicken tamales. Every time I see or her something dealing with Hispanic culture I feel rob of my cultural heritage “but do we all?". I will always be motivated to learn how to speak Spanish but Learning a new languish is so difficult to me. Living in California it’s starting to become a requirement to know how to speak both languishes to attain certain job positions. Even when hanging out with some of my peers I feel disconnect when they change their tongue and speak ebonicly in Spanish. I think it would adequate for me to learn how to speak border line Spanish if I want to move to Brazil or any part of South America in the future.
Post a Comment
<< Home