Are You Bi-lingual or Tri-lingual?

When people cannot understand your language, they say sorry with attitude, just representing that.

“When other races have given up their tongue, we’ve kept ours” (Anzaldúa). This phrase Anzaldúa claims at the end of her article is one of the most controversial phrases yet. Being so ethnically proud of her own language and where she has came from, Anzaldúa describes what she struggled with when she was younger with her language and how that has made her today into the person she is. Glowing, she fought for speaking her own language, and fought for what she believed in. Although, people fail to see that, she really fought hard and strong. When in school, teachers did not let her speak Spanish or chicano language, she would often speak up and speak back to them and get in trouble. However, despite the number of times she got into trouble, she never let herself let go of speaking Spanish and never let the teachers stop her from speaking Spanish. From this, it is clearly noted that her speaking her language was more important to her than her getting in trouble, or anything of that such. Keeping a strong stance on her beliefs kept her in check and kept her wanting to preserve more of her language. When I mentioned that quote in the start, “When other races have given up their tongue, we’ve kept ours” (Anzaldúa), she really meant it. I know many Asian and European countries’s immigrants and they have lost the sense of their home country’s language within a year of being in America. And because of that, they may lose the sense of what their language actually means to them and in what way they should use it. And when they lose their identity, it’s only a matter of time, they start to lose who they really are. Keeping that, Anzaldúa fought hard and strong. A brave and will minded woman she was, because she didn’t let anyone tell her that this may be wrong, or difficult or any of that such. She just kept going. I remember when I was younger, my grandma, who is an immigrant, never allowed us to speak english in the house just to preserve our cultural language, but I thought it was horrendous of her to do that. Today, I speak three languages, and I could not be more proud, and that was how Anzaldua felt as well. To Anzaldua, holding onto who she was and where she came from, was a strong stance in her life, and being that strong person was being a role model to everyone else.