In modern society, English transcends its native countries and has become one of the most prominent language for communications all around the globe. For all humans, communications plays a huge role in life. The United States is so strongly monolinguistic, it has never had a need to learn and appreciate other foreign languages. Thousands of languages are spoken across the planet, some more similar or different than others. As our country increasingly globalizes, we need to extend beyond English. Although America is a nation full of immigrants, English is its dominant language, being a connection for many to interact or to disconnect. Bilingualism also comes with a plethora of advantages and immeasurable benefits to the beholder. In chapter
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Being bilingual, makes you smarter, accelerates your thinking, and can improve your cognitive skills. Marjorie Agosin, a girl who has moved to the United States after a right-wing military coup overthrew the Chilean government, discusses what it is like knowing both Spanish and English. Agosin states, “To write in Spanish is for me a gesture of survival. And because of my translation, my memory has now become a part of the memory of many others. Translators and not traitors, as the proverb says, but rather splendid friends in this great human community of language” (Agosin 601). Feeling indifferent and being forced to move from your native land, is difficult to cope with, however understanding English assisted the Agosin family with moving onto a new land while still having the memories of her old language linger into her new language. In The Gift of Language, Cao, a Vietnamese immigrant discusses the learning process of her first few months in Connecticut after moving from Vietnam because due to the Vietnam War. After settling and learning English , Cao claims, “my superior English meant that, unlike my mother and Mrs. Bay, I knew the difference between cough, …show more content…
She soon discovered that if she stuck to her original name, ‘Firoozeh Dumas’, her classmates wouldn’t accept her. Dumas writes “Because I spoke English without an accent and was known as Julie people assume that was American this meant that I was often privy to the real feelings about those ‘damn I-ranians’ (Dumas 607). The United States of America being so strongly monolinguistic, does not accept and appreciate the hundreds of dialects out there resulting in isolation of other cultures. Agosin, a girl who had moved and grown up in the United States, claims, “But here in the United States, where I have lived since I was a young girl, the solitude of exile makes me feel so little is mine, that not even the sky has the same constellations, the trees and the fauna have the same names or sounds, or the rubbish of the same smell” (Agosin 599). She deeply misses the past, remembering her most nostalgic memories in the beautiful and captivating Spanish language. Having more than one culture be a part of one’s lifestyle could be beneficial with the ability to comprehend more than one group of people, however even a person who knows both English and Spanish, finds making connections and translating one into the other difficult in the United States, Marjorie states that, “the solitude of exile makes me feel so little is mine, that not even the sky has the
Being bilingual, makes you smarter, accelerates your thinking, and can improve your cognitive skills. Marjorie Agosin, a girl who has moved to the United States after a right-wing military coup overthrew the Chilean government, discusses what it is like knowing both Spanish and English. Agosin states, “To write in Spanish is for me a gesture of survival. And because of my translation, my memory has now become a part of the memory of many others. Translators and not traitors, as the proverb says, but rather splendid friends in this great human community of language” (Agosin 601). Feeling indifferent and being forced to move from your native land, is difficult to cope with, however understanding English assisted the Agosin family with moving onto a new land while still having the memories of her old language linger into her new language. In The Gift of Language, Cao, a Vietnamese immigrant discusses the learning process of her first few months in Connecticut after moving from Vietnam because due to the Vietnam War. After settling and learning English , Cao claims, “my superior English meant that, unlike my mother and Mrs. Bay, I knew the difference between cough, …show more content…
She soon discovered that if she stuck to her original name, ‘Firoozeh Dumas’, her classmates wouldn’t accept her. Dumas writes “Because I spoke English without an accent and was known as Julie people assume that was American this meant that I was often privy to the real feelings about those ‘damn I-ranians’ (Dumas 607). The United States of America being so strongly monolinguistic, does not accept and appreciate the hundreds of dialects out there resulting in isolation of other cultures. Agosin, a girl who had moved and grown up in the United States, claims, “But here in the United States, where I have lived since I was a young girl, the solitude of exile makes me feel so little is mine, that not even the sky has the same constellations, the trees and the fauna have the same names or sounds, or the rubbish of the same smell” (Agosin 599). She deeply misses the past, remembering her most nostalgic memories in the beautiful and captivating Spanish language. Having more than one culture be a part of one’s lifestyle could be beneficial with the ability to comprehend more than one group of people, however even a person who knows both English and Spanish, finds making connections and translating one into the other difficult in the United States, Marjorie states that, “the solitude of exile makes me feel so little is mine, that not even the sky has the