America is considered a melting pot of both cultural and ethnic identities; accepting the diverse languages and religions of the world. In the essay about bilingualism “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” in the book Fields of Reading: Motives for Writing, Gloria Anzaldúa writes, “So, if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity - I am language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself” (172). Anzaldúa believes that her ethnicity is the very thing that makes her who she is, her language. Therefore, by insulting her language, you are insulting her. Her identity is “twin skin” with how she speaks. Linguistic identity is the ability for a person to speak freely
…show more content…
A language that is learned is like gaining an advantage and the more languages you have, the more diverse you become and more of an asset you would be in the world; language is power. This is because you would be able to connect to people who speak the same language. Anzaldúa wrote this because she wanted to show that there were more dialects of Spanish than a few. There are so many dialects because people need to be able to connect to “home” and since there are so many Spanish speaking countries, their language is very heterogeneous. She shows that her linguistic identity is complex. Therefore, since her linguistic identity is twin skin with her ethnic identity, her ethnic identity is also very complex. People usually submerge themselves with other people of the same culture/language to hide from the cruel criticism of the world. However, many do not know that there are also barriers within these closely related communities that results in different dialects leading one community to not understand the next. Whenever someone insults someone because of the way they speak, they are hurting that person’s self-esteem and discouraging the person to continue to speak their native …show more content…
As she got older, she felt the need to always switch between the dialects of Spanish. While doing this, she noticed that the few dialects she liked to speak, she had no one to speak it with; some dialects were less common than others. Some might say that it could be easier for her, and all other people who speak Spanish, to converge into one Spanish speaking language. However, these multiple languages are from a sacred place which is the home of their nations and their heritage. By speaking these different languages throughout America, people are able to feel a sense that they are at home talking with close family and friends. So yes, the convergence of all these languages would be universally easier for everyone, but the diverse language is probably the only thing that connects them to their nation. By making them speak a new language and forgetting the old one, they are being robbed of their
A language that is learned is like gaining an advantage and the more languages you have, the more diverse you become and more of an asset you would be in the world; language is power. This is because you would be able to connect to people who speak the same language. Anzaldúa wrote this because she wanted to show that there were more dialects of Spanish than a few. There are so many dialects because people need to be able to connect to “home” and since there are so many Spanish speaking countries, their language is very heterogeneous. She shows that her linguistic identity is complex. Therefore, since her linguistic identity is twin skin with her ethnic identity, her ethnic identity is also very complex. People usually submerge themselves with other people of the same culture/language to hide from the cruel criticism of the world. However, many do not know that there are also barriers within these closely related communities that results in different dialects leading one community to not understand the next. Whenever someone insults someone because of the way they speak, they are hurting that person’s self-esteem and discouraging the person to continue to speak their native …show more content…
As she got older, she felt the need to always switch between the dialects of Spanish. While doing this, she noticed that the few dialects she liked to speak, she had no one to speak it with; some dialects were less common than others. Some might say that it could be easier for her, and all other people who speak Spanish, to converge into one Spanish speaking language. However, these multiple languages are from a sacred place which is the home of their nations and their heritage. By speaking these different languages throughout America, people are able to feel a sense that they are at home talking with close family and friends. So yes, the convergence of all these languages would be universally easier for everyone, but the diverse language is probably the only thing that connects them to their nation. By making them speak a new language and forgetting the old one, they are being robbed of their