In the book Funny in Farsi, Jasmine Dumas talks about how she and her family move across the world in hopes for a better life. Her mother, Christian struggles to learn English and eventually takes it upon Dumas to translate for her everywhere she goes. I lived a very similar situation with my mother as well. My mother came to the U.S at age thirteen not knowing any English at all. I was born eight years later, and as I grew up my mother’s intentions to learn English were small. I was forced to accompany her everywhere she went so that I could translate for her. I hated it, but I had to do it or else I would get the sandal. Now that I’ve grown up, it was necessary for my mother to learn the English language in order to go forward with her new
