Speak American: Be Multilingual

So I just wrote my blog post about Collier’s article then changed my mind when I found a newspaper article that I believe relates directly to Richard Rodriguez’s piece, “Aria”.  I am going to use this newspaper article to connect “Aria” to a real world situation.

As I read “Aria” by Richard Rodriguez I once again gained a new perspective.  I am from a white family who speaks English during every aspect of our lives.  Unlike myself, in this piece, Richard is from a Spanish family who speaks Spanish at home as what he calls a “private language”.  While Spanish is considered private to him he sees English as a public language that he is uncomfortable speaking because he believes it is not his to use.  With this idea, Richard does not speak much in school which concerns his teachers and drives them to speak to his parents about his English.  His teachers proceed to ask Richards parents to encourage English speaking at home.  With this, Richards’s whole world changes, “In an instant, they agreed to give up the language that had revealed and accentuated our family’s closeness” (35).  Richard continues to explain how this change has altered his entire life and family structure.  No one talks as much, and overall the family is just not as close as before.  Overall, people who do not have English as a second language do not seem to understand this situation.  But, for Richard he has a private and public individuality that his school is not allowing him to pursue. 

Additionally, I found an article from the San Diego Times titled "Speak American: Be Multilingual" written by Mary Amanda Stewart.  In this article, Stewart talks about the many reasons why being bilingual is good.  She states that it increases the function of the brain, you may be able to make more money, it has been known to delay memory loss, and overall individuals who are bilingual are smarter.  Although these many ideas are known to be true, Stewart continues to explain how unwelcoming people are to the idea of others being bilingual.  Whether it is the many different languages singing patriotic songs or just the fear of losing power.  Either way, a family who is bilingual seems to be losing their language by the third generation mostly because of schools not having bilingual programs.

To me, these two articles are very much connected. Stewart talks about all of the benefits of being bilingual but then talks about how schools do not seem to support bilingual individuals.  This can be seen in Rodriguez’s article when Richard is asked by his teachers to focus on speaking English not only in school but also outside of school instead of his native Spanish.  It is almost as if they fear the idea of an individual not have English as their primary language.  But, as the amount of people who speak English as a second language continues to increase this issue needs to be solved.  No matter what an individuals circumstance, schools should be able to accommodate them and work to better their lives not hinder their abilities.  Sometimes we do not realize how gifted bilingual individuals truly are.