2008 Woodie Awards
I'm Unvered By..
Moises Perez
Issue date: 2/6/03 Section: Opinion
Why is it that we as Hispanics or other immigrants are involved in situations, where we are forced to speak in English when we feel more comfortable speaking in our native tongue?
In these past days I have started to think of the many places we are forced to speak in English, because people start to think that we are saying bad things about them. Many people, who do not trust in us, think that if we know English and do not speak it think we are talking bad of them or saying bad things. The people that don't understand Spanish or any other different language have to be patient with us. Many times I see people that get mad at us because they don't understand. It's human custom to be scared and hate what we can't comprehend and understand. For that reason I believe is that people get mad at us when we start speaking our language.
In my case I feel obligated to speak English with my friends at school, but if a question gets asked in Spanish and my friends don't understand I translate for them for educational purposes. Sometimes in the heat of a conversation we forget that we have different friends from different parts of the world. Many times I tend to mix the English and Spanish together and I have friends that don't understand my Spanglish. Because having to speak one language at home and another one at school tends to get confusing at times.
Living here in the U.S. we have had to learn new customs. In our bad days we felt frustrated because we couldn't understand what was going on in this country. It's for that reason that people get mad at us when they don't understand, it's because they want they want to know what we are laughing about. We have to make an attempt to learn more English. That's why we recommend English withought barriers, or for the Americans Spanish with ought barriers
(English withought barriers or Ingles sin barreras is a popular tape course that teaches how to speak English, It's always being advertised on T.V.)
In these past days I have started to think of the many places we are forced to speak in English, because people start to think that we are saying bad things about them. Many people, who do not trust in us, think that if we know English and do not speak it think we are talking bad of them or saying bad things. The people that don't understand Spanish or any other different language have to be patient with us. Many times I see people that get mad at us because they don't understand. It's human custom to be scared and hate what we can't comprehend and understand. For that reason I believe is that people get mad at us when we start speaking our language.
In my case I feel obligated to speak English with my friends at school, but if a question gets asked in Spanish and my friends don't understand I translate for them for educational purposes. Sometimes in the heat of a conversation we forget that we have different friends from different parts of the world. Many times I tend to mix the English and Spanish together and I have friends that don't understand my Spanglish. Because having to speak one language at home and another one at school tends to get confusing at times.
Living here in the U.S. we have had to learn new customs. In our bad days we felt frustrated because we couldn't understand what was going on in this country. It's for that reason that people get mad at us when they don't understand, it's because they want they want to know what we are laughing about. We have to make an attempt to learn more English. That's why we recommend English withought barriers, or for the Americans Spanish with ought barriers
(English withought barriers or Ingles sin barreras is a popular tape course that teaches how to speak English, It's always being advertised on T.V.)