“Words” Radiolab
3. Jill Taylor claimed to have felt a sense of peace or joy
as she describe when she lost access to her life experiences without language.
Although I could certainly relate to a temporary since of peace, I believe this
would create more fear then joy if such an event occur in my life. Often times
my memory will fail me and I struggle to remember part or sections of my life.
This is very scary when it happens and you can feel the brain struggling to
identify the command. This world is becoming a constant and steady environment
with demanding instant gratification. Because of this, I can relate to the sense
of peace she claim to experience but when I stated temporary, I don’t mean days
I mean minutes. I would feel lost and scared if my entire life story was now a
huge blurr.
4. I couldn’t imagine a world without language and the fact
that Ildefonso’s life became so exciting once he began to make the connection
is proof this was a great life changing moment.
Language is necessary for anyone who needs to connect with others and to
grow in knowledge. Ildefonso was not aware of what was missing in his life,
only that he didn’t believe he was very smart. It appeared he knew something
was missing so I do believe he was able to think about it. Once he began connecting words with objects,
people, etc, his life evolved to a higher level and was thinking more and
progressing more. Much like life in college, we come here to grow and it’s often
hard to let go of the knowledge you acquire from attending. Ildefonso now had
the tools to allow growth in his thoughts, language and lifestyle giving him a
better quality of life. So I would say it was a good thing!
“How to Tame a Wild Tongue” Gloria Anzaldua
1. This was a tough article to read with the mixture of the
two languages from someone who does not know any Spanish. It is often hard to
connect the entire article with the combination of the two different languages
leaving me feel as though I am missing pieces that help the flow of the
message. It creates what I like to refer to as holes in the story and it’s hard
to make a connection to the writer.
2. I can certainly relate to how she feels being trapped in
a world with the language conflict in this article. I believe she wrote it
intentionally in this manner, to give the reader a sense of what she had
experienced by allowing us to have a direct effect of going from English to Spanish
and still attempt to keep up with the message.
"How to Tame a Wild Tongue"
ReplyDelete1. I personally agree with the difficulty of understanding the short story, While I was reading through the story and came upon the unfamiliar language, I found myself lost and unsure about the meaning of the story. When I found myself reading my fluent language again, I felt a sense of comfort and began to understand the text again.
2. While reading this short story, the reader is able to identify and feel the exact response the author is trying to create. The author has a purpose for adding in foreign words with English, to give a sense of how she might have felt growing up and being deprived of her own way of speaking. I began to question and wonder what it would be like for the school system to take away my native tongue and force me to speak an unknown language. This thought gave me an uneasy feeling, as if taking away my native language would also take away all of my culture and the way I was brought up. This text gave me a better understanding on the value of our language, it not only being the way we speak but our way of life.
"How to Tame a Wild Tongue"
ReplyDelete1. “Cada quien habla de la feria según le fue en ella”. Without a doubt Spanish is the hardest language to learn. It's not because its roots are tricky or complicated, but because each group of Spanish speakers have their own way of saying things. That means that depending on which part of the globe you are in you might encounter a familiar word that has a diffenerent meaning elsewhere. Gloria, talking about her experiences with her language and how she talks about all these different kinds of Spanish made me feel uncomfortable. To me, having been born and raised for 28 years in Mexico City, there is only one way to speak Spanish. To my ears it is the correct one but then again any person could say the same thing. There are different accents, different ways to express ourselves but there is only one correct way to do it. That is how I was taught. At the same time, reading some of the words mentioned, that have been so familiar to me for years, made me feel closer to home. Sometimes it is hard for me to understand people that call themselves Mexicans but have never been to Mexico much less have lived there before. Therefore, without going any deeper on the subject; your family heritage is very important but it is not the only thing that defines your ethnicity.
3. Everybody at home (Mexico) makes fun of me because I have adopted some of the beliefs or manners of the American life. I have lived here for four years and in my mind it is inevitable to do so. That doesn’t mean I think or say that I am American. But it is very difficult to explain why, when you go to live in another country, you have to put your background aside for a little bit and try to fit in and learn their ways. I am Mexican! I have no doubt or conflicts about that whatsoever. But while I live here I have to learn the language, the beliefs and the traditions, adopt the ones that don’t conflict with my own beliefs and discard the ones I wouldn’t like to be a part of me. That is the beauty of becoming part of a new culture. You will never stop being who you are but you will learn to become part of your new home and all the baggage that comes with it. That is how I negotiate with myself: Learn as much as you can, adopt the traditions and beliefs that go with your own, but never forget where you come from and who you are!
Everybody who've I have met that learned English as a second language has told me that it is one of the most difficult to learn. Growing up in San Diego, I almost had to learn quite a bit of Spanish in order to get by myself, so I can relate to the author on that front. I was forced to make my own Spanglish sentences with numerous people on many different occasions in order to make sure we all understood each other. However, while I think that everyone should certainly be proud of their heritages (I, myself, have many Celtic symbols and pieces all over my house), I also believe you should adapt to your surroundings. If I moved to France, I would certainly imagine that I would be speaking french after a limited amount of time. While I would still speak English with my friends and family from America, I would never be embarrased to try and learn the ways of the people around me. English would be who I am, and by myself I would listen to my music and read my own books. If I am around a culture that I need to learn about, however, I would be doing my best to adapt
ReplyDeleteHaving the mix of Spanish and English in the story does make it very difficult to read. Even with my grasp of basic Spanish, a lot of it didn't make sense, and it causes a lot of breaks in the story. Initially I wanted to just skim over the words, simply because I knew that it was going to be extremely difficult to get the translations and context correct, however I eventually worked it out. Even still, it didn't do a lot of good.
I completely agree with what you said regarding Jill’s temporary peace of mind. As still as she might’ve felt at that given moment, if she was stuck in that mindset (or lack thereof) for much longer she was eventually going to have to come to terms with the fact that the peace she was experiencing was, in some ways, synonymous with emptiness and a lack of purpose; especially since she was going to start picking up on the fact that all of the people surrounding her were interacting and behaving in a way that she wasn’t able to comprehend. She would’ve started seeing herself as an “other” which would have led her to a whole new world of anxiety, loneliness, depression, paranoia, etc.
ReplyDeleteI think it definitely makes sense that she’s longing for that sense of tranquility again. It seems to have provided her a temporary feeling of freedom and liberation from all of the mundane and stressful tasks she was having to deal with before she had the stroke – but that state would not have lasted her very long, especially if she was alone and didn’t have that sense of belonging anywhere. Even Ildefonso, the languageless gentleman from the first story, had himself a group of five or six people that he kind of had some form of communication and familiarity with.
Language is important but it does have opposite functions. Because it allows us to communicate, it also allows us to miscommunicate. I think Jill might’ve been struggling with that.