My Language Story

       I’m afraid my language story is not a very interesting one. Despite my background, the only language that I’m fluent in is English; I happen to be half Chinese and half Puerto Rican. When I was younger, I did know a few words and phases of both Spanish and Chinese, but I’ve long since forgotten them. At home, everyone in my family mainly speaks English; my mother speaks both English and Spanish fluently, as well as knowing a little bit of French and Italian. I did have Spanish classes in Junior High and High school, but none of the lessons really stuck. My first Spanish teacher taught the class very well; she was aware of how hard I tried even though I wasn’t very good at it and I did learn a few things. But the teachers I had after her were pretty awful. My second Spanish teacher was completely incomprehensible; I barely understood anything she said in English (she had a strange accent/inflection) and was completely lost when she spoke “Spanish”. It didn’t sound like any form of Spanish I was familiar with; to be honest, it sometimes sounded like she was speaking gibberish. It wasn’t just me who thought this, my classmates thought the same thing as well. The best we could do was to just do the work on our own from the textbook. This was after I was put in this class after mistakenly being placed in a French class (I knew that it wasn’t the right class, but I chose not to say anything about it). The few French classes I attended were very interesting and I probably did better in those classes then in any Spanish class I attended (this is just my opinion). Since I (somehow) managed to get a certain amount of credits and passed a critical exam, I didn’t have to take anymore language classes after my freshman year of High school.

        When I find myself in certain situations, like being around certain family members or in places where English is not well spoken or well known, I do tend to get a little lost. Not being able to understand what is being said around me does make me feel a little out of place. This is particularly true when I’m around my father’s family; my grandmother, grandfather and uncle speak fluent Chinese, as well as my father (although I’m not 100% sure, I believe they specifically speak Mandarin). Since I grew up with my mother, I am familiar with a few Spanish words and phrases, but not enough to hold a lengthy conversation. None of this means that I’m not interested in learning another language; I would very much like to know at least one other language other than English. It’s just that, for some reason, I never have been very good at learning another language. Ideally, I would like to learn Spanish and Chinese, if only to finally understand some of what is being said around me and, also, to stop being harassed by certain members of my family who tend to (unintentionally) be critical and admonish me for not knowing.