1. What language(s) do you speak? What language(s) do you read?
Within our immediate family, we are able to speak English, Spanish, German, and Latin. We are able to read in these languages also.
2. What local, national, political, or academic influences your language use?
Various physical movement through the years to new countries. Some ancestors moved by choice to new countries looking for a different life. Some moved throught military assignment or through employer reassignments. Some left their country because of political turmoil.
3. What influences your preference of language use, growing up and now? Family members mentioned their parents spoke Spanish at home so they also spoke Spanish. My Aunts told me they were expected to speak English at school and they would be punished if they tried to speak to each other in Spanish. In those days corporal punishment was given to children. They reported sitting quietly in their classrooms listening to what was going on in their classes, but not speaking. They said they somehow eventually began to speak, then they would 'become proficient speaking English. They continued to be bilingual and biliterate as they grew up and lived in their parent's home. Eventhough one aunt lived in Chicago and the other in Laredo they shared similar experiences. (Aunt Stephanie and Aunt Maria Rosario).
4. Where did you grow up and attend school?
My immediate family attended school in the United States (Kansas, Michigan, Massachusettes, and Texas). Louie, Maria, Molly and I attended Department of Defense Schools in England where our Dad was stationed in the miltary. Maria began Kindergarten in a village school in Holton, England. She then went to first grade on base at a DoD school.
My children have attended school in Texas, California, and New Mexico.
My parents attended school in Topeka, Kansas (Mom) and Laredo, Texas (Dad).
5. How has your culture influenced your language use?
Before I started this project I thought our family only spoke English and Spanish. I have found out that we have a variety of languages and countries. Since we only speak Spanish and English, the other languages were lost somewhere along the way.
6. Was it easy or hard to learn a second language?
For my older family members they reported that they learned their second language slowly without pressure. The younger cousins mentioned having an easier time learning. That could be as a result of always hearing English and Spanish since birth. It seemed a seamless transition.
7. Why do you think you lost your first language?Part of the answer was addressed earlier, when family members moved to new countries they assimilated into their new home lands. Some people left their home country they did not expect to go back, so they used their home language less and less. There is a saying, "use it or lose it." I think that was a major factor in our early family's language choices (French, German, Portugese).
I have one cousin that lost her Spanish language use from lack of using it. I spoke with her about speaking Spanish since she worked in a Mexican neighborhood. She told me she did't speak Spanish. I told her that she spoke Spanish before she spoke English. I think it is interesting that she doesn't remember speaking Spanish. She thought I was joking with her until I told her to ask my older sisters if she spoke Spanish. When they both told her the same thing I did she was surprised.
8. Why don’t you think you lost your first language?
I asked my aunts and cousins this question and the reasons usually came back to the home language. One aunt mentioned my Grandma didn't speak English and she needed to be able to translate for our Grandma. So as they were expected to speak English at school, they were still able to continue using their Spanish at home. It became more a case of survial skills to help our family members. My family in Laredo always spoke Spanish to my Mom and Dad when we would go visit, they seemed to prefer using that language. They seemed to be using the language to emphasize more emotion in their conversation. They could say the same thing in English but I was told it wouldn't have the same emphasis, the same spirit.
9. Which language do you primarily use today?
Our family speaks Spanish and English as far as conversational languages. Many of us have taken various languages as a requirement for school, but we don't use them conversationally. The most varied, that I am aware of are my children who have studied Spanish, Latin, German and minimal French as a result of school experiences. The charter/private schools that exposed my children to foreign languages did so because the subjects were a requirement for all students. I might have family members that may have similar exposure, but they weren't the ones I interviewed.
10.11. Which language do you use to “think”?
Do you switch back and forth between multiple languages during conversations?
I put these together based upon interviews with my aunts. One aunt mentioned that when she had something to say, she thinks of how she wants to say her message. What emphasis to put on her words were as important to her as to what she wanted to say. I asked why and she said that sometimes Spanish language allows the speaker to add emphasis and emotion to convey to the conversation. English doesn't lend itself to the same "essence" of words. I thought that was very interesting, something I never thought about before our conversation. It is for that reason she code switches, move back and forth between two languages during conversations.
Another aunt mentioned she code switches or explains something in Spanish because when the message is translated in English it might not have the same meaning, something is lost during translation.
When I think of my own experiences, I would insert phrases when I wanted to add emphasis or an extra "essence" to the meaning of my message. The interesting thing is I realize the phrases I have used were French, I don't speak French. I followed my Mother and older sister's example of when they would do the same thing for extra focus on their message. Since starting this project, I learned that one of my maternal Grandmothers was French. Perhaps this was a liguistic tool she handed down to her children which our Mother shared with us. "Crème de la crème,"
"Pièce de résistance," "Je ne sais quoi " and we live on a "Cul-de-sac."
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