I awoke to a loud crash coming from in the kitchen. I jumped up to complete darkness in my room. I knew it was real because the sun usually wakes me up with its warm rays shooting through my window. I glanced over at the clock and saw a flashing 4:30, so I lay there silently not able to quite get up. I'm not sure if it was the hour that had me still stuck in the bed or the fact that this was the day that my life changes. My parents had gotten together and decided it was in the best interest of the family to relocate to another area of the town. Apparently they had a family meeting without the family being there because I do not recall them asking me for my thoughts or input. I guess they already knew that I would protest this to the very end. Whoosh! My bedroom door came flying open and a small framed shadowy figure appears through the rays of light coming from the kitchen ceiling. Wake up pumpkin. It is time to get up so we can go.
Once inside the car, it seemed like the ride would never end. We drove past a few familiar places and some that I had only heard about. I remember just staring out the window without saying a single word. In my mind I was taking mental pictures of the neighborhood that I had loved and called home. I wanted so bad to just jump out of the car at the next stop light, but I knew the consequences of my actions so I stayed in my seat. Finally, we pulled up into a narrow driveway which was connected to a brown, beige and yellow three family house. I remember my mom getting real excited to see the inside as if she had not seen it before. The truck stopped. A set of four eyes came glaring back at my brother and me. Smiles were seen for a mile away on both faces not sure how my brother was feeling but my smile was not a happy one. I guess my mother knew because she instructed my dad to take my brother and go into the house, which he did just that. My mom turned to me, looked me straight in the eye a give me a motto that I still live by today.
In many Latino (also called Hispanic) youth subcultures, it is fashionable to variously mix Spanish and English, thereby producing Spanglish. Spanglish is the name for the admixture of English words and phrases to Spanish for effective communication. ... The new generation of American Hispanics want to preserve knowing and using Spanish as equal to learning and using English. ...
These parents and family members tend to force their children into first learning their native language and culture before learning English and the American Culture. ... This prevented them of extensively learning both languages, English and Portuguese; and ended in a very similar case of the "Spanglish" language that many of the Hispanic Americans speak in Miami today. ... Without a doubt, their children and grand-children will have the pleasure of discovering their parents and family's culture and language after they succeed in learning the culture of their new home. ...
However, being bilingual is very challenging; learning another language besides from someone's first language usually takes a lot of time and effort. ... On the other hand, some people believe that learning a second language is not necessary and is a waste of time. ... They may then have a mash up of the two languages that they are learning and speak languages that are improper such as "Spanglish" and "Chinlish", etc. ... Learning Chinese and English simultaneously at early age had given me a lot of additional work, but I ended up coming to the Land of Opportunities where I have more oppo...
