Well, when I first read the note at the top warning that not all of the text will be written in english I was just like “oh crap”. The beginning of the text was easy to read and grasp. I guess because I can relate to being at the dentist and wanting to talk but the big hand in your mouth keeps you from getting the words out. Anyway, then I hit the next paragraph and holy crap I swear I had to read it a good four times to understand what the heck was being said. I still think I am unclear but this is what I got from the article.
She speaks Spanish and English but prefers to go by “spanglish”. I guess she is backing herself up on why her culture of being Latino is so important and relevant today. When she explains the language it helped me follow the text as I continued to read. It’s interesting how they use different letters when they are talking about a boy or a girl, or when they use vowels, or when they are talking plural. I have always thought that, especially while I was taking Spanish Honors i high school. It’s even more interesting how I was in Spanish honors and literally cannot remember a single thing that I learned during the two years I took the course. So I give her credit, spanish is definitely a hard language to learn and could come in handy living here in Nevada especially because there are so many spanish speakers among us.
I love when she talks about how there are other things that remind her of her culture. I can relate most to her when she talks about a certain smell or food at the dinner table resembles our culture. For her beans and corn tortillas being fried remind her of her culture. For me, the smell of freshly brewed coffee in the morning, and pizza remind me of mine. It’s not necessarily just those things, tacos remind her of her culture but tacos also is a main dish for my family each week. That also explains how the Mexican culture plays roles important to many other than just their language.
Often times it can be easy to judge others who are different than us or share different values. I think that this reading did a very well job getting the point across that the spanish culture should be accepted for who they are.. as well as everyone else.
My favorite quote from this passage is…
“Wild tongues cannot be tamed. They can only be cut out.”
My interpretation from that quote is that everyone has their opinion and that we cannot change.. we can only cut out their importance to us.
I have attached some super yummy foods that I thank their culture for… 🙂
jadesunshinee 