Part III: Interviews

“F” grew up in southern California and learned Spanish as her first language.  She learned English by watching children's cartoons on TV and through her siblings.  Her parent’s are first generation immigrants and do not speak English very well.  “F” says that her parents didn't show interest in teaching her English as a language.  Her parents value traditions and customs and feared her losing them by speaking English. I asked "F" if she experienced any discrimination in school but for the most part she hadn't, the schools she attended always had a large Hispanic population.  However "F" felt intimidated by the white kids in her school because they seemed smarter and more successful.  While “F” has many American English speaking friends she told me she always has felt more comfortable around Spanish speakers no matter where they are from.  "F" says Spanish speakers can relate to each other off the back because of their cultural similarities.  In this sense "F" saw the power of language as a unifier that connected her together with Spanish speakers here in the United States.  She also felt that her Spanish speaking skills were subordinate to English speakers, which can lead to a disconnection between two groups.

“M” is a Mexican-American but she returned to Mexico at the age of 7.  Her parents had gotten involved with child protective services and they were worried their children would be put into the foster care system, so they all packed up for Jalisco, Mexico.  When “M” returned to school in Jalisco it was obvious to everyone that she was American, and they gave her the nickname gringa.  While Spanish was her first language she had an obvious American accent and that created tensions between her and the classmates in school.  After sometime she lost her “gringa” accent and soon after lost all her knowledge of the English language. In order to pursue a higher education “M” left her family at the age of 16 to return back to LA and live with an uncle.  When she returned to school in LA she knew absolutely no English. “M” told me she felt hopeful because there was a large Spanish speaking Hispanic population at school.  Her hopes were false, the Mexican-American students labeled her as a “Chunt” and would not speak to her, or offer any help.  “M” tells me that these students made huge efforts to become American, and didn’t want to ruin their reputations by speaking to her.   For “M” language separated her from her peers, even when it was the same language.  Perhaps similar to the El Salvadorian entering a Mexican workforce, the students felt that they had worked hard to feel comfortable here, so they wanted “M” to work hard in the same way.

“J” was my only interviewee that did not speak Spanish as a first language.  “J” is a Mexican-American with Spanish speaking parents who also grew up in the LA area.  “J” said that not knowing Spanish was a negative impact on his personal identity.  He dealt with a lot of taunting from other Spanish speaking students in high school who labeled him as a guerro or gringo because he did not speak Spanish, even though he looked just as Mexican-American as the other students. He told me, “There were even times I was told I wasn’t a “real” Mexican or Latino because I didn’t speak Spanish.”  During high school “J” felt disconnected with his heritage, but now in college taking Spanish classes has helped him feel more connected.  For "J" language was something that separated him from his peers, however after taking classes and learning Spanish he feels more connected. Language and culture are so closely related that sometimes, as is for the case of "J", without the language of your past you cannot fully understand the culture that surrounds it.