Aria by Richard Rodriguez (Reflection)

After reading Aria by Richard Rodriguez I was able to have better understandings of a person who lives in a place where their first language is not the dominant language spoken by everyone else.  Rodriguez writes about his experience with having to learn English when Spanish was his first language. He writes that when his parents agreed that they would have to learn English and have their kids learn English that they “agreed to give up the language (the sounds) that had revealed and accentuated our family’s closeness.” He also wrote that he felt as though his family was not as close as they had been before when they had spoken in Spanish, their almost secret language. I thought this was interesting because I did not really think a language would make people feel closer to one another, after reading this though I understood that.  If a family lives in an area where their first language is not dominant then they would only be able to communicate to one another making them closer with one another. After Rodriguez’s family was more “confident” with English they did more public things such as getting a telephone installed in their home. Rodriguez did not like the fact that his family seemed to be not as close anymore since they were reaching out to other people.

My first language is English so I did not have to go through learning another language. I do think though if you live somewhere that the language spoken is not your first language then you should want to learn it but not have to. I understand that people do not want to lose their culture but I think it would be harder not being able to communicate with people around you. I do think though that the language should not be “given up” like Rodriguez says his family did with Spanish.

I think around here in the States it is very common to find someone whose first language is not English. I think it is easier for people to come here and communicate with other people because of all of the different languages spoken here. Although it is more welcoming that many languages are spoken here, I think it is important to know the dominant language as well. While traveling to places where English was not the first language such as the Dominican Republic and France, I had a hard time communicating with people. Since I was in each place not for long I did not need to learn their languages but if I stayed in each place longer it would have been important for me to know the language being spoken and I feel necessary for me to learn the language rather than other people learning the language I spoke.

This link talks more about Rodriguez’s struggle with learning English.