Project 2: Analysis

Together but Separate


In a personal narrative titled, “Situaciones Incómodas,” I describe my experience learning Spanish through various methods that did not include the traditional classroom setting. My way of learning Spanish was driven by blending English and Spanish into what is commonly known as Spanglish.  As I blended these languages I had many pronunciation mishaps because I would make English words into Spanish. Why is it I wanted to do that? As I was rereading my essay, I realized that I was not learning Spanish as one separate language; I was blending my knowledge in English to aide my fluency in Spanish. This confirms the observations that Suresh Canagarajah discusses in the introduction to his book Translinguial Practice. Canagarajah defines translingualism as bringing together languages without the strict structures of a language whereas multilingualism is the addition of many structured languages into a collection to one’s lingual knowledge. Instead of languages being viewed as a skill that can only be used individually, they should be used to “complement” each other to aid in communication (Canagarajah, 6). Canagarajah, however, does not stress that the mixture of Languages can also be a breeding ground for misinterpretations. I used English to ‘complement’ my Spanish instinctively, but I did not realize I began to separate English and Spanish until I began to practice translating in either language. To avoid any misunderstandings as I translated, the separation of these two languages was necessary in order to for me to communicate efficiently. While mixing English and Spanish was useful for me to recognize basic vocabulary, I began to notice the difficulty to translate a word to Spanish without the habit of including English. This difficulty easily facilitated miscommunications with those that did not understand my blend of English and Spanish. Yes, those listening could use their Charades skills to make out what I was trying to say, but never to the ease of speaking/listening of a common language.

There were many instances where I tried to translate an English word into a Spanish one and it went terribly wrong. My parents were very patient with me as I would frantically try to describe the word with hand or facial expressions. This was incredibly embarrassing but most of all it was frustrating. Such as the time I tried to say the word dehydrated. I smashed together the beginning of dehydrated and adding –ia at the end in order to make my hybrid word, dehitira. I honestly thought this would make the word Spanish and began to learn from my mistakes. My parents laughed at me, but they were able to make out the Spanish word I was describing by using their ‘receptive skills’. “Using our receptive skills we can understand the interlocutor’s language, in the same way the interlocutors uses his/her competence to understand our own language.” This conversational strategy is known as “polyglot dialog” (Canagarajah, 5). Canagarajah provides a great example of this in his introduction which helped me to better understand my family’s communication. A Tamil family is discussing a teenage girl’s lack of competence in her native language. She speaks English and her family speaks Tamil.  It is clear throughout their dialog that she is receptive to what her family is sharing. Her responses were all in English and the only way her family was able to understand her was through their receptive skills. This conversation strategy is truly used throughout out our diverse societies. Although I find that a lot of emotion and meanings are lost through translation, especially if you do not understand the standards of that language and how it transmits to other languages, it is a great way to be able to sustain a great relationship with a family with language differences (Canagarajah, 5).

Learning to separate Spanglish was the toughest part of fully integrating each language into everyday usage. Countless words in Spanish have reminded me of words I already knew in English, which is common considering that all languages are bits and pieces of another language, but their proper place in actual conversation is distinct from each other (Canagarajah, 8). Migration has caused this to happen, because a culture’s language instinctively begins to blend into one another. The English language, for instance, contains words and grammatical structures from Latin; Latin is the root of many languages other languages as well, such as Spanish. Each language comprises of many so it is not a ‘homogenous’ language. Canagarajah states that “we are all” translinguals,” and “not native speakers of a single language.” Our communities are too diverse and immersed continually with different manifestations of a language to be strictly one ‘homogeneous’ language. For cities like New York City, it isn’t a huge shock to have languages being mixed and used without a second thought. It is an instinctive reaction to adapt to a mixture of languages in order to communicate with other people because of the immense language diversity in one region. Unfortunately, there are some regions where the exposure to the mixture of languages is a bit frustrating because it is the common assumption the languages are to be kept separate so as to communicate with ease.

 I remember reading several Latin-American newspapers in order to test my comprehension without the interference of English.  I would know the majority of the words, however, there were some I did not know and I would have to interpret their meaning by looking at the root of the Spanish word in comparison to my own knowledge with English. This tactic pushed me to identify each word in Spanish and immediately find its definition in English. Step by step the language separation process helped me put all the words I knew in Spanish into phrases that I could use in everyday context. I started to develop a sense of security that I could switch into Spanish without having to depend on the assistance of English words to describe what I want to say in Spanish. I do not think I could have switched back and forth if I had continued to mix both languages in my everyday usage. Did you ever play Telephone as a kid? The goal of the game is to whisper a message to another person, which is passed through a line of people until the last player announces the message to the entire group. This message is passed along and its meaning is distorted as each person retells it. Imagine if each person had their own blend of languages and we had to decipher what they are trying to say in our own native norms in order to correctly quote their thought. While, the use of many languages can be used and understood through context clues, the success communicating language is lost without the assistance of norms and structures each language as set forth.  I translated as I grew up and I am such an advocate for the importance of keeping languages separate in order to communicate efficiently.

Communication is a two way street; the one who talks and the one who listens. In order to efficiently communicate you need the understanding from both parties involved.  Canagarajah considers the mixture of languages through ‘translingual’ practice as a way of communicating by using our receptive skills in order to uncover what someone is saying. It should not be anything of a surprise because this has repeatedly happened throughout the history of languages. Just as Canagarajah asks himself in his observances, why should we limit our evolution by the strict barriers we place on an individual language? The importance of separating languages depends on a person’s personal use of a language. For the most part the knowledge of a language is for the purpose of communicating.  An individual may choose to use a mixture of languages to get through an inevitable foreign situation that requires it such as a temporary aid for communication, but sooner or later the mixture of languages will be abandoned if it is a permanent and adequate way of communicating successfully in an area of expertise to a group of people. The better we know and understand the differences in languages the better we will be able communicate in society without being limited by the mixture of languages that is only a temporary solution in communication. 

Works Cited:
Canagarajah, S. (2013). Translingual Practice: global Englishes and cosmopolitan relations . New York: Routledge.

 Rodriguez, W. (2013, September 17). awkward situations. Retrieved October 3, 2013, from weebly.com: http://awkwardsituationsnarrative.weebly.com/