The first language I ever spoke was Spanish because that's the only language my parents spoke. I remember when I first attended elementary. I didn't know any English and it was weird hearing everybody else talk English because I couldn't understand anything. I was placed in a bilingual class and I slowly started picking up the English language by watching and observing. By the time I went to middle school, I was able to communicate in English affectingly and that's when I started to notice most of my classmates spoke in a different way. The group of friends I grew up with started using a lot of slang and I had to keep up to be able to communicate with them. I started using words like "hella" "wussup" "kick it" "on everything" "that's hurt" "I put that" "fasho" etc. For a couple years, it remained that way and it got to the point where I felt like that's all I needed to know to get around. It wasn't until last year that I started to develop professionally. I participated on a job readiness program were they helped me develop my professional communication skills. Growing up using different types of idioms with different types of people has caused me to forget some Spanish where it gets a little hard to communicate even with my own mom. I can still understand when somebody speaks to me in Spanish but it gets difficult when it's my turn to speak. When I try to speak in Spanish sometimes I forget the word and have to substitute the missing word with an English word which ends up turning into a language I call Spanglish. Currently I feel like I’m living three different worlds because whenever I’m on a professional setting, I keep in mind that I have to speak in Standard English. When I’m with my friends I still have to keep up with the new slang's. When I’m with my mom, if I can't figure out the missing word or she can't understand the English word, I pull out the translator app on my phone. On the bright side by me talking to my mom in Spanglish, it has helped her to understand and adapt to a new language as well.
Luis,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your first blog! It must have been difficult starting school without knowing English. It is interesting to me that you now have more difficulty speaking Spanish than you do English. I love that you can use your phone's translator app to fill in any missing words when you communicate with your mother (go technology!).
After reading your entry a question occurred to me. I assume that Spanish has slang just like we have in English. How does Spanish slang compare to English slang? Is it similar? We have slang that is nation-wide, as well as slang that wouldn't be understood by someone from outside the Bay Area. Is that also the case with slang in Spanish?