Travel/Culture Spain, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic | Page 16

In general, it’s good to learn any other language, but sometimes it really takes a confidence boost to be able to go out in public and find someone to speak with you in that language.

A part of the reason I feel low self-esteem towards using the Spanish language is because I am not of Latina or Chicana origin. In fact, I believe I am partly from England and Italy. I feel I am not authentic enough to attempt to speak the language of a different culture because I don’t belong there. However, as Anzaldua explains, I know this is not true because, “There is no one Chicano language just as there is no one Chicano experience… A Chicano

from Michigan or Chicago or Detroit is just as much a

Mexico

Chicana as one from the Southwest. Chicano Spanish is as diverse linguistically as it is regionally” (774). While this still doesn’t change the fact that I am not Hispanic or Latina, it supports the point that people can connect on different levels besides being of the same origin and language.

Language itself is often used to identify different cultures as well as to identify yourself. As Anzaldua mentions, the people in her culture feel that their language dictates who they are. A poor weak sounding Spanish, compared to Latinas, will make your culture and people seem unintelligent. So, if language is how we identify and categorize ourselves, what happens when we learn a foreign language? .

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