Written Literacy Narrative 

    It was a hot Sunday afternoon. My entire family was very excited that our grandmother was coming to visit us from Ecuador. It has been almost three years since we have seen her and we had a lot to catch up on. I was about twelve when my father took us to the airport and we waited about two hours for her to come out. I still remember the sight of her being pushed on the wheelchair and feeling a sense of happiness in myself. After we traveled home, my father, who is a chef, decided to cook us dinner. At home my parents spoke Spanish which at the time I understood. However, my two sisters and I, primarily spoke English. My grandmother only knew Spanish and was talking to my parents very quickly in Spanish. It was at that moment that I noticed that I was having difficulty understanding Spanish when it was spoken very fast. Some of the words sounded like gibberish to me. Nonetheless, I knew enough Spanish to ask my family to repeat themselves. 

    After dinner, my grandmother sat on the couch to have a conversation with my sisters and I. After almost three years my sisters and I did not speak Spanish as much as we previously did. Our friends at school only knew English and that became our first language. We asked her if she knew how to speak English. She said that she did not and that it was very hard for her whenever she came to visit the United States because there are many people who do not speak Spanish. I remember our immediate answer to this was to start teaching her English by translating a few random words to her which she would obviously forget the next day. The younger version of me would soon realize how difficult it is to learn another language. 

    I can still remember the expression on her face when we were translating. She was amused by our efforts. After this she told us she wanted to go back to speaking spanish. My grandmother’s Spanish was very proper and she would always notice our mistakes. It often intimidated me to speak to her but nonetheless I tried. She told me about her life in Ecuador and how she cherishes every day with my grandfather. She told me about her farm and how she is still watering her plants and vegetables. There is nothing she said that I did not understand. However it was very difficult for me to tell her about my life. I could never say things grammatically correct nor could I say them quickly. As the night went on, I felt more and more intimidated speaking to her. I loved her very much and felt that my spanish was disappointing her. However she told me that it was fine as I was young and still learning the language. At this point I had discovered something within myself. Love is stronger than language. Although I had difficulty learning the language, my love for my grandmother endured and was always unfazed.

    As the years went on I started to become better at English and my Spanish slowly started to get worse and worse. My parents were the only people in my life who spoke to me in Spanish and I could always understand what they were saying. However they mostly only spoke to us in English most likely because we spoke it primarily. My father was a strict disciplinarian. There were times in my childhood where he would say, “If you don’t speak Spanish in this house, then you don’t speak”. After this my sisters and I made an effort to speak in Spanish but my father did not have the effort to enforce his new rule after a week. He never exactly prioritized that we spoke two languages. His main priority was to make sure that we did well in school. My father always reminded my sisters and I of the importance of finishing college so that we can find a job that pays well and live a better life than he did.

    As the years went on not only did my Spanish get a lot worse, I fell in love with the English language. After all, English was the language that everyone in the movies spoke. I remember seeing people on the TV speak English very fast to each other. I wanted to sound like them which is why I tried to talk faster when I was in high school so that I could express myself better. This skill turned out to come into use when I had to debate over something. In high school Spanish class was always easy for me however I was not fluent by any means. My catchphrase was “ I understand it, I just can’t speak it.” In other words, I only knew enough to understand my parents when they spoke it. Although I never learned to speak Spanish, my father nonetheless was proud of my sisters and I because of how well we did in school. Perhaps he thought that our proficiency in English helped us to accomplish this. This doesn’t however stop him from often saying “it’s never too late to learn.” 

    In my opinion, If I wanted to learn Spanish I could have but I never needed to know it. I had not had trips to my home country, nor have I had any friends that only spoke Spanish. I do not plan on becoming a translator when I grow up which is why I never felt the need to learn the language. Although my parents put pressure on me and said that it was good to know a second language I never saw that. One thing that I did see is that people who I knew that spoke more than one language would often have an accent speaking English or have trouble saying some things. This is obviously not the case for everyone but I feel that if I were to know Spanish, a part of my English would not be as good. 

    I also can see that our American society is very patriotic. Although there are some of us who embrace our different cultures and look at America as a melting pot, there are others who will only embrace a single culture in which English is spoken. Therefore, in my opinion, I believe that our main goal in terms of getting ahead in the society that we live in should be to try to improve our English as much as possible so that we can have more opportunities. In speaking very good English it is more likely that people in this country will accept me. This is ultimately what I want if I want to live a fully emerged life here. I believe that there is still prejudice in this country today. I see prejudice as an obstacle that I will have to overcome in my life. However, the fact that I speak English very well is something that I think will help me with this struggle. It is another reason why probably unconsciously I never prioritized learning Spanish. This however is something that I have to re-face in my life going forward. I will need to find acceptance of where I come from eventually whether that be through learning Spanish or embracing my background. Hopefully one day I will accomplish this goal and not have this weight hanging over my shoulders.