My dad grew up with three languages, and my mom grew up with two languages. Despite this, my parents had decided to raise me and my sister only in English. My parents have done so many things for me, and I appreciate them very much. But the one thing I wish was different in my upbringing is my exposure to language.
To begin, I can see why my parents choose this for me. They grew up in different countries, and their only overlapping language was English. If I said something in one language that the other parent didn’t understand, it could lead to stressful situations. Additionally, it would require my parents to practice a language that isn’t widely used in the United States, not having much practical use. I can see why t
eaching me one of their native languages wouldn’t have been the most practical decision. Nevertheless, I can’t help but wish that Iwas raised bilingual, or even trilingual. After all, the best time to learn languages is when you’re young, and it only opens the windows to learn more.
But why do I feel such a strong desire to be fluent in another tongue? I’ve had the privilege of traveling around the world, a great thanks to my parents, and have seen different people and cultures. In these adventures abroad, I’ve noticed many people easily switch from their native language to English if needed. Better yet, many can even speak and understand more than 2 or 3 languages, an astonishing feat compared to those in the United States. I listen in awe whenever someone seamlessly switches languages, the beautiful stringing of words being music to my ears. To me, it’s as if these speakers have superpowers.
In the 2019 US Census Bureau, it was revealed that 78% of the US population can only speak English. This is an incredibly high percentage, especially concerning other countries. It’s almost embarrassing, with the Washington Post reporting that 56% of Europeans can speak at least two languages. Having the ability to switch languages, something so common elsewhere around the globe, is almost hard to wrap my head around. And I’d imagine the rest of the 78% percent can relate to this. But to me, it feels like an unreachable skill, an insurmountable mountain.
Another notable aspect of language is culture. Although I didn’t grow up learning a second language, I was still exposed to Tagalog (Filipino language), through other family members. I would sit and listen as my aunts and uncles conversed, but around me, everyone spoke mostly English. But when meeting other Filipinos, I would feel that not knowing the language, or at least more than a couple of words, made me less Filipina. Especially next to my cousins, who could at least understand. I long for knowing any other language, but I especially wish I had learned Tagalog.
Today, I am currently enrolled in Spanish 5. Regardless of what many years of Spanish learning may lead you to assume, I am embarrassed to report that I am far from my dreams of being bilingual. To put how poorly I’ve grasped the languag
e into perspective: My worst fear is watching a movie in Spanish without English subtitles, me forming sentences on the fly is almost laughable, and I go through entire paragraphs without having a clue of what it’s saying. Each year, I sit in a stiff plastic chair and try my best to immerse myself in the content. But information seems to go in through one year, and right back out the other. I watch in awe as my classmates comprehend sentences immediately, feeling that even after 5 years of Spanish, I don’t really know anything. I’ve put in the time, I’ve studied, and the language continues to be unfathomable. It seems like every day I’m reminded that I cannot speak more than one language.
As much as I’d like to end this post with an optimistic ending, I don’t know what the future holds. I still have a year to go, and many improvements to be made. Ultimately, I have to get out of my head and just learn what I can. It’s exciting to practice new words and surprise yourself with what you know. I don’t know if I’ll ever be fluent and be classified as bilingual. But I think I’ll just take it one step at a time. And maybe look into Tagalog learning programs.
Hernandez, Sandy Dietrich and Erik. “Language Use in the United States: 2019.” Census.gov, 29 Aug. 2022, https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2022/acs/acs-50.html.
Mathews, Jay. “Perspective | Half of the World Is Bilingual. What’s Our Problem?” The Washington Post, WP Company, 25 Apr. 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/half-the-world-is-bilingual-whats-our-problem/2019/04/24/1c2b0cc2-6625-11e9-a1b6-b29b90efa879_story.html.
Izzy,
I found your topic rather intriguing, especially because one’s ability to speak many different languages is something that I have never had, and have always been jealous of. My parents are both born and raised in America and only speak English, so I have never really been exposed to speaking different languages. Similar to you, I was also enrolled in Spanish from 7th grade until now. While I did receive good grades in the class, just like you, I was unable to fully grasp this language and consider myself “bilingual”. This upsets me not only because of the wasted time I spent taking spanish that I could have spent taking a class that is more specific to what I want to do in the future, but also because even after the countless hours of studying to meet the expectations set by my teacher, I was still not able to speak this language fluently. I was hoping that taking this class could open up the opportunity to possibly be able to understand how to learn languages faster. I know that is a thing some kids raised bi/tri-lingual are able to do without even realizing it. That is something that is extremely desirable, to be able to speak multiple different languages right off the top of my head without having to think back to those notes I took the week on the difference between preterite and imperfect conjugations. Now, touching base on your stats on America’s and European countries ability to speak more than one language. I found that very interesting, but not completely surprising. I am not even going to lie that when I first read that stat, I thought “this is good for the country, I cannot believe Europe’s is so low”. It took me a second to realize that our numbers being so high is not a good thing. This is a good example of how as a country we have been so conditioned to think that speaking English fluently and with the right accent is one of the only ways to thrive in society. Maybe in certain aspects of it, yes, but outside of the US, it would help to know some different languages. Anyways, I found your topic discussed to be interesting and relatable in some aspects. I hope to hear from you again soon.
Hi Izzy,
I’m sorry that you think you should have learned more languages when you were younger. From my understanding, the human brain literally develops differently when learning a new language, plus there is (of course) increased cultural knowledge and appreciation. In addition to this, you mentioned that you have Filipino heritage and that makes me understand why you want to know Tagalog so bad. Since you have so many relatives who (I’m guessing) primarily speak Tagalog, then if you do not know it, then you cannot connect with them in the most effective way. You are losing a bit of familial ties with that barrier, and that is quite sad. At least they know English, though, so you are not completely unable to talk with them. The majority of American families only speak English, so they do not understand the struggles that one can have with a multilingual background. In addition to that, if they only live in America, then there is truly no need for them to know another language other than English, so like you mentioned they don’t learn anything else. That’s a shame. For myself, I never used Spanish outside of my Spanish class until I started working in a restaurant— all of the cooks are Spanish, so I would have to speak in Spanish to help them out. It was an enlightening experience; I had opened a whole new world for myself and given an ear to so many who were previously unheard by their coworkers. It was crazy, and I’m so glad that I learned the little bit of Spanish that I did. Unfortunately, It takes too much effort to learn a language and I am not motivated enough to, so I will not in the foreseeable future. That’s probably the issue with most people, as well. I really enjoyed the topic you chose to speak about and I had such a fun time reading this!
Hi Izzy! I’m in the same boat as you are as my parents are able to speak multiple languages. I grew up in a restaurant with employees who could speak Chinese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, and Spanish, but yet I wasn’t able to pick up any of the languages. My parents didn’t want to speak to my brother and I in their native languages because they were scared we would struggle in school, but I wish they had since now I feel like I’ve abandoned my cultural background. For me it was weird addressing my family in either Mandarin or Taiwanese despite not being able to speak either language. Not being able to understand any language that was spoken to me led to me driving such a huge wedge between me and any language I ditched my chinese class for a whole year.
Recently, I asked my mom to teach me Taiwanese and for the first time in 17 years, I realized I never really realized how little of an initiative I took to learn a language. The best part was learning that the endearment my uncle has been calling my 6 foot 19 year old brother was not in fact “handsome” but was “cutie pie”.
Izzy — I really resonated with your post, and I think the way you speak about languages is really moving and lovely; your genuine appreciation for their beauty is clear.
Similarly to you, I grew up speaking largely just English; when I was very young, my parents spoke both English and Chinese at home, but by the time my brother was born, they switched almost entirely to English. I’ve never felt super comfortable with Mandarin, and as a child dreaded Saturday Chinese school, where I’d often sit terrified in the back of the classroom as other students chattered effortlessly, praying that the teacher wouldn’t call on me. I can understand the language fairly well, but my accent when I speak has been called a trainwreck, and I often find myself grasping at vocabulary I can’t quite call to mind. Taking Spanish in school has been interesting — I occasionally feel that I’ve almost taken to it better than I have to my parents’ native tongue, which I find sort of upsetting.
The statistics you mentioned, about the rest of the world’s language proficiency compared to the US, really put into perspective how much more common bilingualism is outside of the US. I’m hoping to reconnect more with Mandarin as I grow older, whether through trying to watch shows or listen to news or talking to my parents briefly in Chinese at the dinner table. A long-term personal goal of mine is to continue studying Chinese and Spanish and eventually become proficient in them; I don’t know if it will ever happen, but it’s something to strive for.
Hey Izzy! I relate to your situation because my parents are also fluent in multiple languages and I’ve always been astonished as to how people can be so knowledgeable in them when it seems so difficult. Especially considering how many people learn English coming to America. My parents exposed me at a young age to their native language Telugu (a South Indian language) and growing up with them speaking it made learning it so much easier. Learning a language in a classroom was more difficult than being completely immersed in its environment. I won’t speak on your behalf, but I think the further we progress in Spanish, the more intimidating it seems because we realize there are goals we haven’t reached yet that we wanted to have accomplished by now. Despite this concern, I think your mindset puts you in a great place for learning Spanish. I can tell you actually want to grow with it, and I hope taking it one step at a time helps.