Week 7: Reading Response for "Why and When We Speak Spanish in Public", question number 1.

Reading Response for "Why and When We Speak Spanish in Public", question number 1.

The behavior that Marquez justifies in her piece about speaking a second, non-English language in public in America is just that. Speaking a second non-English language in public seems to bring out all sorts of mixed emotions in people all over the country. There seems to be a slight disconnect for most long time Americans from their own foreign roots a few generations back that leads to some of this. The argument that Marquez makes in defence of this is simple, it is a way of preserving cultural inheritance and showing respect for elders. She clearly states that she is not trying to Balkanize any of America, just simply proud to be culturally aware of her own native language which happens to be something other than English. The mixed emotions of some Americans seems to just be a misunderstanding of cultural values on a spoken language. Most Americans grew up speakingEnglish as their sole language and possibly couldn't imagine a world any different.
The fear that Marquez touches on about non Spanish speakers is one of someone talking about you without you knowing what they are saying. This is an insecurity for many people when they are around others who are speaking in a language they cannot understand. It is an understood fear that doesn't seem to have any sort of real solution. The author makes it clear that her reasoning for speakingSpanish with her family in public is one of cultural identity, comfort and respect for her elders. These all make good cases for reasons why peopleshouldn't be concerned if someone is speaking in another language around them and just appreciate that our country has so much diversity that you can hear many different languages being used in public all at the same time. Best of all, we have a unifying language thatsupersedes all of those which we can all mostly get by in, and that is English.