Day 1: I was at a restaurant with my friends and I had to code switch from ordering in a professional way compared to the casual way I was speaking to my friends.
Day 2: I was working and a tourist needed my help at the register. I had started speaking my broken Spanish to the customer to try and help them out to the best of my ability.
Day 3: I was selling shoes to this guy. I noticed that I started using a lot of sneaker terms when I was speaking, it just felt like I had accidentally code switched and that I wouldn’t have noticed if not for this assignment.
Day 4: One of my managers started to get disrespectful with me. Usually I keep it professional, but she was saying out of pocket and unprofessional comments. So I had code switched and I stood up for myself and my respect and I said what I had to say.
Day 5: I was taking the train home and I was on the phone with someone. While I was on the phone, this guy had asked for help for directions. I instantly changed the way I spoke to the person asking for directions and the person on the phone.
Day 6: When I got home from work, I was greeted by my mother. She asked me how my day was and I was explaining it to her while changing from speaking English to Vietnamese at the same time.
Day 7: After I was done with school, I met up with one of my friends from outside of school. In school, I speak to my peers differently than I would speak to my close friends. I speak more and I feel less restricted because I’ve already known them for so long.
Hey Jimmy, I enjoyed the tasks you had this week, and I liked how you code switched most of the time. I also sell shoes on the side, so I could see why you code switched and were speaking in sneaker terms. It has also been brought to my attention. We, as individuals, change our language, characteristics, and so much more when communicating.
That’s the incredible thing about code-switching, it’s automatic and we don’t realize it until we think deeply about it. Also helping the customer must’ve been relieving, even if was broken.