Audio Essay Presentation Session Reflection

Linguistic Identity

Everyone’s audio essays were recorded with different stories in mind, different perspectives, different language barriers, and different personalities. I did realize that nearly everyone had felt a sense of shame or discord because of our linguistic struggles, whether it was an inner conflict or a social struggle with our families. By capturing the voice of each and every student, we really hear the tonality of the words and how the sentences are structured. A big role that the listener plays in analyzing these essays is having the ability to comprehend the struggles of the narrator. Being empathetic or understanding where someone is coming from takes a big toll on a listener and changes the power behind the story or point of the piece. Being that English is my first language and I have never lived outside of the U.S, quite a few of the stories were not relatable to my linguistic identity on any level. However, a vast majority of the papers were about the same issue…bothering someone else, whether it be our family, friends, employees, due to our lack of knowledge in a specific language that our heritage is basked in. Speaking Italian was never my forte, but I always understood the language. My family at home speaks English. I was never tested on a daily basis to learn Italian fluently.

I can understand how not being able to communicate with your direct immediate family would be so difficult. Some people watch their families, friends, or loved ones struggle with a language. A part of it is based on their ignorance to advance their speaking in that language. The other part is the embarrassment that follows when you pronounce something incorrectly or have a heavy accent. People are consistently judged for having the incorrect pairing of accent and language. It is almost like a child at their 4th-grade spelling bee, experiencing stage-fright; you freeze at the wrong time and you can’t come back to reality. Gary’s story was interesting in the sense that he claimed he was left out of certain groups even as a kindergartener. Some people leave stragglers behind. It is certainly unfair to Gary because his language barrier was set on him at a young age…he couldn’t have done much as a small child. Nikolai’s story was interesting because he had 2 language barriers. He touched upon the difficulty of translating things twice and how having a brother was beneficial. Was his brother any better at speaking Spanish or Russian than he was? And if so, is there any reason for that? Do you feel shameful because you lack in one of the languages? Lastly, I would like to respond to Walter’s story. The moment of shock and nerve that dawns upon a student while they are about to present something or themselves causes havoc internally and physically. When you started to speak Portuguese, did you have any difficulty with Spanish? Did you incorporate slang from both languages?

As a whole, the presentation process really captured where everyone in the class comes from. We all have struggles that are either minor issues in our everyday language or major difficulties that we encounter at the wrong place and time.