Anzaldúa uses a good amount of Spanish dialogue and vocabulary in her writing. While this increases the authenticity of the writing in a way, it can also be confusing to those who read it who cannot speak Spanish. Why do you think she translates some of the Spanish that she includes in the text and does not translate other parts? Does she include just enough Spanish to challenge those of you who do not speak Spanish to try to understand what she has written in Spanish? For those of you who do speak Spanish, is the Spanish text that she provides mostly literal or non-literal (metaphorical) language? Lastly, what was Anzaldúa’s purpose in writing this text and do you think she achieved it? Consider aspects like the length and complexity of the piece. Your response should be at least 4 sentences long.
9 thoughts on “Blog Post #4: Commentary on “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” (Anzaldúa, pp. 77-87)”
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1. I believe that Anzuadua translates some of the languages and not all because it is showing her rebellion through writing. She is refusing to conform to traditional standards. In addition, not all the words have a direct translation in English, therefore in a way preserving her identity.
2. I can read Spanish, however, many of the terms were new to me. As a native speaker, with high school Spanish skills it did force me to use google translate, which did not translate everything accurately.
3. I believe this text was written for four reasons : rebellion of socioeconomic implications for Anglo-Saxons, uplift other Chicanas and people who do not conform to English values but feel the need to, to unite Chicanas who have been divided because of internalized “flaws” with there language, and so that the writer can show others who are Chicana that a Chicana can write a book and it doesn’t need to be in American English.
I think the stubborn and perservering nature she speaks of in Chicanos is demonstrated by her unwillingness to translate everything for the Anglo reader.
As a spanish speaker I experienced most of the untranslated text as figurative with the exception of titles and names of things.
I think Anzaldua wrote this piece to highlight the complexity and multi-faceted nature of being Chicano. She successfully demonstrates this by showing lengthy examples as to how this is true.
I believe that Anzaldua translates some of the Spanish to English in order to let the readers know what people are saying to her and how she responds to such comments. For the parts where she doesn’t translate Spanish, it may be because of the inability to put those words into English because there is no direct translations for such words. This overall helps her enforce her identity. I do not speak Spanish but some of the words can sort of be made out without using a translator just by reading the context it’s in. Although majority of the text was confusing to me, I felt like she did a great job in explaining how she eventually overcame and embraced her identity rather than hiding it.
I think Anzaldua translates only some of her Spanish because she wants to differentiate the Spanish she speaks with the other dialects of Spanish. The Spanish Anzaldua speaks is Chicano Spanish and throughout the narrative she shows it by not not translating it. She knows the dialect is not accepted by some, so she purposely leaves part of the Spanish untranslated to show how she fully embraces the language. By fully embracing her language, this allows her to strengthen her identity. I think she does include enough Spanish to challenge non Spanish speakers. I believe Anzaldua achieved her purpose of showing that she is not afraid to embrace the language that defines her identity.
Anzaldua leaves part of the Spanish untranslated to retain part of her identity. Her experiences with English are sterilizing as demonstrated in her introduction with the dentist. The dentist is removed and aggressive, attempting to control her tongue and cleaning her roots. By not translating part of the Spanish, Anzaldua is keeping the language untouched; it’s an invitation for readers to partake in her language and culture while driving home her point of identity. Her purpose for writing this text is to demonstrate how language simultaneously links and silences individuals.
I think Gloria Anzaldúa includes Spanish and translates only some of the words to enhance the aspect of individuality in her writing. In my opinion, I believe Anzaldúa included just enough Spanish for non-Spanish readers to understand because she often included the English translation right after the Spanish words and phrases such as “Ser habladora” which means gossip or big mouth, “pena” which means shame etc. The purpose of this writing is probably for Anzaldúa to introduce her perspective on her native tongue – Chicano Spanish and her pride in the identify she conforms to through language. For example, she wrote about how she disagree with the cultural, linguistic oppression of Chicano Spanish (Chicano Spanish is not incorrect, it is a living language pg. 78) and how she believes that ethnicity and language is equally valuable to an individual’s identity.
I believe that Anzaldúa left a great deal of the Spanish that was included untranslated because she wanted to place a greater emphasis on it. If Anzaldúa were to include the translation, that would be conforming to those that don’t understand her language. By not including the translation, people have to work to try and find the meaning behind what Anzaldúa said.
It did challenge me to understand what Anzaldúa said in some cases. I only had to take one year of Spanish in high school to acquire an advanced regents diploma (I went to a trade high school). I understand the reasoning and why the Spanish text was there, however, it kept throwing me off in my reading and confused me.
Anzaldúa’s purpose in writing this text was to show us that you should never conform to others and give up what you feel is important to you, in this case, it would be Anzaldúa’s language. Anzaldúa feels very strongly towards it….”So, if you really want to hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity – I am my language.” This goes to show how strongly she feels about her identity.
I believe that she was successful in doing so. I say this because of what she had done with her professional career…”In graduate school, while working towarda Ph.D., I had to “argue” with one advisor after the other, semester after semester, before I was allowed to make Chicano literature an area of focus.” This shows us how Anzaldúa was relentless and fought to bring works by Chicanos. For Anzaldúa, it meant so much that she risked losing her job…”At the risk of being fired, I swore my students to secrecy and slipped in Chicano stories”…this shows us how strongly she feels on this matter.
Personal Note:
On a personal note, I can connect to Anzaldúa. Considering that both my parents are from India and Bangladesh, I grew up learning English and Bengali. Due to the fact that I did not grow up in either of the two countries, the way I speak Bengali doesn’t mix well with the respective territories. I could be in either of the two countries and try to talk with family and friends but would be greeted with a funny face. Even in the states, I receive a puzzled face from friends who immigrated.
Anzaldua is using Spanish to express her sense of defiance through her writing. Just as the Chicanas were rebellious and defiant in her eyes, she is preserving this very defiant nature in her identity, specifically her writing identity. Additionally, Anzaldua is able to keep some of her culture preserved by only letting those who understand the language in on certain aspects of her writing. As a non-Spanish speaker, I am only able to understand the parts of her writing that she wants me to. This is similar to when two people will speak a different language in public in order to be discrete in what they are talking about. I feel defiance in itself is Anzaldua’s ultimate goal in writing this piece. To show the power she feels in her culture and identity, and express herself in the way which she feels most comfortable, without any outside force being able to limit her.
From reading Anzaldua’s text, her lack of translation for some parts of her Spanish dialogue sticks out to the reader. In my opinion, it shows that she is preserving that Chicano side of herself even as an English writer and speaker today. This shows that she has not fallen to conforming to social norms as expected of her, but she has embraced both languages in her life. I took a few years of Spanish throughout middle and high school, but I haven’t pursued it far enough to understand everything she said in Spanish, only a few parts here and there. I think Anzaldua’s overall purpose was to point out that everyone has their own unique identity when it comes to the language(s) that we speak, and we don’t have to be tamed. She emphasizes on many stereotypes and challenges she faced being Chicano and because she persisted against such social pressures, she’s never been and will not be “tamed” of her accent or anyway that she chooses to speak.