Month: September 2021

1. Baldwin’s point that he’s trying to get across is that identity is revealed through one’s language use. You can speak the same language but it won’t be the same as someone from a different area because people from different areas have created their own type of language that differentiates them from the rest of the community. “But each has paid, and is paying, a different price for this “common” language, in which, as it turns out, they are not saying, and cannot be saying, the same things.” Baldwin’s argument relates to Belmihoub and Corcoran’s idea of translanguaging because he mentions the switch between “black English” and “white English” depending on the situation and who you talk to. These ideas are similar to the ones portrayed in Amy Tan’s writing, where she switches from using “perfect English” to the “broken English” that her mom uses.

2. I learned a couple new things from Straub’s essay that will be helpful when I’m editing my classmate’s papers in the future. For example, “You can go on to point out problems, ask questions, offer advice, and wonder out loud with the writer about her ideas. Look to help her improve the writing or encourage her to work on some things as a writer.” I’ve always been the type to write more positive comments compared to criticisms because I would feel like the writer would be hurt by my comments. But now I know that giving a few criticisms and suggesting solutions to them will actually be really helpful to the writer. I wish my high school teachers were more descriptive when giving advice instead of just pointing out the problems, such as ” unclear, or add more detail”. It would’ve been helpful if they suggested what was unclear and how I could make it clearer.

1. The argument that Baldwin shows in his writing is that Black English is indeed  a language. The language was a created in a time of need. African-Americans who were brought to the U.S all came from different backgrounds and needed a way to communicate with one another. Baldwin’s argument relates to translanguaging due to the fact that he states how Black people used what they heard around them (white American English) to create a language to communicate. As the years went on not only African-Americans  spoke black english. Many people started to adopt the language and use it too. Baldwin states in the passage when a moment of translanguaging was used within his family he says, “There was a moment, in time, and in this place, when my brother, or my mother, or my father, or my sister, had to convey to me, for example, the danger in which I was standing from the white man standing just behind me, and to convey this with a speed, and in a language, that the white man could not possibly understand, and that, indeed, he cannot understand, until today.” Gloria Anzaldua also uses translanguaging in her essay. She speaks with a combination of English and Spanish no matter who she talks to. You can relate Baldwin’s argument about Black English being a language with the creation of Chicano spanish, a combination of another language and what they know to create a new one.
2.  A piece of advice given in Straub’s essay that I consider to be helpful would probably be how he says to use comments. He states how when you write a comment you should sound more like a friend rather than a teacher or a judge. Doing so this helps the comments you make on others work seem less discouraging. More like constructive criticism instead of blatantly calling someone out for something they wrote. I wish my past teachers took Straub’s advice on how to grade/edit my essays. So many times teachers have just nullified a paragraph with ideas I thought were crucial to my essay and made me rewrite said paragraph. If they have taken Straub’s advice they would know to not delete the whole paragraph but just let me know what parts of the paragraph need to be emphasized more. I feel like my writing skills would be further developed if this were to occur.

Baldwin speaks about how language can identify someone. He speaks on how a different group of men all speak French but if they were together, they would have a hard time communicating with one another. This is because they adapt their languages to their environment and what may be something for one of them, can be something different for another. Belmihoub and Corcoran’s state, “In other words, from a strictly linguistic standpoint, all that really exists are the words that any given speaker knows.” This can revert back to the men who speak French as they know their language to be modified for them.

One piece of advice from Straub’s essay that is new to me is to give as much praise as criticism. We’re so use to giving criticism, especially when it comes to feedback to help the other  better their writing. This can cause confusion to a person in the sense that they won’t know what is good in their essay; they’re only going to focus on the things that need to be fixed. Giving praise can motivate the writer to continue writing and to make good changes to their work.

1. I believe that Baldwin’s argument is that since black English was created at a time where African-Americans in this country needed a way of communication and created this form of communication in this need, it is indeed a language. This discourse community created a language at a time when it couldn’t possibly be made for them. They were out of place, and others like them couldn’t understand one another because they were from different backgrounds, so they did, in fact, create a language. Baldwin’s argument relates to translanguaging because it suggests this action within white American English to black English, and vice versa. Black people had to use what they heard around them to help them make their own language using both white English and what they created, and whites began to also incorporate black English into their language as we moved on through the years. Gloria Anzaldua’s essay also relates to translanguaging because she shows us how it’s an act that she constantly used depending on who she was speaking with, and still continues to do. Using both English and Spanish when talking with friends and casual company.
2. A piece of advice from Straub’s essay that was new and helpful to me is that of looking at the writing in terms of the assignment. It was common to just jump right into the reading and “judging” of someone’s writing when looking over it. But I think this skill will help me give better constructive criticism because I know what the writer is trying to do. One of the questions related to this skill that Straub suggests is to ask yourself is what the writer is trying to accomplish, and you are just there to try and help them get there from a reader’s point of view. I wish some of my previous teachers would have followed the advice of knowing your goal in editing and commenting. Not attempt to change the story at hand like I’ve sometimes experienced, but help me to make it better. It would’ve been more helpful to me to know how to better my writing skills and areas I need to work on more.

Baldwin’s argument is that language is a powerful tool that can be used to benefit people and identify their true identity. However, he also claims that it is dangerous in terms of making someone feel disconnected from the world around them. Kamal Belmihoub and Lucas Corcoran add on to Badlwins arguments by touching upon the idea of translanguaging which essentially allows a community to speak a language in their own terms to communicate better. Belmihoub and Corcoran explain how the “avail-ability of the internet has allowed speakers of many languages to draw upon their diverse linguistic repertoire to communicate…” (Page 63). This of course goes back to Baldwin’s idea of a community connecting with each other through language. Anzaldua’s How to Tame a Wild Tongue also explores this idea of having a unique language when she explains the unique terms of Chicano Spanish.

A new idea that Straub described was reading the text under a certain context. This would allow me to have a deeper connection with the writing as I would make better suggestions with reason. Also, this would help me understand the writer’s “particular interests and aims” (Page 35). I wish my past teacher had followed Straub’s advice on realizing that the paper they are editing is mine and no rewrites should be done to change the essay. I’ve had teachers remove paragraphs just because my ideas didn’t meet their standards which is understandable but perhaps some ideas could be salvaged from those few paragraphs.