Rhina Espaillat`s Poem Bilingual

Research paper

One of the most difficult concepts for an individual to grasp is mastering being fluent in two languages. Imagine living in a world where you are required to live a double life. Rhina Espaillat`s phenomenal poem Bilingual/Bilingue gives us insight of a Spanish speaking girl who matures in a predominantly English speaking country. Like many immigrant adolescents she faces the internal struggle of her consequences for accepting two languages and cultures. The poem constantly disputes the narrator`s father fear that approving English and American culture will distance their relationship. In the father`s eyes both languages will sub sequentially change the narrator and create a wall between them. She paints a picture for the reader of a girl who is forced to speak Spanish when she truly desires to speak English. She does this by placing Spanish words throughout the poem in parenthesis. The Spanish begins to integrate in the middle of the poem creating the narrators claim that being bilingual and bicultural has no effect on who she is. Espaillat`s poem displays how hard it is to neglect a language that you devotedly care about. It all boils down to the fact that no matter what you are told to do the heart wants what it wants. Although the girl is told to only speak Spanish at home she still yearn to speak English and she does what she wishes. Espaillat`s poem has been examined by many critics, authors and students. Being bilingual and bicultural has a positive and positive connotation to many because both elements create ones identity, Espaillat`s poem exhibits the imperfections of forcing the exclusion of a language and culture.

Throughout much of the world, bilingualism is the norm for both children and adults. Bilingualism is the ability to communicate in two different languages. In the past, in the United States eyes, immigrants began learning and using English in their homes as soon as possible. As stated in Blank Blank`s article; in the early 2000s, however, many immigrants choose to maintain their native language at home, similar to the narrators family. Bilingual children are at an advantage in this “increasingly multilingual nation” (blume, 153). Bilingual education is the use of two different languages in classroom instruction. Languages are learned most readily during the toddler and preschool years and, to a lesser extent, during elementary school. This is the age that most immigrants come to the United States. Therefore, children growing up in bilingual homes and/or receiving bilingual education easily acquire both languages.

Bilingualism is often times viewed as a specialized case of language development. Like the narrator, children growing up in homes where two different languages are spoken usually acquire both languages simultaneously whether they utilize them together or separate. Although their acquisition of each language may be somewhat slower than that of children who are acquiring a single language, their development in the two languages combined is equivalent to that of monolingual children. Smith states in her article about Bilingual dynamics that “language learners proceed through the same patterns of language and speech development” as children acquiring a single language (Smith 82). Their first words usually are spoken at about one year of age, and they begin stringing two words together at about age two. Even if the two languages do not share similarities in pronunciation, children eventually master them both.

There are two major patterns of bilingual language development, both occurring before the age of three. Simultaneous bilingualism occurs when a child learns both languages at the same time. In the early stages of simultaneous bilingual language development, a child may mix words, parts of words, and inflections from both languages in a single sentence. Sometimes this occurs because a child knows a word in one language but not in the other. Some bilingual children initially resist learning words for the same thing in two languages. During the second stage of bilingual language development, at age four or older, children gradually begin to distinguish between the two languages and use them separately, sometimes depending on where they are. One language may be used less formally to talk about home and family, whereas the other language may be used more formally, perhaps for relating events that took place outside the home. Often children find it easier to express a specific idea in one language rather than the other. Bilingual children also go through periods when one language is used more than the other. Sometime it’s not there choice their parents may “like them separate” (Espillat 1) and that is how they grow up separating the two languages. Some children may begin to prefer one language over the other, particularly if that language is spoken more frequently in their home or school. Other children, prefer to speak both languages because it benefits them daily.

Research indicates that there are numerous advantages to bilingualism. Bilingualism has been reported to improve numerous skills including verbal and linguistic abilities, concept formation, and divergent thinking. Children raised in more than one language are able to master both languages just as well as a child raised in one language. Children in multilingual environments are possessed with a greater feel for languages and at the same time, understand that language is a tool for the purpose of communication. In addition, those raised bilingually have greater facility in acquiring foreign language fluency at a later time. They also can transfer knowledge of one language to another. This “knowledge transfer” allows for greater comprehension with grammatical structures and can also serve enhance vocabulary. Another advantage of bilingualism is that more than one language have added advantages in certain careers having an international focus. Children in multilingual environments have a better feel for the cultural differences and peculiarities of the world. These abilities are important for reading development in young children and may be a prerequisite for later learning to read and write in a new language.

Along with the various amount of advantages being bilingual has its disadvantages too. Children raised bilingually run the risk of not mastering either language, and subsequently having difficulties in successful completion of a formal education. In addition, they risk causing issues at home with their parents who often times does not speak the second language fluently and may leave the parents “half in fear of words …wanted not to hear”(Espillat 1). They also risk being isolated by the host society or of being teased by their peers when speaking in the foreign language. This teasing can have a detrimental effect on the self-esteem of the child. Speech impediments