Quote/Text Response
I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language — the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth.

Pg. 1

 While I don’t spend a big time of my time thinking about this, once a while when I come across such language, I come to halt and I take time to process what, how, and why that might’ve evoked those emotions out of me. I think it’s a good thing to realize how much language and words have power, which can be used to think about your own words that you write or say.
I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect. And I had plenty of empirical evidence to support me: the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.

Pg. 2

 This was saddening to read especially since my family immigrated to the United States and to think that my mom probably has been or will be treated in such a way sickens me. People that speak English as a second language and depend on it might not sound as proficient or agile but they try their hardest to fit in and hope that they get treated the same as other people who speak “perfect English.”
And my mother was standing in the back whispering loudly, “Why he don’t send me check, already two weeks late. So mad he lie to me, losing me money.

And then I said in perfect English, “Yes, I’m getting rather concerned. You had agreed to send the check two weeks ago, but it hasn’t arrived.”

Pg. 2

 Covering for people in similar situations is not new to me, it was fun reading this because I can relate to this and it is not always my mom that I sometimes speak for, sometimes I have to speak for my shy cousins and it’s always fun to tease them a bit about it.
I think my mother’s English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life as well. Sociologists and linguists probably will tell you that a person’s developing language skills are more influenced by peers.

pg.2

 While this is true to me as well, it happened in the opposite way. Coming from a country where English is not the primary language it was hard to communicate sometimes, but ever since I was in Yemen, my country of origin, I had my cousins who speak English and they were here when I came to the United States and by spending most of my time with them I got to learn the language very quickly and it helped get my grades up.