Author: Odalis Aguilar (Page 3 of 4)

Hmm, honestly I don’t know where to begin but I will push through…

I come from a Spanish speaking household with immigrant parents which you can automatically infer that there isn’t really any English involved. From there I can say that one of my three Englishes is “Spanglish”,  a mix of English and Spanish or you can as well say “broken” English.  As how Amy Tan stated “Like others, I have described it to people as “broken” or “fractured” English”, I personally believe that in majority of non american households there is some type of “broken” or “fractured” English just because most of our immigrant parents aren’t has fluent in English or don’t know any type of English at all. My second but most used type of English would definitely be my proper/ formal English. Formal English is the one I use the most, for instance whenever speaking or emailing one of my professors I use that formal English just because I’m speaking to an adult and not a teenager. Also when speaking to an adult using formal English is important because well I see it as being respectful and in a way you sound more professionally and sophisticated.Obviously, your tone will change once you’re speaking more professionally but it’s because your brain has that instinct in where it knows how to vocally word out what you’re trying to say.  Lastly, my third and least used type of English would be the “street/ghetto English”. I personally say least used because one it’s not my favorite type of language but because of my surrounding and hearing it almost everyday it becomes part of my three Englishes. After a while of just hearing people speak like that you may pick it up as well, for instance when texting or speaking to my friends I may abbreviate majority of my words or I may as well use slang/change my tone a bit.