tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4312509576069599926.post5659386179529717200..comments2023-03-24T21:37:19.845-07:00Comments on Latin@ Pop: Because of Gentrification?La Profehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00693660739933750002noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4312509576069599926.post-17701326668702545932010-11-23T08:03:10.472-08:002010-11-23T08:03:10.472-08:00Your post brings me back to the discussion we had ...Your post brings me back to the discussion we had on George Lopez’s video on the ‘Latino accent’ and the assumption that due to the accent or in your instance the appearance, that one would not understand and how bi-lingual individuals are in a way labeled ‘dumb’ for having an accent. I came across an interesting article by Ilan Stavans (I refer to him in another post as well) where he discusses the politics of multilingualism. <br /> I find it interesting, especially after the discussion, how being multilingual is often perceived as impressive, yet in the United States multilingualism presents a sense of foreignness and of immigration. Stavans states “A sense of inferiority also lived within me. Actually, it still does. It is aggravated by the very ambivalent attitude the United States has toward multilingualism. Polyglotism, in spite of the general perception, is a rather common phenomenon in the world - not simply the sign of an immigrant, but a means of being a world citizen. . . Most countries are home to more than one language: Belgians, for instance, speak French and Dutch; Luxembourgians use three tongues - French, German, and Luxembourgian” (Stavans 169). “But multilingualism among the poor is unacceptable and, thus, immediately condemned. One has only to walk the streets of New York to be made conscious of this double standard: Spanish is spoken by tourists on Fifth Avenue, but Colombian and Dominican children in Washington Heights are told that English must come first” (Stavans 170). Through personal experience, I encountered the same problems of inferiority and was told to speak English to advance in society and not become a statistic as well as to get rid of my accent. It is interesting and counterintuitive how individuals that can speak more than one language, are labeled as inferior for having a greater scope of knowledge and culture. <br /> Over the summer I was part of a study abroad in Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands where multilingualism was not looked down upon and was customary and encouraged. There were still politics behind language in each respective country, yet most people were at least bilingual. It would be interesting to find out and discuss if the attitude toward multilingualism is unique to America, and if so why?<br />Reference to: Stavans, Ilan. “Living in Another Language.” New England Review Vol. 22, No. 3(Summer, 2001), pp. 168-172Bev Elithorphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17225671238028816691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4312509576069599926.post-69425916184461245142010-11-21T20:02:37.862-08:002010-11-21T20:02:37.862-08:00I work at Noah's Bagels in Lafayette and I can...I work at Noah's Bagels in Lafayette and I can tell you that instances like these are extremely common. I come from a Peruvian family, and speak English perfectly. However, I've had several customers come in and demand to speak to someone who "knows" English whenever they are upset about something. I've even had one woman tell me she wanted to speak to an American when I informed her that I was the manager. It's really too bad that there are some people out there who don't realize how ignorant they're being.Vanessahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13523595611229723043noreply@blogger.com