Adel Al-Hindi 2/22/13 Linguistics 80 Paper 3 Richard Rodriguez's essay " An Education in Language" highlights points that provides

the reader an different point of view on the individuals access to language. Richard personally describes his struggles of coming from a Spanish speaking family while trying to learn English. However, his struggle to learn the English language begins to pull him away from his family and mother language in return for higher education. The addiction of "learning" consumes Richard to the point of isolation within his own family. Despite the fact that his relationship with his mother and father dissipates as his education grows, his understanding of the English language gives him an perspective on his own life. The essay accounts Richard's life as somehow relevant to the topic of linguistics, but there are ideas that are in need of analysis. First point that Richard makes is that it is his "social obligation" to learn English and his mother language kept him "safe at home". Secondly, the essay enforces a theme that if one continues to practice a language, they will be better off in the long run. Finally, Richard's torn relationship between him and his family is caused by learning English. The way this essay begins is very true and simple in terms of why bilingualism is important within today's society. As stated above, Richard has a social obligation to learn English. Why? It is because in a society where English is the dominant language, it is an individuals responsibility to be able to communicate within their own community. That communication creates a comfort which is similar to how Richard felt at home when speaking Spanish with his family. Whereas at school he was isolated and shunned as "slow learner" because his inability to speak or fully accept English as another language. As his parents pushed him to learn English after his teachers complained that Richard's education was at jeopardy, this affected Richard's personal feelings to what he called home. He saw that his parents were more angry and would on speak to him in a language that was never truly spoken at home encouraged Richard to participate at school. The resulting factor was that Richard received positive feedback at school for speaking English than he did at home. By receiving encouragement and a sort of reward for participating at school, Richard discovered that English was much more rewarding to speak. It was then when Richard began to understand that constantly practicing English - reading or writing - was a better off for him. He mentions that his mother encouraged him to aspire to achieve a strong education due to her experience as a typist. Using this example of his mother within the essay's context suggests that her termination from her position for misspelling a word is a form of punishment. Richard stayed after school, constantly studied, and dreamed of a higher education throughout his childhood in response to how his family was isolated. English created this isolation because it is an attribute of Americanization in which Richard and his siblings had undergone through their schooling. Moving away from Spanish and this original culture created a gap between the parents and children while giving Richard a personal perspective on his families situation. With a language comes a culture along with it. The distance that is created between his parents by Richards education is blamed on his preference towards English. I disagree with this portion of the essay's underlying idea that bilingualism leaves no space for two cultures. It seems that by learning English, Richard began to dissect his family for its flaws and began to think of himself above them because if his education. Because his parents lacked access to the knowledge that he acquires, Richard begins to condescend them as his teachers have at his ceremony. This idea should be looked at differently for if we don't, we are encouraging a monolingual attitude where one language is better than the other. Instead, it should be addresses as Richard addresses it at the beginning of his essay: "I had the obligation - the right- to learn the public language". Not even just to Americanize, but to be able to communicate at a level in which one can feel safe in public or at home.