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Article: Chicanos hear conquest's echo in quandaries about language. (how Hispanic Americans have been forced to turn away from learning their language)(Column)
- Article from:
- National Catholic Reporter
- Article date:
- July 3, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 National Catholic Reporter. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The evidence against me is everywhere: Spanish grammars, Spanish poetry with English translations -- and those damn instructional tapes I vow to listen to and never will. Like everyone else I know, I'm convinced perfect fluency could be mine, given a month in a Latin American country.
Like many Chicanos of my generation, I grew up listening to Spanish, mostly at my grandparents' homes, but not speaking it myself. Mom and Dad spoke English to us kids. They didn't plan it that way -- it just sort of happened. With its powerful institutions of television and school, the English-speaking world dosed in on us at an early age.
Still, I'm one of the lucky ...