o******e
发帖数: 1761 | 1 那天开车回家在NPR上听的，挺有意思。
早期波多黎各人来到纽约等地后发现自己因为英语不好经常被当做二等公民对待，于是
对孩子进行“融入”教育，很多家庭以放弃西班牙语为代价来追求”正宗的英语“ （
很多华人也是如此）正如文章提到的，很多当时移民的心态是：”if you're speaking
English, you're better."
但是随着整个拉丁裔族群在美国的扩大和拉丁裔经济地位的提升，现在的波多黎各人越
来越对西班牙语文化表示自信。 而双语带来的广大工作机会和潜在发展前景也使得很
多波多黎各裔，在美国本土长大只会英语的年轻人重新开始学习西班牙语，并责备父母
为什么不一开始就教他们西班牙语。
正如文中被采访的女孩一样 “ Irizarry is disappointed her parents didn't
enforce Spanish when she was young and could soak up the language with ease.
"
并且她希望，她的孩子能够很自信的面对那个问题 ”你能说西班牙语么？“
从这个故事里，华人是否也能从中得到一些启示呢？
我们的孩子能很自信的面对这个问题 ”你能说汉语么？“
原文链接： http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/01/22/262791008/english-only-for-mainland-puerto-ricans-the-answer-is-often-yes
Javier Fossas asked me, "Do you speak Spanish?"
It's complicated. I do, but I'm really insecure about my Spanish.
I grew up in California in a Puerto Rican family where English was the
dominant language. Adults used Spanish mostly to share secrets or express
frustration. So I hate the Spanish question.
But it turns out my penchant for English isn't unique for a mainland Puerto
Rican, according to a survey of American Latinos by NPR, the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. Given a choice
between answering a gamut of questions about their lives in Spanish or in
English, 78 percent of the Puerto Rican respondents chose English,
significantly more than any other Latino group. According to the poll, only
20 percent of Puerto Ricans speak Spanish at home, less than half the
percentage for respondents overall. (The poll didn't include respondents in
Puerto Rico, only Puerto Rican respondents living on the U.S. mainland.)
I have to admit, the finding helped me exhale. So I'm not the only one. But
it also made me wonder why it was so. So I went to New York City, which is
still home to the largest Puerto Rican population in the U.S., and asked
around.
Puerto Ricans Are Americans
Javier Fossas was the first person I turned to for answers. We met at his
favorite Puerto Rican restaurant, Sofritos in Manhattan. He ordered the
pernil (roast pork) and I ordered bistec encebollado (steak with onions) and
we talked about Spanish, in English.
Fossas, who was raised in Puerto Rico, is in his 20s and works for a private
equity firm in Manhattan. He told me that in Puerto Rico, his family spoke
Spanish at home, period. But he says he watched American TV shows, was
taught English in school, and his father had a subscription to an English-
language newspaper. So English was a big part of his life, too.
Both English and Spanish are the official languages in Puerto Rico because
it's a U.S. territory. Puerto Ricans living on the island have a complicated
relationship with the United States. They're proud to be Puerto Rican but
also proud to be American citizens. They want to be acknowledged as Puerto
Rican and American, equally, and language plays its role. Everyone is taught
English in school there, but Spanish still reigns supreme, something Fossas
is proud of.
"Spanish is a great language and a beautiful language and something that
should be taught," he said. And that's when he asked the dreaded question: "
Do you speak Spanish?"
Do You Speak Spanish?
This time, I'll let Marissa Irizarry answer the question. "OK, I don't speak
Spanish, but I understand it fully," she says.
I met Irizarry in a Puerto Rican music and folklore class at Brooklyn
College — a long train ride away from that restaurant in Manhattan. She's a
Puerto Rican and Latino Studies major. She sat in the front row of the
class, raising her hand often with the right answers to questions about
Puerto Rican music and history. Irizarry grew up in Brooklyn.
"I was raised in a home with a father who was back and forth between Puerto
Rico and New York City, so he was able to find ways to hold on to the
culture and I kind of did too," she says.
With one big exception — Spanish.
Irizarry's professor, Antonio Nadal, serenades her class with an old Puerto
Rican bolero called"La Despedida." "La Despedida," he says, writing the
title up on the blackboard. "Translation?" he asks the class.
A shaky voice from the back nervously offers up the answer: "Farewell?"
The Farewell
Many Puerto Ricans said farewell to the island in the late '40s and early '
50s, escaping poverty. Nadal, who teaches in Brooklyn College's Puerto Rican
and Latino Studies department, says that's also why so many Puerto Ricans
living in the U.S. speak English at home.
"We've been here a long time," he says. "Length of residence does count."
He adds that the New York public schools were unprepared for the wave of
Puerto Rican youth — like him — who came in the late '40s and early '50s.
He says kids were dumped in remedial classes, "in the dingiest places in the
building. And they picked up that they were inferior to English-speaking
kids, right? And many Puerto Rican kids went through that."
That feeling of inferiority was a slap in the face to Puerto Ricans, who,
after all, are American citizens, says Nadal. So to be treated like any
other American, he theorizes, Puerto Ricans focused on English — often at
the expense of Spanish.
Twenty-seven-year-old Gisely Colon Lopez is another one of Nadal's students.
She came to the Bronx from Puerto Rico when she was 4. That's when her
family stopped speaking Spanish at home. "My mother was trying to learn
English on her own," Colon Lopez says. "She just wanted to hear English. '
Just speak to me in English, so I can learn it while you're learning it.'
The mentality is, if you're speaking English, you're better."
Times Have Changed
As the Latino population continues to grow here in the U.S., being bilingual
is now seen as an asset, especially when it comes to job options. And
Puerto Ricans in New York like Colon Lopez and Irizarry are struggling to
catch up. Colon Lopez says she told her parents: That's it, my turn,Spanish
from now on.
"The other day we were driving in the car with my dad and I was talking to
them in Spanish. I was like, 'Please correct me as often as possible,' and
every other second they were correcting things for me," she says, laughing.
But classmate Irizarry isn't as upbeat. "I'm 20 years into it and I have low
self-esteem about it, that I'm ever going to learn it," she says. Irizarry
is disappointed her parents didn't enforce Spanish when she was young and
could soak up the language with ease. She says her mother reminds her that
it's never too late to learn. "She'll joke and go, 'Let's start now! I'll
only talk with you in Spanish!' And I'll go, 'Too late!' "
Now, there's another record wave of Puerto Ricans coming to the U.S.
mainland escaping economic distress on the island. They're coming here at a
time when politicians and business leaders are waking up to the economic and
political power of Latinos and the power of Spanish. Maybe retaining and
teaching their native tongue will become more of a priority for Puerto
Ricans living on the mainland and their kids won't dread answering the
question, "Do you speak Spanish?" | m**n
发帖数: 9010 | 2 从这里得不到什么启示.
本来要孩子学中文就是我自个儿的想法, 根本不需要通过波多黎各裔
开始重视西班牙语来启示什么.
speaking
【在 o******e 的大作中提到】
: 那天开车回家在NPR上听的，挺有意思。
: 早期波多黎各人来到纽约等地后发现自己因为英语不好经常被当做二等公民对待，于是
: 对孩子进行“融入”教育，很多家庭以放弃西班牙语为代价来追求”正宗的英语“ （
: 很多华人也是如此）正如文章提到的，很多当时移民的心态是：”if you're speaking
: English, you're better."
: 但是随着整个拉丁裔族群在美国的扩大和拉丁裔经济地位的提升，现在的波多黎各人越
: 来越对西班牙语文化表示自信。 而双语带来的广大工作机会和潜在发展前景也使得很
: 多波多黎各裔，在美国本土长大只会英语的年轻人重新开始学习西班牙语，并责备父母
: 为什么不一开始就教他们西班牙语。
: 正如文中被采访的女孩一样 “ Irizarry is disappointed her parents didn't
| o******e
发帖数: 1761 | 3
太多“自己” 就容易忽视族群的力量了。 这个版本身就是华人政治，而不是个人政治
也就是如此。
事实上，文化定义来抱团获得利益是很重要的一种方式。 :-)
【在 m**n 的大作中提到】
: 从这里得不到什么启示.
: 本来要孩子学中文就是我自个儿的想法, 根本不需要通过波多黎各裔
: 开始重视西班牙语来启示什么.
:
: speaking
| m**n
发帖数: 9010 | 4 所以我也支持你去"启示"其他华人 :-)
【在 o******e 的大作中提到】
:
: 太多“自己” 就容易忽视族群的力量了。 这个版本身就是华人政治，而不是个人政治
: 也就是如此。
: 事实上，文化定义来抱团获得利益是很重要的一种方式。 :-)
| o******e
发帖数: 1761 | 5
与其说是“启示”不如说告诉有类似想法的人，你并不孤独。
【在 m**n 的大作中提到】
: 所以我也支持你去"启示"其他华人 :-)
| o**********e
发帖数: 18403 | | r****9
发帖数: 4961 | 7 融入是没有前途的。做一个优秀的Chinese American群体才是出路。 |
|
