Podcasts: Tom Miller Panel: "How I Learned English: 55 Accomplished Latinos Recall Lessons in Language and Life" - November 20, 2007
Outline of Podcast
Additional Notes
- Tom Miller Introduction
- Acquisition of another language has become part of the conversation about immigration.
- Being multilingual is important personally, professionally and is patriotic because you can make better contributions to the country.
- Foreigners invigorate the work force, stake out their own neighborhoods, enrich our country with their culture and language which is patriotic
- Immigration has little to do with legislation but is a result of push and pull factors.
- Learning another language carries baggage because you must learn body language, eye contact, inflection, pacing, rhythm, vocal patterns, and enunciation.
- Some foreigners said they really began to understand English when they read Faulkner or by listening to pop music.
- He was impressed by subtext of the stories he collected; most writers had a major factor that influenced their English.
- We think of those that learn English as foreigners but many Americans are brought up in homes where English is not spoken.
- Pat Promis
- UA librarian
- Originally from Chile
- Majored in Spanish Language and Literature and Master's in Library Science from UA
- First exposure to English was through brother's rock collection. Began learning in Catholic school. She used the Beatles and Rolling Stones as private way to be exposed to English but couldn't connect it to what she was learning in class.
- She moved to Tucson, AZ. Enrolled in CESL but dropped out to take care of kids who had been uprooted and unable to communicate with other people. While at home she watched TV and studied and English gradually improved
- She took the TOEFL and applied to graduate school. The first essay was challenging because it was hard to think and write in English so write in Spanish and translated them into English.
- She realized that she had started thinking and dreaming in English and that she could laugh at Johnny Carson's jokes and tell her own.
- Guerrimo Escudero
- Born in Argentina and moved to New York.
- NY was culture and language shock.
- He enrolled in classes at a library to learn English and was shocked by the many different ethnicities were in the class and that he needed only one language to communicate with so many different people.
- He received intensive English lessons which gave strong foundation in basics, friends helped with spoken language
- It was hard for him to make emotional connection to language
- Language has been assimilated into his persona and he can switch between them.
- Dioniso de la Vina
- Nicaraguan director of scholarship program project CASS which brings Central American and Caribbean educators to UA. Research and adjunct professor in college of education. MA in Latin American literature. Founded Language Consultants, a company that gave language lessons to professionals. Started RAICES an informal discussion group that focuses on books and films by Latinos
- Thought he should have spoken more English because US has invaded country twice and should have left a linguistic legacy and country leaders were educated in the US
- Fascinated by people who emitted sounds that he didn't understand
- Learning languages has always been part of his life. He had series of reoccurring dreams of UFOs taking him and putting him in a machine to learn a new language every night.
- LA was the first place he saw people who spoke two languages all the time
- Entered Americanization program and was then thrown into mainstream education with little contextualized knowledge of English.
- He thought would never learn English but has actually been learning English ever since. Any language takes a lifetime to learn. Languages must be nourished and feed.
- People from different Spanish speaking countries learn English differently because of cultural, economic and historical factors and learning English is a multifaceted and never ending experience
- Tom Miller
- Wrote in article that said an easy way to decrease anxiety and anger in the immigration debate was to play bilingual scrabble were players can use English and Spanish words.
- One response was from a man who was perplexed because where he lived in Montgomery County, Maryland there used to be many Asians but there was no push for signs in any Asian languages. He said if he was Latino he would be insulted by all the pampering.
- Introduction of Ping Situ and the learning of English beginning with an Asian language
- Ping Situ
- Chinese studies and Spanish and Portuguese studies librarian at UA
- Learned Spanish in China
- A teacher thought she had talent for English and should study it for her career
- Accepted by the Beijing Foreign Language University but was accepted to the Spanish department even though she had never heard any Spanish.
- Already bilingual because she could speak two dialects of Chinese. Her dialect was close to Spanish which made learning Spanish easier.
- Students in the Spanish program could not speak any English for the first 2 years but could then start learning it as a second foreign language.
- She learned spoken English in the US, but gained a foundation in China which was helpful for learning spoken English.
- Questions to the panel
- Miller: Have you had any loss of your original language from learning English?
- Comment: Speaking to someone from another part of the Spanish world can make you forget your own Spanish expressions
- Comment: There is a need to move toward multiculturalism rather than English only.
- Q: Are there phrases that don't translate from one language to another?
- Comment: People form bonds because of language and the common experience of learning English
- Q: Any advice to multicultural educators about English only laws?
- Comment: Multicultural education workshops given by a UA grad student.
