Alexis Trejo

English 1110

MWA Repurpose

The Power of Being Bilingual

Spanish, English, and Spanglish are examples of some languages that I know how to

speak and I would personally say that I am fluent in all three. You may be wondering what

exactly is Spanglish well its a language many of us bilingual people use when we don’t know if

we should be speaking in English or Spanish so we just use both. Spanglish is a combination of

both Spanish and English, but many of us are at a certain point in life where we are just not sure

how to talk anymore so we start speaking Spanglish.Its that one language we have developed due

to our laziness reaching an extreme and us not wanting to translate some words in spanish or vise

versa. I would personally say that when I speak Spanglish I get a bit of both personalities.

Growing up you would hear people say “I feel more myself when speaking Spanish”. I was

never truly sure of what exactly that meant, but growing up I find myself using that phrase quite

often. So let me tell you a bit about what that phrase means to me and what being bilingual has

meant to me.

Growing up bilingual in a Spanish speaking household meant you were automatically a

certified translator. If any one of my family members that only spoke Spanish had to go

anywheres they would usually take one of use. What I mean by one us is my cousin, my older

brother, my younger brother, or myself since we were “fluent” in English. We weren’t actually

fluent in English, we were just 3rd and 5th graders, we had 3 to 5 years max of learning English.

English was our second language and we didn’t start learning it until we entered Kindergarten, so
we weren’t actually fluent in English, but our grandparents and parents believed we were. If they

had to go to the MVD to get a license plate or get their license we would go with them and

translate for them. At the age of 8, 9, and 11 we were pretty important people to our family, I

have to admit and we felt good. Being a translator for some of our family was one of the very

first benefits I realized we had from being bilingual; but the bigger picture is that we were and

are able to be that extra help to our family. Being bilingual has allowed us to be that extra voice

for our family members.

Most of my family only speaks Spanish, for which I will usually relate Spanish as my

home language because it is the language in which I feel the most comfortable speaking. When I

speak English I don’t have the confidence I have when I speak Spanish, for which many will say

that for every language one speaks there is a different soul and personality. Growing up English

was the language I learned in school, for which I will find myself speaking English in serious

occasions. For example, when I go to school or talk about school or anything serious I will talk

in English. When speaking English I find myself being more serious, shy, and more closed up

whereas in Spanish I tend to be more open, more talkative, and in some way more energetic.

Growing up bilingual has given you the opportunity to in same way posses two different

personalities. Which is seen as a benefit of being bilingual we are able to be two completely

different souls, but in the same person. Since we grow up with those two different perspectives,

we are able to see the world in different ways, we are able to think about stuff in more than one

way, and we are more open to things. Being more open to things? Well what I mean by that is

that we are more likely to take another person's opinion into consideration and think about things

in more than just one way.

 Not only did being bilingual allows us to be more open, but it also played a role in our

friendships.Growing up bilingual meant you had friends who were either only spanish speaking,

only english speaking, or both. I only knew Spanish my very first years of life, for which most of

my really close friends are Spanish speaking, but I also have amazing friends who are only

English speaking. I will admit though that my Spanish speaking friends and my English speaking

friends are completely different in every single way. They come from completely different

backgrounds, which allows me to know more about people and how you can’t really assume

something about them just based on their appearance. So being bilingual has allowed me to have

friendships with people who are completely diverse, which filled my world with diversity.

Another benefit of being bilingual is the friendship one is able to make and diversity they bring

with them. I now have friends who are from different cultures, but our language seems to bring

us together.

Being bilingual has had more than just the benefits of helping your family, being a

translator at a young age, being more open minded and in some way more considerate of other

opinions, and creating friendships, but it has been a form of living. I can honestly not imagine

my life without being fluent in both English in Spanish, my entire life revolves around knowing

both. Without Spanish I wouldn’t be able to communicate with half of my family, especially my

dad. Without knowing English I don’t know if I would be so far along as I am in my education.

Without either of these languages I wouldn’t have had half of the friends I have today and I

wouldn’t see the world as I see today. Knowing Spanish allows me to see the world from an

outsider in the United States and knowing English allows me to see it from an insider. So in
some way both these languages are necessary for me and without them I wouldn’t be the person I

am today.