Week 10 Reading Response 2

In “Why and When We Speak Spanish in Public,” Myriam Marquez explains the reasons and when she speaks Spanish in public. Marquez talks about when she is shopping with her mother or standing in line with her father to order food, that they are going to speak to each other in Spanish. She says that often people could get the impression that they are talking about them, and wonder why they insist on speaking Spanish if the live in the United States for many years. Marquez explains that her family have not adopted English as their official language Because it is a matter of respect for their parents and comfort for their cultural roots. She says that someone that comes to America should learn to speak English, but not stop speaking in their native language. Marquez also says that Latin Americans often see their grandchildren become so “American” that they resist speaking in Spanish. Marquez says that what is rude, is when two or more bilinguals are talking and there is one person who only speaks English, and all of the sudden the bilingual people just start talking in their native language. She says that, that is the one thing that she would never do. I completely agree with what Marquez wrote. I have never really thought of people speaking in Spanish that way. I always just found it rude to speak in a native language when in public. I never knew that different cultures saw it as a matter of respect.