Espanol de Espana
Let me start off by saying that although raised as a Latina, my Spanish can be compared to that of a five year old, at best!
Born to a Mexican mother and an El Salvadoran father, my first words spoken were Spanish, and I continued to speak Spanish until I entered kindergarten. Despite my mother’s urge to put me in bilingual classes, my father felt that this would not benefit me, for reasons that are still unclear. Maybe it was because of fear that I would develop an accent that would create a negative perception of me at first meeting, as if my tan skin did not do that enough. With xenophobia still being alive and well today in America, I do not blame my father for his fears.
However, with California being largely populated by Latinos and Hispanics maybe knowing Spanish was a really good thing? Nowadays, being bilingual often means having a higher paycheck. In addition to not knowing Spanish and the benefits it can create in my career, my life also lacked without the knowledge of this second language. Holding a conversation with my Mexican grandmother and relatives is difficult, I understood what they were saying but my response often consisted of “si” or “no’s”.
It became apparent that I needed to learn Spanish, so in high school I decided to take Spanish classes I did fine; however, my classes were often taught by those of Mexican descent. It was not until I took a college class for college credit in my junior year of high school that I realized that the Spanish language, like many other things in this world, could not be placed in one category.
My teacher, an older gentleman from Spain taught the class. I was lost, I did everything right, I studied, I read the assignments I even joined my first study group but still my grades were showing no improvements. Red marks were all I saw when I received my assignments I did not understand. Until one day in class when asked how to say a word in Spanish, I raised my hand to answer and received a laugh in return, “that is improper Spanish” he said. “What?” my face reddened, I dared not to participate for the rest of that class.
I went home and still confused about the situation, I approached my mother, I mean my Spanish was not great but this is how I learned it, this is how my family, and my friends all spoke. I explained to my mother what occurred during class that day and she laughed and said “mija es porque, eso es Espanol de Espana!” (daughter it’s because that is the Spanish from Spain), she said mimicking a Spanish accent.
Here I was thinking I had to learn only one other language but Spanish of Spain, of Argentina, and El Salvador. However, I was mostly taken back by the fact that the curriculum or my teacher did not take note of these differences but instead responded with laughter. Was there a reason that the college only hosted classes with Spanish origin? Why was this dialect preferred over others? Maybe the Spanish is much like their early conquest who were the holders of power like in that mentioned in Nietzsche’s “On Truth and Lie in an Extra Moral Sense”. Yes Spanish of course originated from the Spain, however; these countries are now independent of Spain.
Cultures and dialects were created or remained from previous languages. For that reason, different countries and different cities have their own dialect and should continue to create their own dialect because that is what makes them well … them. We each hold our own truths and power and language from whatever dialect we speak because it is a powerful tool of communication and expression.
