"How to Tame a Wild Tongue" Quotes

Juliana Ruperto
31 August 2015
English 1100
Prof. Young
Quotes
                                                           "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"
"Chicanas who grew up speaking Chicano Spanish have internalized the belief that we speak poor Spanish."

"To be close to another Chicana is like looking into the mirror."

"Until I am free to write bilingually and to switch codes without having always to translate, while I still have to speak English or Spanish when I would rather speak Spanglish, and as I have to accommodate the English speakers rather than having them accommodate me, my tongue will be illegitimate."

Citation:
Anzaldúa, Gloria. "How to Tame a Wild Tongue." Teaching Developmental Writing. Ed. Susan Naomi Bernstein. Fourth ed. New York: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2013. 245-255. Print

"How to Tame a Wild Tongue"

Juliana Ruperto
31 August 2015
Prof. Young
English 1100
                                                         "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"

1. Anzaldua starts the essay off in the dentist's chair because it showed how little control she had over her mouth; which symbolizes her language. In the opening scene Anzaldua has a strong tongue that keeps pushing the cotton swabs out of her mouth, but the dentist is trying to prevent this. The dentist represents America and the english language, Anzaldua's tongue represents the Mexican culture and language. That being said America doesn't want the Mexican language to become dominant in the American culture.
2. I like how Anzaldua intertwined Spanish and English in her essay. For the most part, I understood her Spanish well. I speak Spanish at home to my grandma. Anzaldua used Spanish and English in her essay to create a sense of confusion. She wanted the reader to feel how she has felt her whole life. She wanted the reader to be lost with their identity because she doesn't understand her own identity. Is she Chicana, Mexican, Texan, or American?
3. Academic English can be defined as standard Spanish because academic english teaches the basics to students. While Chicano Spanish is considered nonstandard because the language is an outbreak of the original Spanish language. Standard verse nonstandard languages, to me, are based off of how frequently that language is used and how easily it can be understood. English and Spanish would both be considered standard languages in America. German and French would be considered nonstandard 
4. It is necessary to identify yourself in speech and in writing because it gives the reader/listener a sense of who you are and your ethnic background. Without identity everything you read, write, or hear would sound like a textbook.
5. Some common english identities are formal english and slang english. There are appropriate times when using slang and formal identities. You wouldn't say "Whats up son?" to your boss or manager and you wouldn't say "Hello sir" to a close friend of yours. 
6. In middle school a couple of my friends and I would talk in gibberish is we wanted to secretly tell something to one another. Gibberish is really confusing and hard to follow. I also use slang terms with my friends and the only one that comes to mind right now is thot. However, slang is used between almost all teenagers not just my friend group; slang is always changing. Each generation of teens come up with new slang words.
7. When talking to friends of mine I use slang and curse words because you're not being judged; you're just having informal conversations. When I'm talking to my parents, I try to speak as respectfully as possible because if I say the wrong thing to my mom she would fly off the handle. Finally, when it comes to talking to teachers and professors I try to use big words and make sure all my sentences are grammatically correct, so that way I can sound starter.
8. "I am my language," means your identity comes from whatever native language you speak. Personally, I believe that language symbolizes culture. When learning a language you have to take other things into perspective. You learn about how they country works, the music they listen to, and the movies they watch and so on. Learning a language is not just simply learning the words, you're learning a language.
9. The introduction used symbolism to explain the fight between keeping your language and adapting to the language around you; in this case Anzaldua native language is Chicano and the new language she must accommodate is English. The introduction reiterates the same idea but with less symbolism and a more of a fighting stance when it comes to keeping her language.
10. Yes, I absolutely think that the language you speak can be a part of your identity. I've learned from high school that language and race usually bring people together. It's sad to say because in a perfect world you would like everyone to be diverse and socialize. However, it's not so social, I've learned that Spanish speakers tend to hang out with Spanish speakers. While Jewish people who speak hebrew tend to hang out with people who also speak hebrew. Also, among this little language cliques everything is different, the hebrew speakers dress deferentially than the Spanish speakers and they act differently as well.
11. Having an identity is very important, it's who you are, how you describe yourself; without it you're just another corpse. Anzaldua is a big believer of identity. She classifies language as a huge part of her identity. she even says, "Deep in our hearts we believe that being Mexican has nothing to do with which country one lives in." Anzaldua identifies herself as Mexica even though she's an American; thats who she is.

Getting to Know Me

Juliana Ruperto
English 1100
8/25/2015
Prof. Young
                                                               Getting to Know Me

1. If you consider dancing a sport, then I have been playing a sport since I was about three. I started dancing in Union City, my birth town, but we moved to East Windsor when I turned six.  I stopped dancing after the move and didn't start up again until freshman year of high school at Galaxy of Dance. However, this year I can only teach dance there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkeZrs11pSo
2. Dancing is my passion. I didn't realize it until I was about fourteen but I constantly find myself dancing around my room or even taking a trip to the gym to dance around their empty rooms. Whenever I'm going through a stressful period in my life dancing helps me release some of that built up stress. 
   
3. Growing up I've had a lot of nicknames. The most recent one is Juicy J; this nickname came across at a creative writing rap battle in high school senior year. Myself and a group of friends decided that we all needed rap names. My friend Lenny named himself Lemon Len, and my friend Tori named herself TooTurntTori. Throughout middle school a lot of my friends called me Juliepulie. Also for as long as I can remember some of my family calls me Juju along with a couple of my brother friends. 
   
4. I'd like to think that I'm more of a fictional writer. That being said it hard to follow a proper outline when writing fiction. Therefore, I create a general topic that I know I want to write about and just flow from there. When it comes to essay writing it's hard for me to follow an outline so I usually try to allow the words to flow out but I almost always find myself running out of ideas.
5. Personally, each year of high school writing was completely different from the other. Freshman year my teacher focused a lot on poetry. Sophomore year my teacher focused a lot on the five paragraph structure and the use of a funnel writing style. I learned through these writing techniques and my teacher definitely gave us multiple times to proof read our work. However,I personally focused too much on writing exactly five paragraphs that I would run tangible details that I would start to write random things until I eventually had five paragraphs when in reality only two and a half of those paragraphs made sense.
6. As of recently I've been listening to a lot of EDM and house music but I think that's mainly because it's still summer outside and that's the kind of music you hear at parties. However, usually I listen to a lot of hip hop and rap music. One of my favorite artist right now is Drake. Although for the most part I'll listen to anything, for example I like some country songs; I could listen to Taylor Swift all day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPEJFyD--ck 
7. I'm obsessed with social media. I check my twitter a good twenty times a day. I'm constantly snap chatting parts of my day. I don't really use Facebook anymore, I started using it more once I got accepted to college because that was really the only way to meet the people going to my school. Finally, when it comes to Instagram I like to check it everyday but I don't post a picture everyday, just mainly on hashtag throwback Thursday or selfie Sunday.
8. This semester in english I would really like to learn how to improve my writing to the best of my ability so that when I do become a teacher one day I can teach my students the proper techniques. That way they won't struggle like I do when it comes to writing essays. I want to learn how to become a good writer outside of fictional writing.
9. As a writer I would rate myself a C because I feel like I lack skills in professional writing. I can write a really good fictional story but what if I have to write a research paper for a job? I feel like I lack skills in that area but I would really like to improve on them.