Saturday, September 27, 2014

Rodriguez' "Aria"


Generally, the word aria  can be related to a musical melody or operatic piece. Merriam-Webster also defined it as "a striking solo performance". I believe that this is exactly the point behind Rodriguez short article. As a foreign boy growing up around children and adults that were fluent English speakers, you can imagine the discomforting and awkward feeling he must have not being able to speak or fully understand the language that is being spoken around him. It is not an easy thing to be thrown into the mix and be expected to learn a language so easily. In many ways I felt bad for Rodriguez, as the only real comfort he had when he was younger was when he would be at home, speaking his native language with his family. A few mind blowing facts to know is that today, while English may be considered by some to be the universal language of the world, it is not the most spoken or most popular. It actually is not even the second most popular! According to numerous ethno-related websites, English is the third most popular and most spoken language on earth with only 335,000,000 speakers. Above English in second place is the Spanish language, with 406,000,000 speakers, and at the top of the list is Mandarin Chinese, with almost two billion speakers worldwide! Now, considering that there is roughly seven billion people in the world, and the English language only falls out of the mouths of 335,000,000 people, that is less than 5% of the global population that speaks English, and roughly 6-7% of the population that speaks Spanish. This is incredible, because it just shows how popular the Spanish language is, and what an important language it is to have in your repertoire. However, Rodriguez is essentially stripped of this greatness when he enters a classroom. Going to a catholic school, it is understood that you know the English language fluently and proficiently. Rodriguez even states on the first page of his article that "it would have pleased [him] to hear [his] teachers address [him] in Spanish when [he] entered the classroom." I feel as though he did not want to break out of this comfort zone that had contained him for so long. I think that this piece can be tied to a point Lisa Delpit makes about the culture of power. I think that speaking English, as it stands today, already gives you an edge on being a contender to enter the culture of power. It means that you will be noticed by employers, that you will have an edge in the fast-paced environments of today, and that you will stand out from the other people like Rodriguez, where there may be a language barrier. However, being bilingual is actually something that is praised in our world today. Bilingualism shows an astute ability to accomplish something that only about 30-40% (estimate) of the current population are able to do. Truly remarkable. I believe that is the point Rodriguez is trying to make, no matter where you go, never lose your roots and never forget what you have already learned. With the way the world is constantly changing, being bilingual is truly a gift, and is needed more and more in the work force of today.

                                        

 

6 comments:

  1. Great job connecting Lisa Delpit to Richard Rodriguez. I liked how you brushed on the advantages of being bilingual. Thanks for posting the chart on the most popular languages spoken today.

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  2. I really enjoyed reading your blog and seeing how many people speak different languages . I also included Delpit in my piece as well!

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  3. You made a great connection between Deplit and Richard, I agree with you when you say that speaking English falls under the culture of power.

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  4. I enjoyed how you researched and connected Aria to music. That must have made the read better for you

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  5. I like how you included the research about English being the third most spoken language in the world. I would have never thought that.

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  6. I really enjoyed reading your blog. I found it to be very interesting being a musician my self.

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