The Shared Difficulties Of Growing Up Bilingual In America 

Learning a new language is no easy feat, especially when one has to learn it unwillingly and with an egregious sense of dread and misery. This is no doubt what Manuel Munoz and Richard Rodriguez had to go through when they had to assimilate into America. Both Munoz and Rodriguez utilize descriptive language and personal anecdotes to assert that being forced to assimilate into America caused them to lose a part of their culture and both agree that learning English is the key to success in America but Munoz felt embarrassment speaking Spanish, while Rodriguez felt connected with his family when speaking Spanish.

Munoz and Rodriguez often used personal anecdotes and descriptive language to express the loss of their identity and the coercion from America to assimilate into society. Munoz points out that “‘American’ names begin to dominate among my nieces and nephews and second cousins...”(Munoz 2). Here, Munoz hints to the intrusion that English makes into his life and implies America is taking over his family’s identities by Americanizing them. When Munoz uses “Dominate” it implies that America is forcefully invading not only his life but also his family’s too. Rodriguez similarly emphasizes that “Once I learned the public language, it would never again be easy for me to hear intimate family voices.”(Rodriguez 6). In essence, Rodriguez is emphasizing the loss that he felt when he assimilated into America. He dramatizes learning English as losing a part of himself and his culture because he feels that he lost the intimacy of Spanish among his family.

Both Munoz and Rodriguez interpret learning English as losing their identity. Munoz uses his dad’s name change to exemplify this, “For him, the erasure of his name was about deference and subservience.”(Munoz 3). Here, Munoz is introducing the loss that his family and many other Spanish speaking people have to go through when they assimilate into American society. His diction indicates that by changing their names they are yielding to English and are forced to become slaves to America. In a similar vein, Rodriguez also lost a part of his identity when he learned English, “I had earlier used - mama and papa - I couldn’t use anymore. They would have been all-too-painful reminders of how much had changed in my life.”(Rodriguez 5). Here, Rodriguez is distinguishing that by learning English he had to give up parts of life and culture. He could no longer call his parents by the nicknames that instilled so much heartfelt joy because English has stripped him of it. Learning English is essential to success in America.