A Voice: Can You Hear Me?

A different perspective on Chicano Spanish    

I remember being very young when I first heard the term Chicano; a reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. It was never anything I identified with, because as far as I was concerned I was an American; to be anything in else would have made my life even more complicated. It was bad enough that I grew up Mexican in an all white town. So, I was happy to find and grasp a common ground with my peers (for the sake of fitting in) we were all born here in America. But for my parents, who were born in Los Angeles and Texas, and who are self proclaimed Chicanos, I challenge statements made by Gloria Anzaldua. The first, “Chicano Spanish is considered by the purist and by most Latinos to be deficient, mutilation of Spanish.” My parents call this statement absurd, or absurdo. For the last 20 years my family made many trips to visit family members in Texas and California. This was always for me a trip filled with culture and tradition. I was able to get a glimpse into the past of my parents, as well as their own parents who were born in Mexico.  On these visits my parents were forced to use their Chicano Spanish to communicate with family members who still used old “authentic” Spanish; their first language. Never did they feel as if they were looked down upon or ridiculed for the way they spoke. Here in Washington, they met families who came here from Mexico, and who spoke true blue authentic Spanish and there was never any sort of language barrier or embarrassment, everybody was always happy to just share this unique bond of being Mexican. "Chicano Spanish sprang out of the Chicano’s need to identify ourselves as a distinct people.” Again, my parents do not see things the same way. For them, it was a blending to many cultures, including Mexicans from Mexico or Mexicans from here or …..Because they and others were forced to make English their first language, sometimes words became a mixture of Spanish and English. To my parents it was more of a “younger version” of their parents’ spoken language. I am in no way trying to disrespect Gloria Anzaldua, nor am I attempting to take away from what she wrote or felt; I am only offering a different perspective. My parents did agree on one statement of Anzalduas, “Chicanos who grew up speaking Chicano Spanish have internalized the belief that we speak poor Spanish.” Yes, they wish that they could remember the language they both spoke as small children, a more traditional version, but they are never regretful or bitter about the wonderful life they have been blessed with.

Anzaldua, Gloria. “How to tame a wild tongue” Remix Ed. Catherine G. Latterell. 2nd  ed. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2010.  Print.