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Darnell Montejo

Professor Batty

English 28

05 November 2018

Speak Your Native Language at Home for your Children

There are many cases when immigrant parents are put in a situation where they should

speak the language of the adopted country or if they should continue speaking their native

language at home with their children. When immigrant parents speak their native language at

home, it usually comes with a very positive outcome for their children. It will be better for their

children's educational journey because they will learn the adopted language at school but then

speak the native language at home expanding their language abilities. Knowing their native

language and eventually being bilingual will be great for them and give them more experiences

and opportunities in the future. So it is unfortunate when parents force their children to assimilate

and speak another language other than their native language at home.

I grew up with my parents and my godparents who are immigrants and the four of them

only spoke their native language, spanish, in their household. It was a very amazing experience

because at my parents or godparents house I would speak spanish and at school I would speak

english or even, occasionally, some spanish with fellow students and teachers as well. I also got

to communicate with other family members who only spoke spanish. It also helped me have a

better connection with my parents and godparents because we could communicate. Being

bilingual also helped me translate many things that were in english for them in spanish. It helped

my families alot that my siblings and I were bilingual and spoke the native language at home.
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I believe immigrant parents should speak their native language, rather than the language

from the adopted country, at home because it benefits the children and the parents positively.

The children will usually learn the adopted country language at a school or some type of learning

facility outside of the household so they will most likely grow up to be bilingual. They will have

so many more experiences and educational and career opportunities in the future. Being bilingual

and speaking the native language at home will help the child’s identity and they will learn to

love, accept and celebrate their native language and culture. Feng Liang from the University of

Cincinnati discusses in the article “Parental Perceptions toward and Practices of Heritage

Language Maintenance: Focusing on the United States and Canada.” that “…the maintenance of

HL[heritage language] is thought to be significant in shaping identities and socializing children

into the heritage culture (Fishman 2001)” (Liang 2) and also explains that “..., the

discouragement of children's mother tongue could harm their cultural identity

development”(Liang 2). So if children are discouraged to use their native language at home it can

affect them deeply in negative ways than you actually think. Being bilingual and speaking the

native language at home is a big part of someones life especially to a child of an immigrant

parent, and as Gloria Anzaldua said on “How to tame a wild tongue” a chapter from her book

Borderlands, “Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity--I am my language”(“How to

Tame a Wild Tongue”). Language makes up a person and language is a big part of a person's

identity, especially for a child who is learning and growing.

If immigrant parents speak the language of the adopted country at home with their

children it may benefit them in positive ways as well but not like speaking the native language

would. Speaking the adopted language will not be convenient for immigrant parents who only

speak the native language as it will be very difficult to communicate with their children, unless
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they learn the adopted language as well but if they don’t it will be very difficult on both ends.

Speaking the adopted language at home could be better for the children because they will be able

to speak and communicate more fluently in public and outside of the household. Assimilation

has a lot to do with why parents would want to speak the language from the adopted country

rather than their native language with their children at home. As April linton wrote in the article

“A critical mass model of bilingualism among U.S.-born Hispanics”, discusses that “Popular

ideals of immigrant assimilation have often placed as much importance on immigrants losing the

characteristics of their homeland as on adopting the ways of the U.S. Immigrants are expected to

stop using their native tongue and not to pass it on to their children.”(Linton 2004). Another

problem that can happen with assimilation and speaking the language of the adopted county at

home is that the children and the parent will start to slowly forget their native language along the

way.

The native language of the immigrant parents should be spoken at home because their

children will have more benefits and opportunities in life and as they grow up in the future. By

being bilingual they can get more jobs and educational opportunities more than a person who

only spoke one language which is often the language of the adopted country. It will help their

linguistic and cultural identity positively and they won't have a difficult time with it. It will help

them grow up more confident with these identities. They will be able to communicate with their

parent’s much more fluently and naturally and it will help them build a stronger connection and

relationship with them. Not just with the parents, but with other family members that only speak

the native language, as well. Because they will eventually learn the language of the adopted

country in school, speaking the native language at home will expand their speaking abilities and

they will also experience more things because they know more than one language.
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Some immigrant parents would like to assimilate and speak the language of the adopted

country, that would sound easier for them so they can fit in and not stick out but it wouldn't be

the best option for their children. This is when immigrant parents should speak their native

language at home. Assimilating and speaking the language of the adopted country at home with

your children might sound like a good option, but you may want to rethink that option and speak

the native language at home.

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Works Cited

Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera, the New Mestize. San Francisco : Aunt Lute Books, 1987.

Liang, Feng. “Parental Perceptions toward and Practices of Heritage Language Maintenance: Focusing

on the United States and Canada.” Online Submission, vol. 12, Apr. 2018, pp. 65–86.

EBSCOhost,

library.lavc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=E

D581470&site=eds-live.

Linton, April. "A critical mass model of bilingualism among U.S.-born Hispanics *." Social Forces, vol.

83, no. 1, 2004, p. 279+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

http://library.lavc.edu:2102/apps/doc/A124075861/OVIC?u=lavc_main&sid=OVIC&xid=49167

95b. Accessed 17 Oct. 2018.