3 Quotes from "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"

Kelly E. O'Neill

English 1100

August 30 2015

Prof. Young

"Wild tongues can't be tamed, they can only be cut out."

"So if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity-I am my language" 

"For me food and certain smells are tied to my identity, to my homeland."

Anzaldua, Gloria. "How to Tame a Wild Tongue." Teaching Developmental Writing. Ed. Susan Naomi Bernstein Forth ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2013. 245-255. Print. 

Reading Response Questions to "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"

Kelly E. O'Neill

English 1100

August 30 2015

Prof. Young

1.     The opening scene of Anzaldua in the dentist's chair connects to the overall message of the essay and title because her whole story is based off her leaning to speak clearly and adhere to the American English Language, other than her Spanish Chicano culture. While at the dentist her tongue couldn't be controlled and the drills and cotton keep coming out of her mouth. This gets her point across because it is hard for her to speak without using her cultural language. 
2.  Anzaldua used Spanish throughout her writing to give examples of how different languages can be.  Not all of it was clear to me, however when she was comparing words I could identify the differences well.
3. Academic English can be defined as Standard Spanish because neither of them use slang and are used when talking properly. Chicano Spanish can be described as nonstandard because it contains slang. The difference between standard and not standard is that those whom are educated use standard and those whom have not had proper education speak nonstandard.
4. It is a necessity of writing/speaking in Academic English because it does not use slang, which makes it more professional to use. It is necessary because when looking to get a job they look for people that speak and write properly.
5.  A type of English Identity I use is slang. There are a lot of words that people make up that become a trend. For example, the word rachet was made up and it basically means a non-classy person.
6.  I do not use a secret language to communicate with my friends, however I use slang terms that people my age created when I am talking to them.
7.  I usually speak to my friends in nonstandard English. When speaking to my mom I speak both standard and nonstandard English because she doesn’t mind and uses the same terms I do as well. When speaking to a professor I speak Standard English because I am intimidated by them and want them to like me.
8. “I am my language,” means that whatever language you speak has a huge impact on your identity because it is connected to your heritage. This statement connects to a person’s identity because the language you speak is in the categories of culture, moral and nationality and all of these categories are apart of a person’s identity.
9. The introduction and conclusion connect because her language will always be apart of her identity no matter how much teachers tried to get rid of it when she was younger. No matter how much she was punished for it she never changed her identity and stayed true to who she was.
10. The language you speak definitely plays a part in your identity because it is how you interact with people.
11. Identity is very important to me because it defines who I am. Anzaldua believes it is important to have an identity because she has her own type of Spanish dialect. She wrote, “When other race have given up their tongue, we’ve kept ours.” This shows that she believes that it is important to have an identity.