Immigrant Child Struggles

I would be lying if I said the play “English” wasn’t relatable. It’s no surprise that as an immigrant child, I’m constantly living a double (really triple if you think about it) life.

Honestly, I can’t say I relate to the idea of the “pain” of having an accent since I never really had one when I spoke in English. So, to an extent, when I hang out with my friends, English flows relatively easy. My parents and I battel on the middle ground – sometimes in one of the various south Indian languages and other times in English. The problems, I think, are worse when it comes to my native language. In the play, Marjan references how English sounds wrong to her and just like that, my native languages feel weird on my tongue. Back when I lived in India, I was fluent in 3 languages and could casually switch between them whenever I felt like it. Now, even speaking to my grandparents feels hard.

Quite frankly, I don’t think I give enough credit to my parents for forcing me to continue to use those languages so I don’t forget them (although, seeing as I can’t have one full conversation without resorting to a couple English words, I have to question if it even worked). Although, I would have to say that their persistent efforts to keep me fluent in those languages essentially tied me back to my culture and acted as a strong reminder of where I came from and my identity. Much like the characters in “English” seem to have conflicts when learning English, by keeping in touch with both my native languages and English, I was able to form an identity that consisted of both – despite it feeling like I was living multiple lives.

 

Rhetorical Texts and Analysis | English 110







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