Narrative: Reflecting on Personal Experience

The following student essay was written in response to this prompt:

Write a narrative explaining the different “Englishes,” as Amy Tan calls them, that you speak and write. If your home language is not English, consider the reasons and ways you switch from it to English and vice versa. But even if English is the only language you know, you “code switch” with different audiences as you speak formally, write informal e-mails, use jargon with peers, and so forth. After your narrative, discuss how these different “Englishes” create different personae for you.

As you read this essay, consider how Nazanin Nikaein develops a distinctive voice and tone. How does she draw her reader in?

My Three Englishes

Nazanin Nikaein

My life consists of three Englishes: the regular English I use for my friends, the English mixed with Farsi for my parents and family, and a type of Spanglish I use with my Spanish-speaking friends or friends who know some Spanish. Language can be a big barrier between people, and sometimes it’s easier to create a blend of two languages so that both the people can talk to one another.

“Salaam, chobee?” “Hi, I’m doing well.” This is the result of the various “Englishes” in my life. My parents speak to me in Farsi, and I respond in English. Farsi was originally my first language, but now it’s just an afterthought for me. If I want to say anything in that language, I have to stop and think about it as if it’s a mathematical problem and I have to use an equation to find the answer. I try to say something in Farsi, and it comes out in Spanish or Hebrew. There are too many ways of saying one phrase, and it eventually comes out wrong when I try to say anything. It may be a blessing to know multiple languages, but it can be rough on your mind. There are certain phrases in one language that don’t exist in another language. There are foods and technology that don’t exist in other languages, and to talk about them you have to adopt the original language’s version of it. Internet in Hebrew is simply Internet. But, on the other hand, cheeseburger in Hebrew doesn’t even exist. When my family came here and heard the term cheeseburger, they were astonished and never even thought it possible to eat a burger with cheese. So in many ways, culture does affect our languages.

Attitude and society also play a big role in affecting our languages. When a Persian person tries to say something in English, it sounds strong and forceful, almost pushy. But that is just how the power of the Persian attitude comes out in English. Often people ask me to translate something from Farsi to English, but the translation is never accurate. The translation sounds almost rude, and it is hard to explain to people that that is not the way it was intended. Word-for-word translating is not a good idea; instead I have to rearrange the entire sentence to get the point through correctly. It is hard to switch languages because you also have to switch mind-sets.

I have always wondered what it is like for people who speak multiple languages to switch languages around at a moment’s notice. I asked my mother, who speaks three languages, what it’s like, and she told me how at times she would have to think about it. She would have to stop and think because otherwise the wrong language would come out. I then asked her what language she thinks in, and she was stumped. I think in English, and if I try to think in Spanish or Farsi, it’s hard, and oftentimes nothing comes out. Most likely, our main language is the one we are able to think in, and I wonder if we can change languages. What would be wonderful would be if we had a way of mixing languages so that both sides could understand. That is exactly what people have done with Spanish and English. Spanglish is an amazing version of English mixed with Spanish terms and verbs that English and Spanish speakers can understand. It involves none of the switching between verbs and tenses that would otherwise be called for if switching languages.

We are lucky to live in a time where we can read novels written in other languages because there are people out there willing to sit down and translate them. The only downside is that the meanings are not always accurate. Switching languages is difficult for me, but getting everything correct in tense and tone is on a completely different level of difficulty.