Se Habla Espanol

in Tanya Maria Barrientos’ “Se Habla Espanol”

According to the essay, “Se Habla Espanol”, columnist and writer, Tanya Maria Barrientos writes about her experiences growing up as a Latina in Texas in the 1960’s to show how her lack of knowing how to speak Spanish fluently simultaneously included and excluded her from the Anglo-American and Hispanic community throughout her life and affected her identity with her ancestral roots. Barrientos begins her essay by describing how she is trying to enroll in a Spanish language course, for the sixth time. The author explains that she feels a sense of uneasiness each time she must call because while she has a Hispanic name and looks Guatemalan, she cannot speak Spanish properly. The author then describes her childhood when her family moved to Texas from Guatemala and her parents tried to avoid the stereotypes placed upon them by Americans by forcing their children to only speak English. As the author notes, “…Mexican-Americans or Afro-Americans were considered dangerous radicals [back then], while law abiding citizens were expected to…erase any lingering ethnic traits” (630). This allowed Barrientos to grow up feeling a sense of belonging and superiority among her American friends who would often remark that she did not act stereotypically Mexican to them, which usually equated to being poor, blue collar workers. She explains that there was a sense of satisfaction when Hispanics would speak Spanish to her and she would reply that she does not speak Spanish, or how she lived in a predominantly white neighborhood and her parents were college educated professionals. However, the author notes that because she tried so hard to not be Hispanic during her childhood, society’s views changed towards immigrants which left Barrientos “wondering where [she] fit in” (631). As an adult, Barrientos points out that not knowing how to speak Spanish worked against her and left her feeling out of touch with her heritage. Setting out to learn Spanish, Barrientos explains to her reader that as many classes she takes, she feels that she can never call herself a Latina and the language she strayed from as a child has now become the indicator of how much she really does not belong in this community. By the end of the essay, she questions whether language is what legitimizes ones membership in an ethnic community and explains that even though her features look Latin and her bilingual friends say that is enough, she still believes that not knowing Spanish will always be the barrier between her and the

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