Saturday, March 16, 2019

Learning A Foreign Language- My Journey

In November 2012, I moved to a primarily working class Latino neighborhood from a middle class white neighborhood. This is significant because I lived in that white neighborhood from July 1994 through November 2012, which was pretty much my entire time in school. The ironic thing is that in the last 4-5 years prior to moving there, I would often take trips to these Latino neighborhoods just to explore them, often times worrying my mom because of the gangs in these areas, which I knew about because I have gang territory maps of all of California and various metro areas. However, when I came back from my friends' place on September 21, 2012, I found out that we were getting evicted because my mom couldn't afford to pay the rent anymore (the landlord was nice about it for months). We ended up looking at various motels in the area, and my mom always asked me "what gangs are in this area?". That is, until my mom discovered a place right next to a grocery store and numerous Mexican and American fast food restaurants. One of my mom's friends lives there and recommended the complex to us, and we just went for it, as it was the best deal in the area considering everything it was close to. For two and a half years, outside of trying out all the restaurants right next to us and in the downtown area a mile or so away, I considered it just another place to live. However, on May 30, 2015, everything changed. It was two days after my birthday, and I fetched a ball for some of the neighbors in the pool, just being friendly. However, I began talking with the older male of the group, and it felt like I was talking with someone I knew for YEARS. That day, I thought of it as just a one off, then they were there again the next week, and more of the same. Then, the next week, I got closer to the other people in the group, who were his wife, brother in law, and step son. The interesting thing was that his wife and brother in law knew very little English at the time, yet the important thing is that they accepted me as I was, and I accepted them as they were. Throughout that summer, I continued getting to know them more, and even played a role in helping their daughter, who was four years old at the time, learn how to swim. I then thought "THIS is why I moved here!"...

Until 2017.

On June 20, 2017, the exact same situation happened again, except with a younger woman. I went to the pool that day because I saw her sister, who I met a few weeks before, along with her husband and two kids as well as her dad, and thought this woman was just a visitor and nothing more. The next day, however, she was there with her son and her sister's kids, but not her sister, who showed up a few hours later. I then found out that she lived there, in the same studio apartment with her sister, brother in law, her parents, her son, niece, and nephew! Eight people in a studio apartment, which very much resembles a stereotype about Mexicans, yet I never looked down on them for it once. Like in 2015, these people accepted me as I am, and I did the same. The difference between this family and the other one is that nobody in this family speaks fluent English. This younger woman was the only one who spoke any, though it was only the basics and she always said "I don't understand" when I spoke full sentences in English, making any in-depth conversation or relationship next to impossible. The next day was more of the same, and then the next day the pool was closed for a month. When the pool reopened a month later, to my surprise, that younger woman and her parents STILL remembered me, despite not seeing them around for a month! That meant a lot to me, especially after only having a few interactions with each other, and last year, six days after my birthday, I was in the pool with her, her sister, and their kids, and found out through a bilingual neighbor that she was teaching her two year old son the limited amount of English that she knew, in order to help make it easier for him when he starts school. I thought that was an amazing idea, and decided to write continuous vocabulary lists and sentences for him without being asked, and even composed a big Spanish to English dictionary for all their kids as their Christmas present, as well as online quizzes, where I placed extra focus on everyday words and the cognates, which are the words that are shared between two languages, and there are thousands of these between English and Spanish. I did this in order to prove that I was a real friend to them, by doing for them what they couldn't, and it wasn't too exhausting, outside of writer's cramp, as I am naturally a curious person who has always had an interest in foreign cultures, ever since I was fascinated with Chinese and Japanese characters as a 5 year old. As a result, all of their kids say my name whenever they see me around, which is an amazing feeling as I'm feeling like I'm making a difference in their lives. Through writing all these lists and making the dictionary, I also began learning the Spanish language myself, and nine months later I consider myself intermediate level. On that day last June, I only knew a few words in Spanish, and now I feel like I can have a decent conversation in Spanish. Yes, I know, this is the US, and English is the main language here, but there are lots of benefits to learning a second language, such as being able to communicate with more people, which creates more opportunities in life, as well as broadens your world view. No true negatives whatsoever.

A link to a Google Drive folder I made with numerous vocabulary lists, which is what was in the dictionary, as well as more words I discovered after:

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1WDMM-f5kYmIM1RWbufmmaus9b3woUatd

And in case you're curious, here's a folder containing my gang territory maps:

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1nLZsxcWICkl5C-INfKa1p2oYFvPBPBCV

The California ones are accurate as I'm a Southern California native and I have done extensive research, and I copied maps of Chicago and NYC, as well as the other California areas. The Phoenix, Tucson, and Las Vegas maps should also be accurate, though there may be inconsistencies.

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