Interviewing Luca

The importance of the Language Awareness project is to see the different languages that are used within people's families and how they differ from one another. I interviewed Luca Hansen on not only his own language, but also the language spoken within his intermediate family. He is my friend in my english class and he comes from Geneva, Illinois although his mom's side of the family is from Italy. His grandmother speaks differentely when she is around the entire family; she uses specific Italian slang and has an accent although she is speaking English. Luca was born and raised to speak English because that is what his parents spoke, and that is who he learned from. In high school, he took two years of spanish, but does not remember most of it. While in the classroom he spoke Spanish, but didn't use it much outside of school. Luca says that he speaks different in front of his parents than his friends. He would never swear or say anything inappropiate in front of his parents. He is more proper and respectful. In front of his friends, he is more carefree and relaxed; he is not as conscious and he is more open. His tone also changes depending on the person he is talking to. When talking to his grandparents he uses a softer tone, and remembers to be very polite.

Getting Personal & Critiquing & Changing Genres

From reading "Getting Personal" I learned that you have to want to "dig deep" and really put your feelings out there to be able to write a personal essay. If you just list events it becomes more of a narrative. You must meet the expectations of your readers, so that they feel like it was worth their time to read what you had to say. You can use a personal essay as a way to explore your own problems.
While reading "Critiquing and Changing Genres", I had never thought that a writer could actually create a new genre; this is true because whenever you write you are being creative and putting your own thoughts into your writing resulting in variation. If a writer modifies too many elements of a genre, the reader will no longer be able to recognize what genre they are reading. By critiquing your own genre, you are able to identify the scene, key patterns within the genre, and what the patterns tell us about the scene. Genres are changed when peoples attitudes, ways of knowing, and goals change.

My Languages

In my family, we do not really have any sort of second language; we all speak english. A lot of people outside of the city of Chicago say that we have a Chicago accent. I think that when you live in a place for a long time, you can develop an accent and you begin to speak like the people around you. I used to live in Texas so we had a bit of a southern accent and said words like "y'all". When I moved from Texas to Chicago, many people asked me where I was from but it didn't seem to me as if I had an accent. Now that I live here in Chicago, people say I have a Chicago accent. My best friend from Kansas always laughs at me when I say "Wisconsin". She thinks that it sounds like I am saying Wiscawnsin, whereas she pronounces the "O". Also when I went to visit my cousin in Iowa, many of the people there guessed that I was from Chicago by the way that I spoke.

From the Outside, In

Mellix describes how throughout her life she has had to switch back and forth between speaking "Black English" and "standard English". She would have to use each language in different situations; if she was around her family she would use black english whereas when the white man told her she had a pretty dress, she used standard english. Even though Toby's english was not grammatically correct, it didn't matter because he was a white and she was a black so she had something to prove to him. Speaking standard english to whites was their way of showing that they knew their language. When she spoke standard english, she acknowledged to herself that her customary way of speaking was less than other languages. She felt embarrassed that she was ashamed to speak her own language.
Mellix's parents used different ways to teach them standard english but never set aside a specific time for it. Her father would tell stories in fluent english about how he tried to get his hair cut at a white barber shop. At the time her nor her father realized that he was teaching her standard english and the relationship between language and power. Her mother had a "proper" mood and would joke around if any of the children spoke in black english. I think the way you speaks shows your education status because if you use a lot of slang or improper english, you don't always come off as the smartest person whereas if you speak properly, you sound more studious.

My Most Influential Person

My dad, Joseph Nischbach, is probably the most influential person in my life. He is fourty-six years old and stands tall with blonde hair and blue eyes. People say that I look exactly like my dad and I am a "true Nischbach". Besides looks, we also act exactly the same; he is a neat freak, very responsible, organized, smart, funny, hardworking, and also loving. My dad has taught me almost everything that I know. He teaches me the little things in life like how to deposit a check and how to pump my gas. Whenever I am confused on how to do something, he is the first person that I call. He usually laughs and jokingly says, "Oh Nicole, what are you going to do without me when you go off to college?!" Now that I am in college, it is nice to have the freedom away from my parents, but I do miss seeing them everyday. Back at home, my dad always nagged me to clean my room and help out around the house. If I didn't do these chores, I would get in a lot of trouble, so I'd have to say one of his weaknesses is that he can be too strict. I would always tell him to not sweat the small stuff, and he has gotten a lot better with that. My dad has many goals in his life that area apparent to me; he wants to teach me and my sisters everything that they need to do to succeed in life and make smart decisions. He also takes his job very seriously so that he can always support his family and make us happy.

Now that I am older, my dad teaches me how to be a smart woman in todays world, but one memory that sticks out in my head is when my dad taught me how to waterski when I was seven years old. This is probably one of the first things that he ever taught me how to do. We were on a family vacation in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, and my entire dad's side of the family was out on the boat enjoying the nice hot weather. We had seventeen people on the boat, so at times, the younger kids including myself, would get hot, tired, and crabby. Everyone in my family learns how to waterski at a young age so I remember thinking about how excited I was to finally be like the older kids in my family. My dad is an excellent waterskiier so I always admired how he was able to go swiftly in and out of the wake. It was finally my turn; as I was floating in the water, my dad jumped in with the skiis and began speaking to me. He explained that it was going to feel awkward, but I needed to act like I was sitting in a chair. I WILL FINISH LATER.

Why and When We Speak Spanish in Public

The first question asks, "How does Marquez explain the fact that she and her parents have not adopted English as our official family language?" Marquez says that they have not adopted English as their official language because for most bilingual people, they speak spanish out of respect for their parents and because it is what comes naturally to them. Marquez comes from Cuba, so she feels most comfortable in her cultural roots when she is speaking spanish. If I was standing next to her and her parents while they were speaking spanish, initially I would consider their behavior rude but then wonder what they were actually talking about. I feel like whenever people are speaking english and then suddenly start speaking spanish or they are speaking "spanglish", it's because they are talking about the people around them. After reading this article, I understand that that is not the case. Marquez explains that if she is ever in a public place with her parents and runs into a friend that does not speak spanish, she will automatically switch to english and introduce the friend to her parents. They in turn, will respectfully respond in english also. Marquez includes facts about America and states her own opinions, and I think that is what makes this piece so powerful. It really made me think and change my mind about why English doesn't have to be everyones official language just because they live in America, and I think that is why this type of genre is valuable.

Reading as a Writer of Genres and Exercises in Genre

While reading these two articles I learned a variety of different ideas. I learned that a quad consists of 4 blocks that contain a "do", "plan", "check", and "act". I had never heard of a quad as a genre before and I was also introduced to a new genre called an A3 which refers to the size of paper used, 11x17. While quads and A3's are similar, they can be different too. An A3 delivers a solution to a problem and a quad chart can do different tasks. Also, I learned that publishers are the last step in the writing process; they arrange for advertising and marketing parts of the book. Every part of a book is specifically laid out; the front cover has an attention grabbing picture and a bolded title whereas the copyright information is in a small font on the inside cover because most people do not read that information. Every reader has a natural understanding of how they are supposed to read specific genre.