Hello, my name is Lourdes Ceja and in my first blog, we are going through my analysis of Beyond Language Difference in Writing: Investigating Complex and Equitable Language Practices by Cristina Sanchez-Martin. Throughout this reading Martin makes a lot of valid points that just make sense with first generation students, like me.

Growing up in a small town reflects the type of dialect you hear on a daily basis. Majority of the population in my hometown consists of minorities. Especially on my side of the tracks where everyone came from a Latino/Hispanic background. My parents migrated from Mexico in their early 20s and struggled to pick up on the English language. When Martin mentioned the absurd idea of “Monolingualism, the idea of teaching everyone one single version of English”, it brought back a lot of memories of me translating documents, conversations, songs, etc. for my parents before I can ever remember. At home I could only speak Spanish but when I began attending school, I struggled with expressing myself without mixing up the words thus stumbling upon the language of Spanglish, it is exactly how it sounds, its improper and a mix between English and Spanish, sometimes it doesn’t make sense, but it works. It works as a way of communication within a community.

Outside of the community, the writing may not seem appropriate to others but the question now, is there space to incorporate it in my writing? Wondering if the English language is enough to get my views across. These myths like Monolingualism and the standard written language, Martin mentioned aren’t myths but barriers that a lot of us face and conformed to in order to fit in with others. A way to apply these ideas Martin writes about to embrace language differences while writing is to ask yourself, does this sound like me? Can I repeat everything in writing as if I were having a conversation with a friend, peer, mentor, etc.? I believe that language differences like Spanglish is a part of who I am and there are ways to build it in my writing.