THE WORLD ACCORDING TO TLEINTIJINCO

They say my accent should be okay

I was born in El Salvador in 1963... yep, that's a while ago. "But no matter Mr. McManus, kill away" (quote from the Usual Suspects as spoken by Kobayashi). I, along with a truck load of more than 2 million Salvadoreans that over a period of two decades, took the journey North to the States in search of a better life; or so we thought. Of course, in due time, such ambitious dream would become a reality but not without its fair share of abuse and suffering. I was 15.

Due primarily to the civil war and in part because I really had no say so whatsoever in the family's affairs, I was in a sort of lucky way, forced to leave my home in Apopa, a city 11 km north from downtown San Salvador for Los Angeles. A trip that proved to be more than harrowing. All of us who have taken such a trip since the time of human migrations accross regions of abundance and desperation, have been transformed. A definitive moment in my life.

So, here I am now, 27 years later speaking, breathing, reading, thinking and dreaming in English. However, by the way I speak it, you would probably think I arrived to this country just yesterday in a wagon pulled by donkeys. "But no matter Mr. McManus..." I am bilingual, fully bilingual with one big exception, most people who are truly bilingual speak English the way Americans speak English. English is spoken fluently and with the subtle pronunciations and intonations and clearly distinguishable words and letters that meshed into the perfectly fluid smooth stream of sounds. I speak English the way most housemaids speak English, with an overtly noticeable accent. Some words sound more like Spanish while others are half pronounced and some letters due to their proximity, makes it impossible to utter them.

Now, I know what you might be thinking. "No, I don't believe this guy. He seem to write fairly okay and knows where the commas and the periods go in a sentence and he is capable of constructing long winding sentences with more than just a few well placed words." But you know what, writting and constructing gramatically and syntatically correct language to communicate is one thing and speaking it with the "propper" pronunciation with the "right" intonation and "well phrased" syllables is a whole different horse... and therein my dear Sancho is where "le problem grand" lies.

But, for better or for worse, a friend of mine who happens to be a staunch red blooded conservative American, yep, Republican and all that bag of chips, told me that I need not to worry about how I sound because she told me "You should speak with your own accent just like the rest of us speak with our own accents." "Your accent", she said, "is your own heritage and you should never be ashamed of your heritage."

"Now we're talking", said I because believe it or not, at the end of the day, my tongue and my throat and cheeks literally hurt from speaking English... but when I speak Spanish.... aaaaaaah.. Voila! What a difference. My throat, my tongue, my cheeks and all the muscles are simply creamy relaxed and even my voice sounds different... like ME.. like My own SELF. It's like if my brain and all my anatomical structures that produce speech ore one well oiled machine.

posted by Arnulfo Carretero @ 3:58 PM