Joshua Adames

9/17/2023

Language does not arise from thin air, it is formed through the lives we live and

things we experience. Our lives are affected greatly as they progress with there being many

environments we encounter. To demonstrate this I will be detailing the environments that

shaped my language into what it so happens to be.

The first thing that shaped my learning like most people is how my parents spoke.

They had a formal form of speech though with quite a few errors due to being immigrants to

America. They taught me English as best they could and since they also spoke a lot of

Spanish is integrated into my speech with me finding myself saying “Hoy ye” to call the

attention of others rather than hey or other terms a habit I got from my father. My house was

a kinda traditional Spanish house with my parents trying to keep their culture alive but also

teach me America. They were devoted Christians who did not like cursing or slang. My dad

spoke quite formally about being a part of law enforcement. I spoke very formally when

young, though a bit broken.

When I got older the way my cousins and friends spoke began to take effect which

could be told from my speaking more slang in both Spanish and English. With my school not

being in the best of areas and my cousins all living in the Bronx this should not be a surprise.

The people in my school used to mock me for how properly I spoke English in 1st grade which

led to me losing most of the speech taught to me by my parents since it was very formal and

they used proper pronunciation. The area I wanted to fit in shaped me greatly. My

language became very much like that you would hear in the New York streets full of slang

and with some curses thrown in.

But in time some readings made me want to change how I spoke. The readings that

opened my eyes were the I Have a Dream speech and a writing done by a black man about

walking at night. These texts showed me how I spoke matter and made me refine my speech

more though still very casual and slang being prevalent in my vocabulary. I tried to be less

vulgar. I did not want to present myself as a thug or someone who is like everyone else. I

wanted to be seen for myself just to be me. It was a way to express myself and be myself.

My ELA teachers growing up all encouraged me to write since it is where I struggle

the most which led to me having a writing flow where I write the essay all in one go with a

single flow throughout. They turned my writing from an incoherent mess full of miss

misspellings and run-on sentences to a more refined type of writing. The thing that changed my

writing the most I feel though is my outlook on life with me growing older and seeing the

world for what it is and less like a utopia my writing becomes more serious just as my

thinking does. The environment I was in changed what I read trying to relate to other people

who grew up in these situations. I wished to write and inspire like them so I attempted to do

so.

Our writing and speech are largely formed by outside forces and experiences. Though

this is true it should not stop you from improving your writing or evolving to create the

messages you wish to send. Life is shaped not only by your experiences but also by what you

do. It is the same with your language and its use.