Anybody else mixed with Latino heritage but you don't feel like it?
Hi friends, I am new to this site, and seriously I realize how much I dont know spanish, and I feel so sad. I am black and mexican, yet others cant tell because although I read spanish well, I do not speak it well. I dont get it. The spanish part of my culture I am almost oblivious to. Anyone else feel that way sometimes? Any stories? Any encouragement? I mean, I really hope something changes because I really want my children to know that part of their heritage when I have them. I want them to be fluent in spanish. What's your thoughts and experiences. Question open to any mixed people. Thanks, Bella
4 Answers
Hello Bella,
I understand where you're coming from! I'm not Mexican but I am enjoying the process of learning Spanish very much. I, like you, lost a part of my culture when I was a kid. Half of my family is Greek. But my siblings and I were always kind of odd-persons-out when it came time for family reunions. We would show up, enjoy the food and time with family but wouldn't understand a word of what was said. Our dad never taught us how to speak the language. I think his mom never taught him, though she was the first generation American in our family and spoke the language perfectly.
My point is this - I think that a lot of families lose their heritage (or give it up voluntarily) because of a desire to integrate with the culture into which they have immigrated. Don't let that happen to your family. You owe it to them, and yourself, to reclaim that part of your heritage. I'll never have my Greek heritage back. All the original immigrants in our family have either died or moved away. I don't have a way to get back in touch and learn about that part of our history. But you can at least learn the language and study the culture to whatever extent possible. Believe me - your kids will thank you for it!
-Mateo
Well ,I am partly Latino in the sense that I was born in Peru of British parents and sometimes feel bad/embarrassed that I cannot speak the language of my country of birth as a native or as as fluently as I would like to. However , in my defence, I did leave the country when I was only about 18 months old .I started Spanish lessons when I was 10 years old although my father encouraged me and helped me learn some simple words and expressions from about the age of seven .
It is never too late to learn a language and you can be encouraged that we have many, very friendly, helpful and encouraging native speakers here who can help you with your Spanish including, particularly, Fifuentesh and Dakie who are Mexican.and Gekkosan who is also Mexican although I haven't seen him around for a while.. Dakie could help you through Skype if you have a Skype account which is free and you could chat with him. I am sure thta he would be pleased to help you.
Please don't feel discouraged because Spanish is one of the easier languages of the world to learn (relatively speaking) and Spanish speaking people are very disposed to helping people learn their language and generally speaking very patient and understanding when you make a mistake.
I hope this helps 
I just learned that our brains are programmed to learn language before we hit puberty. Children can learn multiple languages at one time as long as they are exposed to them young. They don't even think about it, just that "I speak with these words to talk to mom; I use other words to speak to my aunt, and other words to speak to my neighbor."
All of us on this site are doing it the difficult way. Our brains are no longer programmed to learn a new language, but we are doing it anyway.
Learn whatever you can, but give those unborn children of yours an opportunity for total emersion in Spanish through a native speaker in their lives (a nanny for example) and you will give them a valuable gift.
Hola Amigos; Soy nuevo en este sitio, y en serio me doy cuenta de no sabe espanol bien, y siento muy triste sobre esto. Estoy mexclada con african americano y mexicano, pero otra personas no saben porque no puedo hablar en espanol bien. no puedo comprenderlo. El latino parte de mi cultura no existe en mi mundo en realidad. Hay alguien aqui quien entienden? hay cuentos? hay palabras de inspiracion? Deseo que algo cambie en en el futuro porque quiero que mis niño hablar fluido en espanol cuando las tengo . Deseo hablar en espanol fluido!! Cuales son sus pensamientos y experiencias? Este pregunta es abierta a todos! Gracias, Bella
(here is how I tried to translate my question....other than accent marks, what do you think?)
