Revision Original Essay

Original essay
Gloria Anzaldúa’s Essay: How to Tame a Wild Tongue drew an interesting analogy comparing the physical organ of her tongue to her language. The first part of her paper speaks of her experience with a dentist but then changes to her speaking Spanish. I was offended by her treatment at the hands of her teacher when he told her “If you don’t like it, go back to Mexico where you belong.” (2) The second part of this quote tells me the teacher’s bigotry goes beyond Ms. Anzaldúa’s language. The history of the Chicano language as described by her was fascinating. I do not doubt her assertion of male dominated culture marginalizing women in their language. Her quote; “language is a male discourse” (2) may be accurate for many cultures, though not all.
However, I do have some thoughts. I would venture to say no Greek today speaks the same language of Euripides or Plato. No German uses the same way of speaking as the Visigoths. Are modern Germans or Greeks any less of a people than their ancient ancestors because they use a different language? For that matter; we do not speak English the same way our founding fathers did. Language is fluid and always changing. I understand Ms. Anzaldúa’s desire to hold onto cultural pride. However, I also wonder if holding on to something like a language foreign to where you are living isn’t just a way of keeping people separated. Does she expect society to change to suit her? Is it the responsibility of everyone in the world to speak every language? Can Ms. Anzaldúa speak Vietnamese, Russian or Navaho? There are more than 6800 different languages in the world. (Ethnologe; Languages of the World 1)
We all have the choice to bend to get along in the world or stand defiant. Whether we decide to fight for language, religion, politics or anything else, it’s us who chooses to make it a fight. But when we stand and fight the current, is the river at fault? It seems to me language is a tool. The function of a language is to communicate your thoughts, needs or wants. If the language you’re using isn’t able to do this, it should be modified or abandoned.