"How to Tame a Wild Tongue" review

I personally have never taken a course in Spanish so I had some trouble understanding what was trying to be said. I was able, though, to get the gist of what was being said in Spanish because the English portion was written so that I as a reader could understand. Because Anzualdua did not translate most of the Spanish, it gave her piece “flare”, something that wouldn’t have been there if she had just written entirely in one language. If one was not familiar with the Spanish language, her writing in Spanish also kept the reader thinking “I wonder what that said,” which hopefully would hold the person’s interest and make them continue reading.

Anzualdua started off her piece with the headnote “Who is to say that robbing a people of its language is less violent than war?” (Ray Gwyn Smith). It gets a person thinking about what she’s trying to accomplish by quoting such a statement. I think that the point she’s trying to make is that war and taking away people’s identity, in this case their language, are both ways that hurt people. Taking away one’s language may not be bloody like war usually is, but it still causes unhappiness and distress.

Anzualdua’s main argument can be seen right off the bat in the headnote. Basically what she is trying to say is that there are many different people and languages and that no one should be told that their own way is wrong. (I hate to bring it up but) Language, in its own way, is like religion; everyone has their own way of doing it. Some people may think certain things are right and other things wrong. But who’s to say that it’s wrong? Everyone has his/her own beliefs which, hypothetically speaking, should not be question by anyone but one's self. Only the beholder should be able to question whether his/her own ways are correct (which can be based upon what is observed). No one else should be able to say that “this is the correct/wrong way.”