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Kimberly Santana

Professor Smith

English 101

September 27 2017

The Journey of Sound

I could look back at a time when all I had to concern myself with were the magic words

please and thank you. Being polite in general. However, I only had to trouble myself with one

language, Spanish. When I was five years old, my mother moved my brother and I from

Colombia which is a Spanish speaking country, to the capital of the world, New York City. Even

with that, although quite diverse, English was its mother language and boy how overwhelming

learning a new language can be. Language wouldn't be my only encounter it would lead me to

journey different emotions in speech, reading, writing.

Kindergarten, seemed like an unknown territory to me and was not all fun and games. I

attended school back in Colombia but I never felt lost, I was a part of something. Language can

make a big difference in ones life, even in the most simple of ways. Kindergarten in New York

was the very first time I truly felt like an outsider. I did not speak, mainly being because I didn't

know the English language, but also because I was afraid of feeling embarrassed of not

understanding or being understood. Natalie, a petite black hair, blue eyed girl was the very first

friend I made. She introduced herself to me in Spanish, which meant a great deal considering that

that was the only language I spoke at the moment. She was always so sweet and patient. The first

beacon of light in what felt like a dark tunnel. However, I quickly learned that where there is
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positivity, negativity sometimes follows. You would think that I would remember the name of

my first bully, but I dont. Play Time is all I truly recall, my bully always used that time to lash

out on me. You cant sit here, You cant play there, Don't you understand ? it was all I ever

heard from her. Although what I genuinely did not understand was what she had against me, I

didn't know her and she didn't know me. It was among one of the first times I realized how cruel

kids can be to those who don't speak their language, sadly it doesn't stop with kids. Because of

my eagerness to shut my bully up, I wouldn't take long for me to learn english.

After picking up the language, writing and reading were two things I use to spend my

time doing. I was a huge bookworm, mainly Fiction books. Books allowed me to learn better

vocabulary and gain more confidence in myself when reading out loud but they also provided a

sense of empowerment. I enjoyed poetry, reading and writing it. In Junior High School my

English class was invited to write poems for a contest and the chosen poems would be published

in a book, Celebrate ! Young Poets Speak Out - New York Spring 2007. I loved reading because it

allowed me to get lost in another world and I hoped that maybe my poem would do the same for

others. I was one of the individuals chosen to be published and it felt amazing to be able to open

up a book and read something written by me, no matter how small.

My brother has always been a positive influence and always proud of my

accomplishments without any regard to how small they might be. My brother, Jansen, enjoys

vocabulary. He's very fond of expanding and bettering his words, writing and speech. I often

enjoy seeing how he uses new words he's picked up. Jansen always encourages me to find new

ways of writing or saying even the most straightforward of sentences expand your vocabulary

so well, that you can curse someone out without them even realizing you did. My English
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Professor in College, Professor Smith, said something very similar on my second day of lecture.

That saying opened up my mind to how significant and presentable words truly are.

I am now 23 years old, or young I might say. I have a beautiful three year old daughter,

Violet. Since she was born, my mother would always say to me Speak to her in Spanish, shell

learn English in school. I did not want my daughter entering Day Care or School without

speaking both languages. In One Voice by Susan G. Madera, she speaks about wanting her

children to have a strong background in English. She herself did not speak English properly,

although she spoke English she had trouble and didn't want her children to have her experience.

My experiences might not have been Violets, and thankfully they werent, but I was determined

to prepare my daughter so that at the minimum she could express how she feels in English or

Spanish. I wanted her to be understood but most important I wanted Violet to feel that she was

being heard. Every language tells a story, I wanted my daughter to understand that theres more

languages other than the ones she speaks and that she should never let anyone feel less than

because of a language difference. But instead find another method to communicate with them.

Although time has passed and my speech as well as my writing have bettered, I

sometimes continue to feel as if I'm in that dark tunnel I once was in. I guess I feel like I'm not

always able to articulate well what I want to say and its frustrating. But even with all that, I know

I'm not the little girl that had to stay quiet for quite some time. I am not afraid to let my voice be

heard, I make sure you feel the sound in my voice. In One Voice by Susan G. Madera, she quoted

M. Bella Mirabella I was no longer the proverbial small child looking in the shop window.

Feeling every power of that sentence, I related to both Madera and Mirabella, I no longer felt like

an outsider. I now was of this world, a bilingual hispanic with every opportunity in front of her.