Hello, my name is Denise Silva Cortes, I’m Latina and I don’t know how to speak Spanish. I grew up in a home where my parents spoke English all the time. My mother can speak Spanish, but my father doesn’t speak it at all. Ever since I was a little girl, whenever my mother didn’t want us to know what they were talking about, she would communicate with my Nana in Spanish. As a result, Spanish became this very exclusive tongue that was always a mystery to me. I understand why it was important to my grandparents that their children speak English fluently, because they believed it was a key to success. But what they did not consider was the fact that the native tongue might get lost in translation, literally. Sometimes, to assimilate means to leave behind that which makes you special, different, unique, and is vital to the culture.
