~Aria~

Kimberly Boghossian
Talking Points #2
October 2, 2007
~Aria~
In “Aria”, the narrator, Richard Rodriguez, gives his experience as a non-English speaking young boy in an American school. The boy speaks Spanish fluently, but he and his family are told by his teachers to learn to speak English in America. Not knowing English was keeping him behind in school. The family started to speak only English all the time. This was not an easy thing to do for them, but they stuck through it. As expected, it was easier for Richard and his siblings to learn English than his parents. It was most difficult for his father. His father never became comfortable with English and didn’t want to let go of his Spanish heritage. Now Richard and his family are bilingual.
Some educators believe in bilingualism, teaching in two languages. Richard admits that it would have been much easier if his teachers spoke Spanish to him but he has to admit that his education was better and more successful because he learned English. It’s important to learn the language of the country you live in. It’s a requirement for success. It is just as important to keep your heritage.
People coming from a foreign country worry that they are will lose all of their traditions if they stop speaking their language, but this does not have to be true. I do believe that by not speaking your birth language, you do lose some of your cultural identity. But by learning to speak English, doesn’t mean you have to forget your birth language and your roots. When Richard was learning to speak English, Spanish became his private language.
This story of Richard’s relates to my family. When my mother became old enough to enter kindergarten, her mother stopped speaking Armenian to her and spoke only English so she wouldn’t have trouble in school. My mother never learned Armenian, and so the language is now lost in our family. It’s hard for me to learn the language when it isn’t spoken in the house. Even though we try to keep our Armenian roots, a big piece of it is gone.
I wonder why the narrator of this story titled this “Aria”. Aria is supposed to be a romantic piece of music. It is very loving in the melodic sense. Richard’s love of being bilingual could be why he chose the title. Aria, the word, really looks and sounds so pretty as well.