Knowing two different languages is like having two different tongues, two different brains, two different identities. When one writes, they tend to think less about the language they’re writing in, and more about the content of their writing. But there is a much stronger correlation between the two than is commonly noted. Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood by Richard Rodriguez is about a bilingual boy (Richard himself) and his family struggling to hold on to their culture and to maintain their strong familial bond as they “give up” (Rodriguez 515) their native language; Spanish. This was written in English, and therefore has a specific audience, purpose, meaning and uses specific diction. If Aria would have been written in Spanish then the…show more content… The original purpose of the piece was to illustrate to bilinguals and English speakers how learning English can seemingly change a person’s connection to their Hispanic culture. Rodriguez also explains that while this may be true, adopting a new language should never change your relationship with your family and culture as, “Intimacy is not trapped within words” (Rodriguez 525). When written in Spanish, the purpose would be extended to serve as source of encouragement for those who are linguistically isolated and only speak Spanish, who are avoiding learning English because they have the same fear that Rodriguez illustrates throughout the piece. When he explains his relationship with his grandmother after he had begun to use English exclusively he makes the comforting statement that, “Our relationship continued. Language was never its source.” (Rodriguez 524) This breaks the stigma that language is the only way to form meaningful connections. It becomes clear that communication is vital, no matter what language you use, but is not the only means of forming bonds especially amongst relatives who share a seemingly stronger connection because of blood ties. Due to this newly developed purpose, new meanings can be drawn as…show more content… For example, “I would be unable to break a barrier of sound…”(Rodriguez 519) is a poetic image that shows the struggle of learning a knew language. In Spanish, this would translate very literally, and for bilinguals in particular, might be very confusing, and take away from the poeticism of it. The idea of “…intimate utterance.”(Rodriguez 524) is another example of something that cannot be received or translated in the same way. There is no direct translation for a word like ‘utterance’ and so the phrase would have to change, thereby changing the way it’s perceived. Poetic phrases and other stylistic devices like metaphors can easily be lost in translation and so while things wouldn’t be exactly the same, the meanings and emotions they evoke would still be fruitful, the style itself however would change quite a
