My Mother Tongue and Standard English

Honestly, I think the constant use of Standard English is a bunch of bullshit. Standard English isn’t a good way to talk about philosophy and all that other hyped up shit. But it’s just a way to make your ass sound smarter. It honestly confuses the fuck out of me. Every time I hear someone speak with hyped up vocab, I’m like, “What the hell!” But obviously I say that to myself because I don’t want to seem like a dumbass.

            But where is the ability to communicate clearly and effectively? What happened to being able to get your point across quickly? What happened to making your audience understand the best way you know how? What the fuck happened to that! Philosophy isn’t about language and making a person sound smart, it’s about the meanings and ideas of life and groups in the world around you. Fuck all that other talk about how Standard English is the right English; it’s the white English. It’s just a way to separate people into different classes; a form of oppression. Many people believe if you don’t speak “Standard English” you’re less educated. Fuck that! I definitely don’t speak Standard English da time; but if you’ve been following me for a while, you know I am an educated young female writing for her AP Language and Composition class.

            The language a person uses doesn’t fuck up a way a person communicates deep thoughts. It shouldn’t matter what language you speak, it honestly depends on the audience. If your audience speaks the way you speak, then obviously that person or group of people will be able to understand you clearly. And if your audience doesn’t speak the same way you speak, well fuck, switch it up. Gotta’ put your fake-ness on. Fuck, I gotta do it every day. Yes, it’s tiring, but hell you gotta’ do what ya gotta’ do. Unless you make them understand; which can be equally as tiring. It all depends on what you want to do and how you want to do it.

            This experiment of me writing in my mother tongue was interesting. It was very liberating because I was able to be me. Personally, I was never able to write how I spoke on an everyday basis because it’s seen as an uneducated way to write or speak. For the first time in my life writing came easy to me. I didn’t stress about punctuation too much, I didn’t stress about how many words I had in a sentence, or how clear I was coming across. I was truly and honestly comfortable. The experience was second nature to me because that is the way I speak the most often. Well, when I’m with my family it’s less swearing, but none the less it’s definitely not Standard English.  

            This experience was some-what unlike Anzaldua’s code switching or Jordan’s students. Anzaldua wasn’t really comfortable speaking her mother tongue anywhere. Her mother would reprimand her for speaking English like a Hispanic; she spoke English with her friends, who also spoke Spanish, because it might not be the “right” Spanish. Whereas Jordan’s students didn’t even know that Black English could be typed, they had no idea what they were reading, and that they spoke Black English every day. Whereas I am very comfortable speaking my mother tongue any where I go, except for school and school related events. I also knew that Black English existed and that I speak it every day. However I know if Anzaldua had the opportunity to participate in this assignment she would also feel liberated. She would finally be able to have her mother tongue heard and allowed for the first time.  

            Which leads me to say that I think it’s possible to communicate meaningful ideas to others without Standard English. But it depends on your audience; it comes down to what’s the most effective way to communicate an idea. This causes a person to assess the situation at hand. A person has to decide whether they want to make their audience understand them or if they want to conform to the audience.