Wednesday, August 31, 2022

ONE LINEA ENGLISH, LA OTHER ESPANOL= BILINGUAL

 (Those of us who still remember when speaking Spanish was prohibited (and punished) in the schools will relate to this old poem that was originally published in El Portavoz, the MEChA newsletter at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1984. It was later reprinted locally in Dr. G.F. McHale-Scully's El Rocinante in the Feb, 19, 1991 edition, more than 30 years ago. Note how every other line is in either Spanish or English, making it, in effect, bilingual.)


ESTIMADO MISTER
By Juan Montoya

The school is yours
La lengua nuestra

And still you insist on English
Para niños y maestra

Speaking in Spanish, you say
Nos volvera analfabetos

But even Oxford won't show you
Como se gana el respeto

Mexican, Cuban, Hispanic
No ve valor en ninguna

But we can function in both
Y Ud. solamente en una

You've never witnessed a child
Comprendiendo una lección

When you use his mother tongue
En vez de la del sajón

Your paperwork and degrees
Dis'que es persona educada

Maybe that's why you come up
Con tan chulas pendejadas

c/s

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're referencing McHale? Mecha is a racist mongrel supremacist organization. Puro indio only need apply.

Anonymous said...

When Mexicans come to the States they already know how to speak Spanish. Why would anyone want them to continue speaking Spanish when they need to concentrate all of their efforts in learning English? English will give them a better chance of succeeding in life here in the states. After all, there are few people in Wall Street speaking Spanish.

Anonymous said...

Loved the poem. How you used "salon de angolo salon" instead of "salon." You are a blazing star in out community. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Is this a poem for the BISD Board Members?

Anonymous said...

August 31, 2022 at 11:56 AM
NO SEAS PENDEJO GUEY MOST PEOPLE IN WALL STREET ARE Multilinguist IDIOTA, WITH SPANISH BEING THEIR SECOND LENGUA ESTUPIDO

Anonymous said...

Who cares????

I don't.


Language takes different paths to being understood. Duh, Montoya.



Anonymous said...

Did you know that kids who are fluent in more than one language are smarter? The U.S. is behind the rest of the world. In many countries peoples speak 2 and 3 languages

Anonymous said...

You write like a Mexican, Montoya, which is, of course, what you are.


Anonymous said...

Wall Streeters, like any other group of people, have their own language based on what they do and see every day. That means it's a language based on money. Wall Streeters go "long" or "short" on anything and see "upside" or "downside" everywhere. They also use different programming languages. Look in a mirror so you can see a real pendejo!

Anonymous said...

you can't tell a gringo/coco from a pendejo they all are the same estupidos.

Anonymous said...

I learned a magic trick that Mexicans know English very suddenly when you tell them you're gonna have their car towed away if they don't move it out of the reserved parking area.

Anonymous said...

September 1, 2022 at 4:15 PM

This is no magic trick but a fact, give a gringos a white powder and he will snort it immediately, after wards just tell the idiota that is was boric acid. Hahahahaha estupido gringo!!!!!
FACT .c/s...

rita