How I Learned English/Como Aprendi Ingles
Published: Aug 28, 2007
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As a little boy in Puerto Rico, U.S. Congressman Jose Serrano took his father's Frank Sinatra records and that voice, smooth and sweet as flan, washed a new language over him.
His family would soon immigrate to New York, and young Jose knew language would determine his success.
Miami TV personality Don Francisco kept a pocket-sized dictionary and used it to translate ads and billboards, laying the foundation for his future bilingualism.
Millions of foreign-born Latinos, nearly 6 percent of the U.S. population, are finding unique ways to learn English, knowing it could make the difference between a new life, job and friends. It may seem like a simple test of linguistics, but it is a formula that often threads into social, political and racial tensions in this country.
In "How I Learned English," 55 of the most-recognized faces of the Latino community tell their stories.
The book (National Geographic Books, $16.95) is edited by Tom Miller, an award-winning travel writer who is enchanted with all that is Latino.
The book hit stores a week ago. Its Spanish translation ("Como Aprendi Ingles") is scheduled to be released Sept. 18.
You solicited a mix of writers, high-profile Latinos such as TV host Don Francisco and baseball Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda and individuals who are much less well known. How did you decide whom to include?
I was really looking for diversity. What they all have in common is that they learned Spanish before they learned English … One's first language is Ukrainian; another's, Portuguese. I had a number of criteria; one was geographic.
I definitely wanted to have a number of sports people in there. I wanted to show how language relates to sports. Like Lorena Ochoa, she was born and raised in Guadalajara [Mexico] and is the No. 1 golfer in the LPGA. She talks about the terminology of golf and how, like computer terms, English terms are incorporated into golf.
There is almost nobody in the book where language is a separate phenomenon.
Was there anyone you couldn't get to participate?
A very high percentage responded, [including] some of the best-known show-biz people. I have [TV personalities] Cristina Saralegui and … Don Francisco, bless his heart. I have Walter Mercado. But I didn't get any breakthrough personalities that would be immediately recognizable to the public.
Let me guess, you asked Salma Hayek, Penelope Cruz …
[Laughs] Yes, and Sonia Braga. They have all talked in interviews about how they learned English. So it was disappointing that they didn't participate. It was like high school, where none of the pretty girls would go out with me.
I wish I could have gotten Carlos Santana, but his manager said he was too busy.
Which essays made the biggest impression on you?
A story that sticks with me is [journalist and author] Ruben Martinez. Ruben was raised in Los Angeles, but it was a Spanish-speaking household, and he didn't learn English until the first grade.
He writes "Growing up in a town that hated Mexicans and the Spanish language turned me into a writer of English."
Almost every one of these pieces has a subtext to it, but in these two pieces the subtext surfaced - that the obstacles of English were not just linguistic. They were social and cultural.
You use the term "Latino" to describe the contributors, whether they were Hispanic immigrants in the United States or Latin-Americans. Do you find some controversy with that term?
As a group, they're all Latino. But if I'm talking about an individual, I'll mention them by their country of origin.
The term "Hispanic" doesn't bother me. It seems like a bureaucratic term, the kind of word that's in surveys. It doesn't have any chispa [passion]. Latino has more oomph to it. It has more color to it, more identity.
Now, it's your turn. How did you learn to speak Spanish?
I was not satisfied with my Spanish, and I wanted to expand my personal life. Here in Tucson, 66 miles from the Mexican border, speaking Spanish allows you to communicate with more people. [So] I took a few courses … Marrying into a Spanish family … my Spanish was improved by necessity.
