Public And Private Language Summary

Words: 306
Pages: 2

“Private and Public Language” by Richard Rodriguez is a narrative about lingual development. Richard Rodriguez tells how as a child he had a deep fondness for his native language, Spanish. He states “But then there was Spanish. Española: my family’s language. Española: the language that seemed to me a private language.”( ) The language becomes the private language of his family. However, as he progresses through school, the pressure of learning English begins to build. A pivotal part in his Richard Rodriguez narrative is when the nuns come to his house and ask his parents to help him learn English. Spanish is the family’s main language and is always spoken, but a change comes when his parents begin to make the children speak in English.