It only takes a few minutes to call someone out. But by changing and challenging this normalized language, you can actively work against behaviors and ideologies that are racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, elitist, ablist, sizist and overall, oppressive. Language oppression is any word that uses an identity or an identifier of belonging to a certain group (class, race, sexuality, ability, gender, etc.) as a negative or undesirable quality. It 's a form of verbal violence that exposes someone 's privileged view of the world. I believe that linguistic oppression is not fair no matter what language you speak or what religion you are a part of. Different people grow up in different areas in the world which has an influence of the language they speak or accent they have. When I was 13 years old, my family and I took a trip to Karachi, Pakistan. This was where I realized that my form of Urdu was not accepted and stood out in the country where my parents grew up.
The summer of 2008 was when my family and I decided to take a trip to Karachi, Pakistan. I’ve always wanted to visit my parents’ hometown so I could experience how they grew up. Out of the five members of my family, I was the only one born in the United States and I also started the beginning of grade school in America. My two older sisters came to America at a fairly young age. They had also come just in time to start grade school in America so my sisters were also much Americanized. They were raised in America and also spent most of their childhood in the United States. We have a common language we use at home. Urdu is the language in which my parents were raised into in their families in Pakistan. My sisters and I always talked to my parents in Urdu and also when we went to church. Besides that we mostly spoke English with our friends and society in general so our Urdu was much more modern. In the year 2008, we decided to travel to Pakistan so I could experience how my parents grew up and what their culture was like compared to America.
Pakistan isn’t very much like the United States. It is a heavy poverty based country that most people struggle to earn a living in. People in Pakistan take much pride in their culture. They aren’t very welcoming to outsiders and you will stand out if you aren’t a resident of their country. This is where I was shocked. I was raised in a house where religion was a very big deal. We would always go to church on special days and say prayers on time. In my house, culture was extremely important and strict. Therefore, I thought I wouldn’t have a hard time fitting in with the people of Pakistan since my parents raised me as one. Turned out I was wrong. As soon as we got there, people knew that I was from America. At first, I thought maybe it was the way I dressed. Later on I found out that it was much more than that. It was the way I spoke my “home tongue”, Urdu. (Anzaldua 46)
One day we went to the local market. Our whole family stayed together because it is not safe to roam the streets of Karachi alone. We stopped at a toy stand at the market because I saw something that I liked. I told my dad that I wanted it in Urdu. The man who was selling the toy gave my dad a ridiculous price for the toy. I saw my dad react to the price. I thought to myself “why is this guy charging us so much for this toy?” I kept thinking and thinking. Then my mom told me it was because he figured out that we were from the United States so he jacked up the prices. The man selling the toy knew we were from the United Stated and he also knew we had money to spend which to me was very stereotypical. My dad then bargained with the man and finally got me what I wanted. The only way he could have figured out that we were from the United States was when I asked my dad for the toy in Urdu in front of the man. I then learned that I had a more modern way of speaking Urdu that stood out tremendously and was not accepted in Pakistan where most of the people speak it the traditional way.
Another incident happened one day when we went to church while we were still in Pakistan. We had attended church on time. After church was over, my parents took me to a room where all the kids would play games with each other and do different activities. Many of the activities were of ones that I didn’t know about. They were activities where only the people born here would know how to do and play because they were raised playing these games from a young age. Such as if these kids came to the United States, they wouldn’t be so great at basketball or football since it wasn’t brought upon their society at an early age. Anyways, I tried learning the games that the kids my age were playing. I asked one of the kids how to play this game. The kid looked at me and told me to “get lost” in Urdu because I didn’t know how to play the game. And then a couple other kids started laughing at the way I was interacting or talking to them. I understood everything they said. I was very disappointed in the way they treated me just because I spoke differently than them. Instead of saying something and start something big that involved parents, I just walked away and went to my dad. I told myself that “I am smart. I am arrogant.” (Alexia, 42)
These two incidents, which happened about five years ago, offended me greatly. I was not happy with the way the people of Pakistan treated me just because of the way I spoke their language. The Urdu I speak is influenced by American society and how I was raised. People in Pakistan may think I have an American accent but to me it’s just my natural tongue and how I have spoken the language for as long as I can remember. I believe it is wrong to treat someone differently just because of how they speak a certain language. To me, linguistic oppression should be illegal as it basically restricts a person’s view of this world. If someone is raised a certain way and taught a certain way of speaking a language, I believe that we, as human beings, should respect that and not judge them based off of that.
My experience in Pakistan brought me to the conclusion that linguistic oppression is wrong and people should realize that some people come from different backgrounds. I believe that linguistic oppression is not fair no matter what language you speak or what religion you are a part of. Different people grow up in different areas in the world which has an influence of the language they speak or accent they have. My experience has taught me that if you were to come into my country, I would not treat you the same way I was treated in Pakistan. Instead I will respect your culture and the way you speak a certain language no matter what language you are speaking.
References
Anzaldua, Gloria. "How to Tame a Wild Tongue." Problem Posing. N.p.: Aunt Lute, 1987. 44-54. Print.
Alexie, Sherman. The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me. N.p.: Milkweed Editions, 1997. Print.
References: Anzaldua, Gloria. "How to Tame a Wild Tongue." Problem Posing. N.p.: Aunt Lute, 1987. 44-54. Print. Alexie, Sherman. The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me. N.p.: Milkweed Editions, 1997. Print.
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