Blog 4

My dad hated that my sister and I mainly spoke Portuguese while growing up, which we spoke especially during the time spent with our grandparents. He feared it would single us out and make us targets to harassment like what happened to him. When my dad immigrated here from Portugal, he was singled out and tortured by his peers and his elders for not speaking English properly. He would be teased and picked on in classes. It brought him a lot of shame and embarrassment when he stood out because of his different mother tongue and his inability to spak without an accent. My dad would always tell us to speak English with him, even though we spoke Portuguese to everyone else at home. Eventually the idea of my sister and I speaking Portuguese became more acceptable to him when he realized that it had no effect on our ability to speak English. Also, being able to communicate with my entire family was important.