“No Speak English”

By Robert Sanga


Many Spanish immigrate to the United States of America (USA) for a better life and future prospect. “No Speak English” is the story about Spanish immigrants to the USA. The husband in the story migrated first and then worked hard to earn a living there. He had two different jobs and woke up early in the morning. He worked all day long to save more money.

His wife and child joined him when he finally had enough money for family reunion. His wife is a tall and big woman. They were satisfied with the good food as they began to eat better food than they used to eat in their country. But Mamacita had some difficulties to integrate into the society. It’s because she could speak only a few words in English. This made it impossible for her to communicate with their American neighbors.

Mamacita felt home sick soon after she immigrated. She missed her home so much and felt alien in the new country. She kept thinking of the good times she had shared with friends and relatives back home. She sang an old and lonely song almost every day. She sounded terrible as her voice is similar to a seagull voice!

Their baby boy learned the English language quickly. He likes to watch TV and sing American songs as well. His mother felt so uncomfortable when the boy followed the advertisement song from TV and sang it out too.

I think the story wants to convey about the life of immigrants to America. Millions of people from different corners of the world immigrate to the USA each year. Some are successfully integrated while some cannot become part of American society. It would be beneficial to the immigrants to have learned English language and some skills of work before they finally resettle to America.

I like the way Mamacita’s husband work in the story. He has dedicative work for the whole family. He scarified his leisure times for work. He took free only after having completed two different jobs. As a result of which his family could join him. He is the man to have organized family reunion in the USA. It must have been so hard to have double jobs, but he did it. I am sure many people would not be able to do the same.

I think the story has portrayed Mamacita in a funny way. It’s humorous to read the way she spoke broken English. But I could not digest the fact that she is not interested in learning American language. She should have considered herself as American as they already immigrated in the country. They immigrated there for a better future. There is no prospect of leading a luxury life when one cannot integrate properly in the society. I think language should never be a barrier of integrations in America.