Language is a not only a way to communicate with others, it is a way of identifying yourself with a specific culture and giving yourself a sense of belonging. For me, it was hard to identify with just one culture because, by the age of six, I was already speaking five languages. I had to know how to change my accent and culture identity quickly to avoid disapproval from others. At some points in my life, speaking multiple languages proved to be an obstacle but in others, it proved to be very helpful in tough situations. This ability not only had an effect on me, but they also affected my loved ones and people I have never met before. I was able to impact so many lives by helping them immerse into a culture that was so different from their own.

As a child, I hated the questions, “What are you?” I hated this question because I didn’t know the correct answer to it. From such a young age, I identified myself with so many different cultures, whether it was Latino, African or European, I truly did not know who I was. This question stuck with me throughout most of my childhood because I felt confused. What was I? Why couldn’t I just give someone a straight forward answer? I felt as though if I only told someone I was Cape Verdean, I would be leaving out my other cultures and make it seem as if I was ashamed to be a part of them. This was a constant conflict within my mind whenever I was asked that question, until one day, I finally realized the easiest answer to the question was the most honest answer I could give. I am me. From there on out, I no longer got frustrated when asked, “What are you?” I was finally at peace with myself because I knew I was being honest and was not making it seem as though I was ashamed of being a part of my other cultures by only naming one.

There were times when learning or knowing multiple languages proved to be an obstacle for me. Learning English was probably one of the hardest things for me to do. There were so many slang words and different ways to say one thing and at times, I thought I was never going to learn English. I would often change languages when I forgot how to say a word in English and I would study the word I forgot until I knew I couldn’t forget it anymore. Even though it is common for a child who speaks more than one language to replace a word they cannot remember with a word from another language, I felt dumb because I hated not knowing things. After learning and mastering the language, I was often teased by my friends because to them, I spoke “too white.” It was such a culture shock to me because I did not know that speaking proper was associated with “speaking white.” It seemed as though white people were the only ones that were able to speak with an educated background. Even though it discouraged me at times, I always used it as motivation. I wanted to show everyone in my cultures and in the American culture, that anyone can speak proper English, no matter what the color of their skin was.

After learning English, my next goal was to change or hide my accent. I was tired of getting teased by other kids because of the way that I spoke, so I was determined to learn an English accent to cover my mother accent. My family was so disappointed when they found out why I was so eager to learn an English accent. They felt as though I was ashamed to be who I was and that I wanted to become like every other English speaking American. To a certain extent, they were correct. I truly was ashamed to have this “greenhorn” accent, I was so embarrassed and ashamed to sound different than my other friends, and in other ways, I was ashamed to be myself. I became so obsessed with having an English accent that I forgot who I was. My obsession with obtaining an English accent became so bad, I essentially convinced myself that I was American and nothing else.

Soon after realizing that having the ability to speak all these languages was not a bad thing, I started to use them as an advantage. I was able to become a translator and help others who came to the country and did not speak English. I felt compassion for them because not too long ago, I was in the same position as them. I knew how it felt to be dumped into a new culture and not knowing a thing about it and the fear they felt from being rejected by others simply because they couldn’t speak the same language. I made a promise to myself that I would help whoever I could when it came to language barriers, because I didn’t want anyone to go through what I did. I knew that if I could learn the language, so could they and because of that, I never gave up on any of them, no matter how hard it got at times.