By Amalia Gonzalez –

Growing up I had one important job in my family. My job was to be a translator. Like this one time I was about 13 years old. My parents had to get time off from their jobs to attend one of my school conferences. They would introduce themselves timidly not knowing how to react. They only knew basic words in English. Mrs. Brown would speak English and very slowly.

I would feel so embarrassed. She would talk to them and they didn’t understand. She would speak in short sentences and after each sentence I would translate back. My parents would answer and I would tell Mrs. Brown the response. It was a routine at every conference.

After a couple years my father learned more English, but in some cases still needed my help. My mother was the one who never set her mind to learning English. Today after 30 years my mother still doesn’t know English very well.

In October 1979 at age 19, my mother, Irene Gonzalez, lived in a small town, San Miguel de las Palmas, in Guerrero, Mexico. My mother was born into a family of 12 including my grandparents Catalina, and Francisco Rodriguez. Living in San Miguel was helpless. My mother grew tired of living in poverty. Meals meant sharing with 11 other stomachs, eating the same thing seven days a week, three meals a day, beans and tortillas. Finally, in mid-October my mother decided to cross the border alone.

Living with some family members in Chicago, my mother found it difficult to find a job and struggled. A year later, she finally managed to find a job as a baby sitter for a family in a nearby suburb, met my father, married and raised a family. Then at the age of 30, 10 years after her migration, she applied for residency.

“At first it was hard for me to find a job and do other things because I didn’t know English,” my mother told me, all in Spanish. “After the years passed I didn’t feel the need to learn. I was already a resident, my husband knew some English, my children became my translators. Today I’ve had my job for 20 years and even my managers are learning Spanish.”

On November 2007, the Pew Hispanic Center surveyed 14,000 native-born and foreign-born Latino adults, ages 18 and up. The survey indicated that 71% of Mexican immigrants say they speak English just a little or not at all. According to PEW, 67% of Latino immigrants report that they use at least some English at work, and 28% say they only speak Spanish at their job.

The United States is very diverse. I feel that to learn a foreign language is essential because more people live in this country every day and they come from many parts of the world. I’m definitely proud of being in a country that is multicultural. But I feel that language is completely different than culture.

I have no opposition to my mother speaking Spanish but I do feel that learning English is essential to making a better living. I’m not going against anything my mother is doing. I love my mother and she has been the biggest influence in my life with everything that she has done and still making it today and for so long.

I do believe that my mother is afraid of something. For so many years, I have tried to teach her and have tried to encourage her to learn English but she just won’t. I feel that she has always been scared of becoming more than a resident. When I asked my mother why she never applied for U.S. citizenship, her answer was that she couldn’t speak English. I feel that most immigrants feel discrimination from society and therefore are scared of learning English.

The Pew Hispanic study also found that some Hispanics believe their insufficient English language skills are an obstacle to their acceptance in the United States.

Today my mother is over 50 and hopes to take the citizenship test. They allow people to take the test in Spanish after turning 50. I feel that even though she might be eligible for citizenship, she should still learn English.

Among Latino immigrants who have been U.S residents the longest, at least 26 years, 43% report speaking English very well and 16% of people that came between the ages of 18 and 25 can carry a conversation in English, the PEW study found. That means my mother remains in the other 84%.

Not all people are as lucky as my mother. There are millions of people that find it difficult to find a job. Most immigrants are forced to work in kitchens, hotels, any place where little contact is made with customers. For example, my mother works as a housekeeper at a convent makes good money only because she has worked for there for so long. I think that immigrants should put more esfuerzo, or effort, in improving their lives. English can get us a better job, a chance to go to school, or just about anything in an improved manner.

I don’t judge my mother for not learning English. However, my life growing up would’ve been a lot easier if my parents knew English better. My dad knew English but was always working. My mother knew basics like hello, goodbye, and numbers. I was always the translator for my parents, helping them when we would go to my schools, doctor appointments, making checks, the grocery store, etc. I was always stressed and embarrassed because on top of being a child I felt that I had to be an adult in so many ways.

Today, my mom is a divorced mother working for me and my sister. I help my mother with bills, the house, and still translating. I still have faith that my mom will learn. I will never get tired of telling her, “ Mama por favor, learn some more English.”

I am true believer that it is never too late to learn.

Amalia Gonzalez is a student at Columbia College Chicago.