On New Year’s Eve, my family and I went to a family party in Ajusco. I had a good time talking with cousins, aunts and other extended members of the family. I was playing a game with one of my cousins. She was probably about five or six years old. Then she asked me “¿Por qué hablas así?” or “why do you talk like that?” I then explained how I was not from Mexico and Spanish is not my first language.
After ten months, I can say that I am fluent in Spanish. I can easily understand what people are talking about and communicate what I want to say taking some linguistic knowledge under consideration and applying things specifically to Mexico. I can understand different Spanish accents and can 75% of the time guess correctly where the accent is from. On good days, I can even purposefully speak in different accents. There are many accents present in Mexico.
Sometimes, I like that I have an accent when I speak Spanish. It is different and makes me stand out. Many friends like my accent. But there are also times when I just want to blend in. It gets a little tiring when every time I meet someone knew, after two minutes of conversation, I get the question “where are you from?” It does remind me that this is not my home country every time someone asks.
I guess my point is, that accents make us unique. It is technically a flaw in linguistics based on the region that you are living in. People can still communicate what they need to when they have an accent but they will always get a “where are you from?” to change the conversation. And now a bible reference form Second Corinthians:
I really love this bible verse. Paul talks about flaws, our flaws. Everyone has a flaw because no one is perfect. There is always something more I can work on. I think the thing I love about this bible verse is that it teaches us to embrace our flaws just as Paul does. It teaches us that when we are weak, Christ compliments that and we are fulfilled. An accent might not be the best example to use when talking about weaknesses but I love it. I love that I have an accent and that I do stand out when I speak. It is a weakness that is both good and bad. It reminds me that I am not home and that I am unique. Because if everyone “was perfect”, there would be no uniqueness. There would be no point in getting to know someone because in people’s flaws is where their identity shine. “Thorns in the flesh” is where we can see how Christ really shows his power.
