Shadman Shahreer

City College

08/07/2023

There are a lot of moments in life where you remember it for the rest of your life, although this moment might not be something I remember when I’m sixty but it is something I will remember for the rest of my life because my parents and relatives won’t change. The moment began when I was speaking to my mom and dad. I spoke to mom and dad in Bengali but then I turned around and spoke to my brother in English. At this moment I realized how I speak English to my brothers and cousins but I speak Bengali to my parents or older relatives.

Subconsciously I’ve never realized that when my parents or even my older relatives speak to me I speak Bengali but when my cousins speak to me I speak English. Speaking both languages comes to me naturally and I never really think about it, I speak them both subconsciously and I just move on. I think being bilingual and being around so many people who speak the same language as me just makes me realize the importance of communication and how much we rely on it. This moment made me feel kind of unique because even though my cousins can both speak Bengali and English but they speak English to their parents as well. I am the one of the only people in my family who speaks certain languages to certain people. This moment stood out to me because my cousin and I were speaking about basketball and his mom/my aunt asked him to do something and he responded to her in English, then she started to speak to me in Bengali and I spoke back to her the same way. My cousin noticed this and told me about this and finally noticed how this happens and why. I actually asked my aunt and she says that since I was born in Bangladesh, I am a bit more fluent in Bengali and I have to speak to her and my other older relatives in the same way. This displays how in society it all depends on ability and assumption, my aunt assumed that since I was born in Bangladesh I would be fluent in Bengali and since I sort of speak fluently to her and my relatives and I can speak to everyone in the same manner. When she told me this I understood where she came from because she has to speak to all of her children in English but can speak to me in a more comfortable way. 

This situation opened up a different perspective for me and it helped me realize how important communication is, as well as how it can affect a person and make it easier for people in different situations. I don’t really mind speaking Bengali because when I do speak it, I don’t really realize I am doing it, instead I just speak it and try to make conversation with the person I am speaking to. I have also realized that speaking Bengali to my older relatives and parents helps them better communicate with me, especially when they need something or just want to talk to me.

However, I do like speaking English more because it’s like anyone can speak English and I can talk about anything to anyone, as well as it’s nice speaking to people about things I enjoy speaking about. When I was in Bangladesh for a couple months, I spoke nothing but Bengali and I got a little bored because most people there don’t know English and all people want to talk about it food, cricket, and other topics I don’t usually talk about at home.

 I think speaking subconsciously between two languages is pretty normal because people that are bilingual do the same thing when speaking between parents and friends, but they most likely don’t realize they do it because it’s integrated into their minds. I think it’s kind of cool being bilingual and I wonder about people who know more than two languages because I’m wondering how their brain functions when organizing  how to speak to them or even how I can make it more comfortable for me or them to speak which language.

 Universally, English is the main language that everybody speaks and I don’t think anybody realizes that when they speak the brain just does everything without you knowing it. I think communication is very important, but I think you can make a comparison to the brain because the brain communicates to all of our organs without us ever knowing about it. This is just one of the incredible moments in my life and it made me realize the importance of communication as well as creating a comfortable environment for the people in my family and my friends. Overall, the communication between me and my parents will always stay the same and I really don’t want it to change because they are extremely comfortable speaking Bengali.