Esperanza

"In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting."

Friday, February 25, 2011

"No Speak English" - "We Speak No Americano"



Have you guys heard this song?  The title is "We Speak No Americano" and as I reread the "No Speak English" vignette I was reminded of the title.  There really aren't many lyrics, but it's sort of interesting to listen for the English words that pop through, as if the singer is trying to find his "English" - just as Esperanza's Papa did with "hamandeggs" and now the wife of the neighbor is working with her few phrases - "He no home" "No speak English" and "Holy cow!"  Be careful...the beat is catchy!  Just wanted to share!

5 comments:

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  2. Hannah, this is a great video and along with being entertaining, it also has something to say about being an immigrant or an outsider. Nice find.

    -Alex

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  3. Hannah-
    This is a really interesting video. It reminds me of a spanish poem that I read once which immitated the way a Spanish-person speaks when speaking in English. I searched for the last hour on the internet to try to find the right one, but dont' remember it... Have you heard of it? It was definitely by a poet from either Cuba or Puerto Rico... one of the areas that drops their "s" when they speak. Anyways, if I could find that poem I think it would be really interesting to compare to this video!
    -Brooke

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  4. Thats an awesome connection Han! I never even thought about the connection between that song and Mango and it really makes sense. This is a great example of pop-culture and how to bring it into the classroom. (I remember hearing it on Z101 and Kiss all the time) What happened to this song?? =)

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  5. I'm glad everyone enjoyed it! It's always in my head because it's so catchy and once I reread that vignette it just clicked!
    Brooke-I think I might have read that once before, but the only poet I read at length who spoke Spanish was Neruda, and I'm not sure if it's him. That would be a great supplemental text though!
    -Hannah

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