BFA

bro·ken /brōkən/ adjective 1. having been fractured or damaged and no longer in one piece or in working order. 2. (of a person) having given up all hope; despairing. Growing up as a first generation American came with it’s own set of obstacles. While my friends were getting help on their English papers from their parents, mine were learning alongside me. I’ve grown up around broken English my whole life, and there are quite a few things regarding it that have stuck with me from my teenage years. When I was younger, I felt a sense of embarrassment around my parent’s speaking skills. Looking back now, I’m ashamed for ever being embarrassed about my parents broken English. I believe that this shame stems from the stigma in America surrounding immigrants. American society teaches us that knowing English and assimilating quickly is the best thing to do. More often than not, immigrants who speak multiple languages are deemed “dumb and uneducated” due to their broken English, while a multilingual American is seen as “well-read”. Growing up a child of immigrants with broken English at times felt isolating and lonely. With this project, I want to bring awareness to the struggles that first generation teenagers go through growing up, in hopes that they can bring their individual experiences and perspectives together to shed a light on the stigma surrounding broken English, and help other teens feel less alone. I aim to bring awareness to the stigma associated with the lack of English fluency in this country through human and online connection. My goal is to create a community where first-generation teenagers of immigrants feel they can go to for comfort and fellowship.  Whether it be to read stories or tell their own, Broken English will serve as an outlet for people to find common ground with others who share similar stories and educate themselves on the subject, in hopes of destigmatizing broken English. At the end of the day, just because it’s broken doesn’t mean it needs to be fixed.