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How I Learned English
Tom Miller
55 Accomplished Latinos Recall Lessons in Language and Life
National Geographic
September 2007
On Sale: August 21, 2007
288 pages
ISBN: 1426200978
EAN: 9781426200977
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
All over the world there are people struggling to master the
quirks and challenges of English. In today's America, many
millions of them are Latino—and in this eloquent collection,
nearly 60 of the best known contribute fascinating,
revealing, often touching essays on the very personal
process each went through to achieve this common end. Their
successes are inspiring. Their pieces, engaging and
entertaining all, express the whole range of emotions that
learning any new language entails. Congressman José Serrano, for example, describes learning
English from Frank Sinatra records. Cuban-American author
Oscar Hijuelos picked it up as a sick little boy in an
American hospital bed. Many find it a daunting ordeal; for
others English came easily. But from TV personality Cristina
Saralegui to Hall of Fame baseball player Orlando Cepeda,
every last one remembers what it felt like to do battle with
bizarre idioms, irregular verbs, and all the other
incomprehensible intricacies that tangle the tongue. And of course, every new English-speaker has a tale to tell:
an immigrant yearning to assimilate and achieve, or a
political exile suddenly far from home and alone, or a child
who just wants to fit in. Their fears and triumphs will
resonate with everyone who has shared this exasperating,
exhilarating experience, whether last year or a lifetime
ago. This wonderful, eclectic, inviting collection speaks
to—and for—all of them, and goes directly to the heart of
the national debate on language and immigration.
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