My Story as a Heritage Speaker

What does it mean when you are a heritage speaker of a language, and how does that impact the path to formally learning that language?

Marcela Garcés, Ph.D., professor of Spanish, explores those concepts as well as how language impacts cultural identity in her new graphic memoir Me llamo Marcela: My Story as a Heritage Speaker. Illustrated by her brother Andrés, it traces Garcés' experience learning Spanish as a second language growing up both from her family in Michigan (her father is from Colombia; her mother is an American-born Spanish speaker) and from a kind and supportive teacher.

On the surface, Me llamo Marcela may look like a simple story: a young person's journey to learn a language and culture. But it also explores the deeper issues of cultural competence, how language influences identity, the variety of paths that can be taken to learn new material, and the responsibilities of both the author and reader when presenting translations. Garcés hosted a reading and Q&A session about her memoir and these topics on October 30 in the SSU. Student and other attendees asked questions about finding their own language identities and about the process of crafting the book.

Back in middle school, her classmates struggled with the accent and flow of the Spanish language, which came easily to Garcés since she grew up hearing it at home and on occasional family trips to her father's native country. As such, she was a "heritage speaker." But when it came to the more formal rules of grammar and syntax, it was Garcés' turn to struggle.

"My grades weren't as impressive as my accent," she explained. "A new language may be easy for someone to speak, but they might find it harder to read and write, and vice versa."

Her teacher, Doña Maribel, knew that each student's path to language competency was unique, and that each brought her or his own strengths to the learning process. Garcés sought her former teacher's permission to be featured in the memoir, and when the two reunited for a recent visit they noted their similar approach as language teachers in respecting that neither learners nor instructors have all the answers, and knowing how important it is to motivate students to study languages.

"She is similar to me because she grew up speaking multiple languages," said Garces. "I didn't realize this affinity we had when I was a teenager."

Kirkus Reviews called the memoir "a candid rumination on cultural heritage, connection, and determined individuality."

The memoir was eight years in the making. Garcés and her brother shared memories of their childhood, and how they absorbed their father's native language and culture. They collaborated via Skype and in person when possible, with images being sketched out using illustration software. Garcés is shown as a 13-year-old complete with braces and long, wavy hair.

In learning a language, she notes that we "have many unofficial teachers." Hers were her family, and the fruit sellers and sports fans she encountered on family trips to Colombia and to Spain as an adult.

"Language is often not spoken in 'real life' as it is in the classroom," she said, "but blending both experiences is key to developing proficiency."