Tanya Barrientos, in her essay titled, Se Habla Español explains the difficulties that she had to surpass in order to fit into the American culture and society. As the older she got, the more she began to realize that no matter how hard she tried to fit in and stay away from her culture, and no matter how persistent she was, the label would not stay away from her. Tanya started to see that America had become more of a hyphenated nation and she was left wondering where she fit in. Speaking for myself and from experience, I have noticed that many people who have migrated to America, have decided it was best to leave their cultural baggage and erase any lingering ethnic traits when they stepped foot on the American floor. They believed that they were seen as the poor, the minority by the American people. That is understandable, however, I disagree with how Tanya’s parents approached this issue because this affected Tanya’s life in a tremendous way as she was growing up, and it left her not knowing…show more content… It meant waiting tables and cleaning hotel rooms. It meant being left off the cheerleading squad and receiving a condescending smile from the guidance counselor when you said you planned on becoming a lawyer or a doctor” (Barrientos, 84). However, once she entered her teens, she began to notice others looking down upon her because she could not speak her native language. Tanya decided to sign up to learn the language that her parents speak at home for the sixth time because her parents thought it was a wise idea for their children to stop speaking Spanish when they came to the States. I am assuming that at the time, they did not consider the affects this would have on their children as they were growing up, which does not seem to make much sense considering the family she has back home, how would she carry on a conversation? Her parents didn’t give much thought to that decision,