Ilan Stavans Quotes

I grew up speaking both languages, and for me that's really important.

It is asked of me that I give my first speech in this house in a language [English] other than my mother tongue [French.] …. Even if I knew English as intimately as I knew French, I would still give my first speech in the language of my French Canadian compatriots

Neither of my parents had English as a first language.

It is an absolute privilege to be able to speak another language and have it be something you grew up with. I think it's a very important thing and I think that everywhere else in the world people speak more than one language.

A young man who is here speaks the Panis language, and in many other respects, is preferable.

I think in my mother tongue. That's Hindi.

I had the luck that my parents educated me in three languages. With my mother I spoke Dutch, with my father Italian, and in the school I learned German. But my host language is Italian.

I learned Spanish at home and, since half my family doesn't speak English, it's my first language.

My first language is both English and Spanish. My mom was raised in Los Angeles, so with her we spoke English, but my father was born in Cuba, so with him we spoke Spanish.

Afrikaans is my first language, although you would never know, as my English accent has more of an American-British thing going on from all my years of travelling.

I studied in American school, so yes, I grew up speaking English and Spanish. Obviously, Spanish is my first language.

My biggest regret is that I didn't teach my two children how to speak Spanish.

My first languages are German and Spanish because I was brought up by a Spanish mother and a German father, so I always spoke both languages at home. I'm very thankful that I was brought up in a bilingual house.

I speak English with my dad and Swedish with my mom; it's quite schizophrenic.

Most of my family doesn't speak English. It's so important for the baby. He's going to know all his American roots, but he also needs to know about his Brazilian side.

I learned Punjabi before I learned English in spite of the fact that I was born in Canada.

I speak English. I dream in it. I cannot separate my English from my Shona; I see the world with those two languages.

I grew up speaking Arabic at home.

I use Mandarin, Korean and English on a daily basis and usually only use Cantonese when I'm speaking with my relatives. I don't think it's very difficult for me to switch between each language because I've been doing it for so long.

I so want to be able to speak another language. I love the way my friends who are half Italian and half English break from one language into another without even pausing.

My mother is half Malayali and half Tamilian. I can speak Bengali and Tamil, but can't read or write.

My father had barely any education. He could hardly write or count. But his great pride was that he was perfectly bilingual. In the household, he entertained this idea that we had to speak both languages.

My mother tongue is Telugu. I was born and brought up in Tamil Nadu.

Spanish is my first language.

I'm half Telugu. My mom is Telugu and dad, a Maharashtrian. I was brought up in Gwalior. I was exposed to English, Hindi, and Marathi. I heard my mom speak to her family in Telugu, so I got the hang of it.