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Speaking In Tongues By Zadie Smith Analysis

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Does being multilingual imply that one must lose their native language accent, when speaking other languages? As the word “multilingual” can be broken down into: “multiple languages”, it expresses the capacity that humans have in speaking more than one language. Many people believe that in order for one to survive the oppression of being a foreigner in a country, this person must not speak their native language but instead they should speak the language spoken in the new land. Not realizing that refusing for their accent to be part of the new language that they’re now learning, they are losing their culture and therefore not giving their native language value. In the essay “Speaking in Tongues” by Zadie Smith, she begins in a personal conversation

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