I was in the back seat of the car with my mother at age 6, driving down a (more or less) major route in Eastern Massachusetts. For whatever reason, we pulled into a strip mall parking lot to get some things at CVS. I remember my mother’s voice on the way out of the parking lot, rambling on about something that I needed to do, obviously from a place of genuine care and love. But I remember specifically tuning out everything she was saying. The sounds kind of became randomized sound segments that receptors in my brain could not parse. I then thought about something for a second: English isn’t the only language out there, and most people in the world would have no idea what my mom was saying. Continue reading →

¡Hola a todos! Me llamo Alicia LeClair. I’m a junior here at UMass Amherst and I am double majoring in Spanish and Spanish & Linguistics, as well as working towards a Latin American and Caribbean Studies Certificate!

Dado que este año es mi tercer año en UMass, tengo más tiempo para “crecer” a mi especialización pero estoy en una buena posición ahora con mis ideas de carreras “de sueños” y mi percepción de la ya ha cambiado mucho. Continue reading →

I have taken a lot of Spanish and linguistics classes while being here at UMass, but I would have to say that one of the classes that I have learned from and liked the most has been Spanish 471. In this class there was both a linguistic and Spanish approach to the Spanish language. It was a lot of fun because I learned a lot about Spanish dialects and varieties in the language and the different causes for each. I think it is really interesting that although a lot of countries speak Spanish, it’s not spoken exactly the same anywhere, even within one country alone, there are always differences caused by other factors that aren’t based on region. Continue reading →