Aaron Persaud

Mr.Velez

College Writing

2 October 2022

Culture Shock in Guyana

Language and literacy are important tools, needed to succeed in society, yet no two people speak exactly the same. Everyone develops their own tongue based on their own experiences. Some people may be forced to learn many languages at a young age whilst some people may go their whole life only speaking one language. For me, a moment that forced reflection about my own language and literacy came when I visited my home country, Guyana. 

This was me around the time of the trip. I was quite young but my memory of the trip hasn’t faded.

The sun was hot and air felt different. As I exited the airplane I remembered, Guyana’s atmosphere and aura was completely different from Americas. Although I was little the last time I visited I remembered this feeling. 

My mother, brother, and I were traveling to Guyana to surprise my father. His brother-in-law, Rudolph, picked us up from the airport. “Ya get so big na man”, he told my brother. As my mom and my uncle caught up on the way, I zoned out looking out the window. I was culture shocked. Although I experienced this culture somewhat at home it was completely different to being completely immersed in it. I saw people who dressed and talked just like my family and the food my family made at home being sold in stores.  

This is uncle, brother, and I at a resort. As you can see the “culture shock” was irritating me to say the least.

As I entered the house my uncles dog, Jeff, bombarded me with licks and kisses. “A who da”, my aunt said, “Wha Aerie ya ge so big”. As I caught up with all my family they all said something similar but I did have a realization. They speak a completely different language. Other people would have no idea what they’re saying but I’ve been trained to unconsciously translate “guyanese” into English. Guyanese english isn’t officially recognized as a language, there is no google translate for it. This isn’t because the language isn’t popular or Guyana is too small, its simply because the language they speak is recognized as broken English. Guyanas official language is English. Due to these facts I had never made the connection that they spoke a completely different language.  

This is me at my Uncles house which was directly across from a church and pigeon coop, something I was not used to.

As I further reflect as a near adult I feel like referring to Guyanese English as broken is somewhat xenophobic and discriminatory. Although Guyanese English may sound broken to Americans, it’s just English to Guyanese people. The language originated as an attempt to communicate between the different people who were brought to Guyana by the British(Indians, Africans, Portuguese, Chinese). The people of Guyana didn’t choose to speak a broken language, it was an adaptation required for survival. Calling there language broken comes from a place of supremacy and is therefore xenophobic. I hope to break the barriers between Americans and the Guyanese language and show that it is a just a dialect of the language we all speak.