--- title: "1 Language Unquestioned Quotes By Alex Tizon" description: "1 Language Unquestioned quotes by Alex Tizon. Plus more from Alex Tizon and more Language Unquestioned sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb3/alex-tizon-21818_language_first-was-the-abandonment-of-our-native_800460.jpg" --- > [“First was the abandonment of our native language and our unquestioned embrace of English, even though for my parents that abandonment meant cutting themselves off from a fluency they would never have again. Possessing a language meant possessing the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tizon/first-was-the-abandonment-of-our-native-language-and-our-unquestioned/) [Alex Tizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tizon/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb3/alex-tizon-21818_language_first-was-the-abandonment-of-our-native_800460.jpg) ## More by Alex Tizon > [It wasn't a conscious decision to search for my Asian self; it was an urgency born out of an emptiness I was trying to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tizon/it-wasn-t-a-conscious-decision-to-search-for-my-asian-self-it-was-an/) [Alex Tizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tizon/) > [I think there has been a long-running notion in the West that Asia was a continent of people that were really conquerable. That people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tizon/i-think-there-has-been-a-long-running-notion-in-the-west-that-asia/) [Alex Tizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tizon/) > [When I was 15, Dad left the family for good. I didn't want to believe it at the time, but the fact was that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tizon/when-i-was-15-dad-left-the-family-for-good-i-didn-t-want-to-believe/) [Alex Tizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tizon/) > [I first visited the Philippines when I was 29. I thought I would feel at home there, but I felt more out of place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tizon/i-first-visited-the-philippines-when-i-was-29-i-thought-i-would-feel/) [Alex Tizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tizon/) > [Shame is hard to confront. Even if you know it's baseless, it's still hard to come face-to-face with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tizon/shame-is-hard-to-confront-even-if-you-know-it-s-baseless-it-s-still/) [Alex Tizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tizon/) > [I do remember instances where girls would just fawn over me because they liked that I was different - exotic - to them. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tizon/i-do-remember-instances-where-girls-would-just-fawn-over-me-because/) [Alex Tizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tizon/) > [I didn't go into journalism thinking it would solidify my identity. I did it because I needed to make a living, and I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tizon/i-didn-t-go-into-journalism-thinking-it-would-solidify-my-identity-i/) [Alex Tizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tizon/) > [“First was the abandonment of our native language and our unquestioned embrace of English, even though for my parents that abandonment meant cutting themselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tizon/first-was-the-abandonment-of-our-native-language-and-our-unquestioned/) [Alex Tizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tizon/) > [We all, to some degree, absorb the mythologies around us, our vision refracted by the prisms of our particular time and place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tizon/we-all-to-some-degree-absorb-the-mythologies-around-us-our-vision/) [Alex Tizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tizon/) > [To our American neighbors, we were model immigrants, a poster family. They told us so. My father had a law degree, my mother was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tizon/to-our-american-neighbors-we-were-model-immigrants-a-poster-family/) [Alex Tizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tizon/) > [My brother Arthur was born in 1951. I came next, followed by three more siblings in rapid succession.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tizon/my-brother-arthur-was-born-in-1951-i-came-next-followed-by-three-more/) [Alex Tizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tizon/) > [I guess you could say I've written a lot about one thing as a journalist. But I hardly ever saw it as exclusively about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tizon/i-guess-you-could-say-i-ve-written-a-lot-about-one-thing-as-a/) [Alex Tizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tizon/) > [“We could debate whether movies reflect or create the reality. It's clear to me they do both.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tizon/we-could-debate-whether-movies-reflect-or-create-the-reality-it-s/) [alex tizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tizon/) > [The stories I work on, especially for any length of time, do tend to become personal to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tizon/the-stories-i-work-on-especially-for-any-length-of-time-do-tend-to/) [Alex Tizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tizon/) > [Admitting the truth would have meant exposing us all. We spent our first decade in the country learning the ways of the new land…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tizon/admitting-the-truth-would-have-meant-exposing-us-all-we-spent-our/) [Alex Tizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tizon/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language-unquestioned/alex-tizon/#itemlist", "name": "1 Language Unquestioned Quotes By Alex Tizon", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“First was the abandonment of our native language and our unquestioned embrace of English, even though for my parents that abandonment meant cutting themselves off from a fluency they would never have again. Possessing a language meant possessing the world expressed in its words. Dispossessing it meant nothing less than the loss of a world and the beginning of bewilderment forever. “Language is the only homeland,” said poet Czeslaw Milosz. My parents left the world that created them and now would be beginners for the rest of their lives, mumblers searching for the right word, the proper phrase that approximated what they felt inside. I wonder at the eloquence that must have lived inside them that never found a way out. How much was missed on all sides.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alex Tizon" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tizon/first-was-the-abandonment-of-our-native-language-and-our-unquestioned/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb3/alex-tizon-21818_language_first-was-the-abandonment-of-our-native_800460.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb3/alex-tizon-21818_language_first-was-the-abandonment-of-our-native_800460.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb3/alex-tizon-21818_language_first-was-the-abandonment-of-our-native_800460.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“First was the abandonment of our native language and our unquestioned embrace of English, even though for my…” — Alex Tizon", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language-unquestioned/alex-tizon/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language-unquestioned/alex-tizon/", "name": "Language Unquestioned Quotes by Alex Tizon", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language-unquestioned/alex-tizon/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb3/alex-tizon-21818_language_first-was-the-abandonment-of-our-native_800460.jpg" }, "description": "1 Language Unquestioned quotes by Alex Tizon. Plus more from Alex Tizon and more Language Unquestioned sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language-unquestioned/alex-tizon/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language-unquestioned/alex-tizon/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Topics", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Language Unquestioned", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language-unquestioned/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Alex Tizon", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language-unquestioned/alex-tizon/" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```