--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: First was the abandonment of our native…" description: "\"“First was the abandonment of our native language and our unquestioned embrace of English, even though for my parents that abandonment meant cutting th..." 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… ![“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…” quote by Alex Tizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb3/alex-tizon-21818_language_first-was-the-abandonment-of-our-native_800460.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb3/alex-tizon-21818_language_first-was-the-abandonment-of-our-native_800460.jpg) [Open 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 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.”” [Alex Tizon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tizon/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Losing one's native language severs connection to cultural identity, causing disorientation; language is essential to belonging and understanding. **In simple terms:** Language loss leads to cultural alienation and confusion. Key Takeaway Preserve and value native language for identity. Themes identity language migration culture displacement Mood melancholic reflective Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - immigrant assimilation - education - heritage preservation Key Concepts linguistics psychology anthropology Questions to Reflect On - How does language shape personal worldview? - What can societies do to support linguistic diversity? A Different Perspective Adapting to new language can also create new opportunities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Native language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/native-language/) ## Related quotes > [Language is the only homeland.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/language-is-the-only-homeland/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“No language meant no chance of co-opting them in to what their round and flaxen invaders were calling Salvation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/no-language-meant-no-chance-of-co-opting-them-in-to-what-their-round/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [When it's done with being graceful and poetic, language is meant to communicate, after all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-barry/when-it-s-done-with-being-graceful-and-poetic-language-is-meant-to/) [Max Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-barry/) > [I believe the United States should allow all foreigners in this country, provided they can speak our native language... 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Writing is partly about listening…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rae-armantrout/i-am-attracted-to-looking-at-the-different-things-language-can-mean/) [Rae Armantrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rae-armantrout/) > [What is music? Music is language. A human being wants to express ideas in this language, but not ideas that can be translated into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-webern/what-is-music-music-is-language-a-human-being-wants-to-express-ideas/) [Anton Webern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-webern/) > [You're beautiful, cute, pretty, gorgeous, and fuck.. I ran out of words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raghib-clitso/you-re-beautiful-cute-pretty-gorgeous-and-fuck-i-ran-out-of-words/) [Raghib Clitso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raghib-clitso/) > [The world has a soul and whoever understands that soul can also understand the language of many things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/the-world-has-a-soul-and-whoever-understands-that-soul-can-also/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [“The words for what I want to say right now don't exist. Everything sounds…so cliché.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelly-crane/the-words-for-what-i-want-to-say-right-now-don-t-exist-everything/) [Shelly Crane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelly-crane/) > [A man cannot speak but he judges himself. 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(To action little, less to words inclinded.)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/finxerunt-animi-raro-et-perpauca-loquentis-to-action-little-less-to/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [For comedy action, I must know the language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sammo-hung/for-comedy-action-i-must-know-the-language/) [Sammo Hung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sammo-hung/) [Browse all 21,951 Language quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@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. 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