WEBVTT

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Well, all that took 30 years.

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It wasn't done overnight.

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And as the author
of two novels, which

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I wrote both in English and
Spanish, which are therefore

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accessible to you, I would
like to read to you tonight

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my bilingual testament--

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"The House in the Lagoon" and
"Eccentric Neighborhoods."

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When I wrote them, I
discovered that biculturalism

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and bilingualism in this
country are not only possible,

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but a very enriching
possibility.

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In Puerto Rico, as part of
a multicultural community,

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we can look at the world through
different sets of glasses.

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We can see and understand
social transformations

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and developments from very
different perspectives.

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One language can reveal
things to us that

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remain hidden in the other.

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We can focus on things better as
each language acts as a filter,

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clarifying our thoughts from
diverging points of view.

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Being a bilingual writer,
I've discovered something

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I believe is important.

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Words, language is
what holds us together

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as civilized societies.

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And in the modern
world, it has become

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more and more important to
speak more than one language.

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I think, for example,
that it would be wonderful

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if Spanish were
to be recuperated

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by those citizens
of Hispanic origin

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in this country who
have lost it in exile.

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And I believe it is a
distinct possibility

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that this country, where the
Hispanic population is becoming

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more and more important,
may adopt Spanish

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in the not too far off future
as its second official language.

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Considering how
important communication

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has become in our
present time, to speak

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both English and Spanish, the
language of more than half

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the population of
this continent,

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today would be the
reasonable thing

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to do for the United States.

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In the past, those immigrants
who came to this country

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would forget their maternal
language of their own accord

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or would be encouraged to
do so by the authorities.

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It was the reasonable
thing to do,

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as exiles had to learn
to adapt to a new life

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and a new society.

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Amnesia was, to a great
extent, the best cure

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for the pangs of exile.

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Today, all this has changed.

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And the Hispanic minority is
not being absorbed by the Anglo

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majority, but is living
side by side with it,

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adding its culture to the rich
diversity of North America.

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Even those who have lost their
native language because they

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arrived here as part of
previous waves of immigrants

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are looking today to recuperate
their lost languages,

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assisting the universities,
taking language programs

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for this purpose, et cetera.

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To acquire any language
is to become a new person,

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to acquire roots that will give
our lives additional meaning.

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In my case, this has been so.

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When I write in English,
I am a different person,

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although I returned
to live in Puerto Rico

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seven years ago after living
nine years in Washington.

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I am an independent woman.

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And I keep a cold eye
for controversial themes.

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In Spanish, I am still
sentimental and baroque,

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playful instead of
utilitarian or puritanical.

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In Spanish, I love
to play, and I love

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to make love and celebrate.

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Thank you.

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[APPLAUSE]

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