From Standardized to Vernacular English

This blog post is a response to the prompt "Select an assignment that reveals a connection between the readings and your own experience". In this post, I translated the first two paragraphs of my college personal statement from Standardized English to Vernacular English/New York slang. I chose this assignment because code switching has been an aspect of my life for as long as I could remember. I can't use my vernacular New York slang in an academic classroom or a professional setting. Code switching is something I do to fit into the society outside of my friends and classmates and make sure that my voice is accurately heard and not dismissed because of how I'm speaking.

Standardized English (Untranslated)

At the age of thirteen, I knew that I wanted to be remembered. In a world filled with millions and millions of people, I wanted to leave my mark in the most meaningful and significant way possible. I ventured out of my comfort zone to seek various ways to leave a legacy that’ll not only impress my friends and family, but would inspire young black females such as myself. I was indecisive with my decision, caught between several possibilities of what I could do. Become a famous artist? Nope, I couldn’t draw to save my life. Become a Nurse? As much as I loved the esoteric land of the medical field and wanted to become a Nurse Practitioner, I longed to go much deeper than that. I desired to touch hearts, minds, and souls all at once. When I entered my ninth grade year of high school, the idea finally hit me...and it came in the shape of a mobile app.

Wattpad, an online storytelling community, was immensely popular amongst my peers. When I found out about the aforementioned social platform, I knew I had to learn more considering I acquired a very hefty fine at my local public library due to embarrassing late fees. From the moment I joined Wattpad, I fell in love with the teen-dominated atmosphere. Short stories, poems, novels, and everything in between are user generated by budding authors who are able to gain a fanbase and possible fame in the community. Within a few weeks, Wattpad became my home away from home and with the keys to my new house, I unlocked a new door in my mind. I came to the realization that in order to be remembered, I was going to become a writer.

Vernacular New York slang (Translated)

Ight so boom, I dead ass knew that I wanted to be something in life since I was in middle school. It wasn’t about the clout nor was it about the money. I wanted to be something in life for my fam and impress my friends. I wanted other young, black girls and boys to believe in themselves. I couldn’t draw to save my life, please don’t make the mistake of asking me to draw you a dog because it’ll probably look like a cat. I enjoyed medical shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Untold Stories of the E.R, and House M.D and was pursuing a career in the medical field but I wanted to go beyond that. I wanted to leave people in awe. I wanted to stunt on everyone that looked down on me and give my haters something to be jealous about. One day, I heard all the girls in my 8th grade class talking about this book app…and that’s when I knew it was about to be on and poppin’.

Watpad, an online writing community, was hella popular in my middle school. I don’t know who found it and shared it with everyone but it became the talk of every class at school. Apparently, you could read books from young authors all over the world and even write your own books. I knew that I needed to download the app because I owed the library a lot of money that I didn’t have so I was pretty much drid. From the moment I signed up and familiarized myself with the site, It was litt. I discovered books that were written by kids my age. It was dead crazy that someone my age had the capability of producing full length novels. I’ve always loved reading and believed that I had stories to tell. So you know what I did? I became a bomb ass writer.

#standardizedenglish #newyorker #vernacularenglish