What struck the most while watching Clarifying Translanguaging and Deconstructing Named Languages was how languages were named and why considering the oppressive systems and structures that influence these categorizations. Learning about “named languages” and how these were created through colonial projects, mapped and named by outsiders made me realize how these categories we use every day to identity linguistic feature completely ignores the histories and identity which further dominates the society evaluation of what is considered valued and what is not when it comes to linguistics practices. Naming a language is not just descriptive but an act of violence and power that decides who gets to be seen and valued or who does not.
Before watching this video, I thought of code switching as something related or similar to translanguaging or more like a skill that had to do with bilingual people flexibly moving between languages. What I never considered was the degree to which the outsider's perspective is included in code-switching privileges that very much oppresses multilingual speakers. This video made me see that the ideology behind code switching depends on believing that languages are “naturally” separate and must constantly switch to fit in. Similarly an example of this ideology is included in “Bilingualism was conceptualized and bilingualism as lived,” it shows how the family's language practices are criticized and the advice given to the parents is centralized on adapting their linguistic practices to monolingual ones. This advice is exerted by institutional power that dictates what is valued and what success can look like for Oscar based on the same monolingual lens. In contrast, translanguaging refuses the division and prioritizes the speaker's perspective that values the full range of linguistic resources. Translanguaging is more than a linguistic concept by becoming a form of power reclaiming linguistic practices that decolonize our minds from the white monolingual lens.
All of this made me think of my own experiences with languages specifically when it comes to my translanguaging practices. For instance, when I'm speaking in academic settings I often feel frustrated or annoyed when I'm speaking English but can only remember a word in Spanish. This pause or perception of failure made me feel like I was speaking the “wrong way” when in reality they are just examples of translanguaging in action. My brain is not confused but drawing from connected linguistic practices and features. This demonstrates how translanguaging reframes my frustration as fluency and not deficiency.