Do You Understand Me?

As a young Latina woman raised in Brooklyn, New York I've created a lot of relationships with African American people. The share of cultures, food, and language between myself and this specific group of people has adapted me into what is known as, Black Dialect. Although, I was born in The Dominican Republic and raised in The United States I was taught the importance of speaking both the English and Spanish language. As I grew older managing two languages had become more complex, not because it's easier to speak one language, but because as I am speaking in one tongue I think with the other. Living in Brooklyn where it's prominently occupied by African Americans and Latinos, Black Dialect and slang has became our normal way of communicating with one another. Unfortunately, most of the younger generation fail to switch and learn the major difference between Black Dialect and the English language. Where I grew up in, teens as young as 14 years of age would get into serious problems with the law and oftentimes suffered consequences over not understanding certain demands and what was asked of them to speak on. In my personal experience slang has a lot to do with this issue, because most of the young adults I would be around did not know how to speak what's considered, "proper English" to those of upper rank/authority.