Julia Alvarez is a Dominican American poet, novelist, and essayist. Alvarez was born in New York but spent the first ten years of her childhood in the Dominican Republic. Much of Alvarez's work focuses on her experiences as a Dominican in the United States. In this poem, the speaker discusses the experience of learning a new language.

Julia Alvarez is a Dominican American poet, novelist, and essayist. Alvarez was born in New York but spent the first ten years of her childhood in the Dominican Republic. Much of Alvarez's work focuses on her experiences as a Dominican in the United States. Her poem, "In Spanish," is included in the collection The Woman I Kept to Myself and explores how language helps to shape the speaker's identity.