Essay from the year 2010 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 1,3, TU Dortmund, language: English, abstract: At the centre of Julia Alvarez’s novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents stands the Dominican girl Yolanda, who moved to America as a youth. Since then, she has often been back in the Dominican Republic to visit her family and maintain a close link to her cultural origin. Yolanda’s identity is strongly influenced by the two cultures, which makes her a cultural hybrid. This essay will show the important role that language plays in the production of cross-cultural identity as can be seen in the development of Yolanda. Furthermore, the essay will only focus on her English language development in the American environment, excluding the scenes where Yolanda is back in the Dominican Republic for visits.