...I love speaking Spanish at home it makes me feel connected to my roots. Knowing that when i get home my mom would be there and she would talk to me in Spanish is a good feeling that i get every time i had a long day at school. I Am free to speak any language at home but I feel more connected speaking Spanish because it part of my culture to speak Spanish and also I don’t have an option to speak to my mom, because she only speak English, But I'm glad I do speak in Spanish at home. Usually at school not everyone speaks Spanish so it makes more sense to speak it more at home. I had to move to the Unite States when I was only 7 years old. It sad because I really don’t remember most of the things that I did in Mexico because I was so young. That why I feel that the only thing that I have from Mexico is a few memories and of course my language that I love to speak when I get a chance. It makes me feel connected with other people that speak the same language as me. Usually at work there are a few consumers that don’t speak English, it makes me feel happy because I’m able to understand what they want when they ask me in Spanish. at work I speak mostly Spanish to my co-workers because we share the same language that we are able to...
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...level. While it is more important that Tan and Anzaldua speak different languages, have different identities, and are immigrants from different countries. What’s more important is how they conform to the new society due to struggles they face because of the way they speak the dialects of their languages in America. In both essays, language is one of the themes that both authors focus on. Tan and Anzaldua are struggling with speaking their language. Amy Tan is struggling with her mom’s broken English, while Gloria...
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...Essay Language has fatal consequences, from my own personal experience, when working in healthcare, speaking unprofessionally can cause me to be terminated, although it may be challenging to change the way you speak a language, you just have to deal with what the employer wants from you or you will lose your job. According to James Baldwin, language “is the most vivid and crucial key to identity: It reveals the private identity, and connects one with, or divorces one from, the larger, public, or communal identity. There have been, and are, times and places, when to speak a certain language could be dangerous, even fatal” (650). Baldwin explains that there is a time and place that certain language should be speaking because language has fatal consequences. I agree with Baldwin, there is a time and place for everything. I also agree that language can be dangerous, even fatal. In James Baldwin’s essay, “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” Baldwin confronts the topic of “Black Language.” Baldwin states, “Language incontestably, reveals the speaker” (Baldwin, 648). The language one speaks can say a lot about a person. People may speak the same language, but it is always going to be different based off where the speaker comes from, what type of person the speaker is, what the speaker does as their career, and what the speaker has experienced in their life. Baldwin states that his argument has “nothing to do with language itself but with the role of language” (648)...
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...by the way they talk or even by the groups whom they’re associated with. A person who speaks with a deep accent may be judged for speaking “differently”. Language is a great thing. It’s what we use to communicate with others. Each country has different kinds of languages with different accents. Communication is used everywhere in the world. Everyone communicates all the time. But communication is much more than just talking and listening; it involves understanding and interpreting. Language can both include and exclude groups of people through the use of slang, family adaptations, and non-natives. First, there are many types of communication that involve slang everywhere in the world. Professional communication or slang in my opinion, is the way someone speaks naturally rather than trying to sound high class or use big words. Just because someone knows bigger, broader words doesn’t make it professional. In George Orwell’s essay, Politics and the English language, he states how language is full of bad habits when he says, “Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation.” This is true because bad habits do stick, just like slang. The world communicates with slang which makes it hard for some to communicate. Professional communication can be looked at as a way in which someone presents themselves, rather than the way they speak. There is no legitimate right way of speaking English but the way in which one best interprets...
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...Experience with Language Language is a big part of my everyday life. I hear different languages being spoken in many places. I experience a different kind of language the most at the nail salon. Language has a big effect on everyone, in my opinion every time I walk into the nail salon I hear someone talking in a different kind of language. I have no idea what they are saying, but I find it very impressive that most of them can speak English and their language, Vietnamese. As soon as I walk into the nail salon I always hear them talking to one another in their own language. I am sometimes very curious as to what they are saying. For example, they will carry on a conversation with each other and they both look at me and start laughing. It makes me wonder if they were talking about me. Although I cannot understand their language, I usually can tell their emotion by the tone in his or her voice or the look on their face. The body language usually gives it away as well. It is very easy to tell how someone feels by their actions. I love hearing the language they speak because it is very different then the English language. Being around a different language is also very difficult as well. Sometimes I go to someone that does not speak English very well and it is really hard to understand them. Sometimes I have to ask them to repeat their selves more than once, and if I still do not understand I kind of just laugh or just nod my head. It would be neat to learn every language in the world...
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...Francis Reyes English 100 – AK Liza Erpelo May 9, 2009 “Before I learned how to speak Tagalog, people made fun of me because of my New Jersey accent. They would ostracize me because I am an American,“ (Reyes). As one can see, language is the main issue in the Filipino American society that needs to be resolved in order to reserve history and traditions. Throughout the interview with Brian, I found that he went through hardships because he could not speak Tagalog. His early lifestyle of growing up in New Jersey gave Brian a disadvantage because he did not have a real reason why a Filipino dialect would be important to learn. His situation occurred during the 80’s and, since then, the number of Filipino and Filipino Americans not knowing a Filipino dialect increased. There can be many rationalizations as to why, year-by-year, the population amongst young Filipino and Filipina Americans retain from learning a part of their heritage. For example, in the book Homebound, by Yen Le Espiritu, there is a reference as to why some immigrant parents refrain from teaching their children how to speak a Filipino dialect. Similar opinions also occur in the section “Filipino American Identity: Transcending the Crisis,” by Linda A. Revilla, and how Filipino soldiers stationed in Hawaii were called a “disgracia,” or a disgrace, because they did not know a Filipino language. Both books correlate to what my brother went through when he was living in the Philippines for two...
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...Alnasri, 1 The grammars of a language differ than other languages. Every language has its own grammars, but it is not only about grammars. Languages are also different in the way they are structured, their metaphors, and the meaning of words based on every culture. The environment effects the way people communicate. People use their surroundings to express themselves, we reached a level where words are more powerful than what we imagine, they sometimes mean acts. “It addresses the physicality of language in a way that perhaps surprises us.” (Rios, 506). Alnasri, 2 Mansour Alnasri #000543474 02/08/2012 College Writing Trudy Stone First Paper Languages Conflict In this world and in this time it is hard to find a person who speaks only one language. Every person of them passes through situations where they face conflict between their native language and the other language that they speak. I read “Translating Translation: Finding the beginning” by Albert Alvaro Rios and I find it really interesting. I feel it touches my mind, he writes about what every person who speaks more than one language thinks about. He writes about different aspects of speaking another language, and more examples of his personal experience. Rios holds the Katharine C. Turner Endowed chair in English at Arizona State University. He is the recipient of many distinguished awards for his writing. Rios starts with general information about himself and how he first noticed this conflict. Then he gets to the ...
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...Language Myths Language Myths: My own LA-reading journal. 1. Myth 2: "Some Languages Are Just Not Good Enough" by Ray Harlow Some people have the idea that some languages are just not good enough. They believe this for several different reasons, it is because the language is not structured in terms of forming words, the language doesn't contain enough compounds and it can't be used as official language in areas such as administration, business communication, international air traffic etc. Sometimes people dislike a certain language because they think it is ugly. I disagree with this myth. I believe that every language is precious to the people who speak the language. Harlow says: ‘Most languages are the first language of some community and serve the everyday functions of that community perfectly well.’ Communication is the most important aspect of a language. If a language serves this purpose it is good enough. 2. Myth 5: "English Spelling Is Kattastroffik" by Edward Carney Edward Carney believes that people shouldn't blame the English spelling system just because there are more speech- sounds than letters in English spelling. It is important to separate sounds and letters in English spelling. After studying Phonetics, spelling and pronunciation became easier for me. I learnt that one speech-sound can have different spelling and that one spelling may stand for different speech-sounds. Sounds very complicated at first, but after a while I started to understand why. This...
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...approximately one billion other people around the world who are engaged in the same pursuit. However, as you try to memorise proper grammar, and try to avoid the mistakes common to most students of English, you may wonder why you are learning the language in the first place. So, why is English important? After Mandarin, English is spoken by more people than any other language, and is the native language of more than 350 million people. More people speak English than those who speak the Arabic and French languages combined. Moreover, English is the international language of diplomacy, business, science, technology, banking, computing, medicine, aviation, UN & NATO armed forces, engineering, tourism, Hollywood films and arguably the best pop and rock music in the world. English has plenty of words to choose from. In fact, an English speaker is offered the biggest vocabulary of any language with a choice of 500,000 to 1,000,000 words (including technical and scientific terms). But don’t panic, most English speakers do very well with a vocabulary of around 20,000 words. English can be fun too. For instance, the music of such stars as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson and Madonna has encouraged fans to speak the language of their idols, whilst others have enrolled in English classes to improve their understanding of the dialogue in films and TV shows. Or perhaps they have embraced English to enjoy the writing of Stephen King, George Orwell or J.K. Rowling...
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...Mother Tongue and L2 English Learners I remember the time when I was told that in an English class the use of the mother tongue cannot be acceptable because it is not beneficial for students to learn a foreign language. So I asked to myself, why? Because I knew that you cannot speak in Spanish all the time, but “never”? In my classes I accept it for some activities and for others I do not. According to Davis Carless “Students use of the mother tongue in the task-based classroom”, the use of the native language or mother tongue (MT) is quite complex because it could be beneficial for learners but, at the same time, it could not. In general, the use of MT is stigmatized by some methods, and teachers who cannot handle a class in the target language (TL) feel frustrated by the overuse of the students’ first language. However, as the writer claims, by taking into account the type of tasks we give to our students we can analize which are the ones that imply a positive effect on the second language acquisition and the ones that imply negative effects. Thus, teachers will be able to handle a task-based class with both languages in interaction. Firstly, Carless argues that the use of MT may have positive and negative effects on second language acquisition. Positive effects seem to “serve social and cognitive functions, including the construction of scaffolded assistance and create through collaborative dialogue the opportunity for language acquisition to take place.” In fact, through...
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...people speak on a day to day basis. If I had a choice English wouldn’t have been my first language, or my only language for that matter. My family is mainly made up of women. My grandmother has four daughters and all four daughters had girls except for one. I’m the third out of all my family to go to college. I’m like any other teenager. I speak a whole completely different “English” language when I’m surrounded by my family members. I was brought up that way, to always be respectful of my parents and elders. When I’m with them I speak respectfully. I don’t cuss around them. That’s extremely disrespectful. I’m 18 now and I still don’t swear In front of my family, even though that I’m older they find it “okay” I’ll always see that as disrespectful. I’d never want my child to swear in front of me or anything of that sort so why would I do it in front of my parents. When I’m 60 years old, I still won’t swear in front of them. I’m not the most intelligent person but I know how to speak my language and speak it well. English is used everywhere. I don’t use huge meaningful, powerful words or sayings. If there were an actual system where people had to be placed based on how they speak. I’d be ranked in the middle. I’d put myself there because I’m not illiterate but I’m also not the best speaker in the world. I’d love to learn how to speak English properly more often. When I’m around friends though I become more of myself which isn’t the smart individual I was brought up to be. I feel...
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...primary language influences who they become. She uses Chicanos as a way to strengthen that argument. Chicanos, speak both English and Spanish, it’s a mix of two distinct cultures, therefore, how one identifies themselves, influences how they dress, speak and act. The language you speak is a part of your culture, it is who you truly are, and what defines you the most. Anzaldua uses pathos to also argue that in order to fully have a sense of happiness, one must “accept the illegitimacy of their wild tongue” Anzaldua is able to learn to take pride in her own identity and culture and insinuates that we as readers need to put an end to discrimination and be more accepting instead of judgmental of other people's native language. Anzaldua repeatedly expresses how speaking Chicano impacts how others view her. It is frustrating to have others look down on you for speaking a language different from theirs. The treatment she receives when she speaks...
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...Language Shapes Our Minds Language is so essential to our existence, so deeply part of what every human has and does, and it’s impossible to picture life without it. As social creatures, we use language as a tool, but this tool is embedded in us. This tool doesn't just help us shape the world around us and create bonds and express things, but this tool also shapes our mind. They can alter the way we see the world and the way we think and the way we live our lives. I’ve always been a firm believer of this and many different persons including lawyers, linguists, and psychologist speculated it, but not until recently were studies actually done to prove these statements. This was mostly done because it was presumed “untestable”, but luckily, Stanford and MIT found ways to reopen the question. “We have collected data around the world: from China, Greece, Chile, Indonesia, Russia, and Aboriginal Australia. What we have learned is that people who speak different languages do indeed think differently and that even flukes of grammar can profoundly affect how we see the world.” (Boroditsky, Lera. "HOW DOES OUR LANGUAGE SHAPE THE WAY WE THINK.) Language is a unique thing that humans have had the ability to create and develop and it is not only a key example to express how humans work, but it allows us to express ourselves in so many ways. To understand how language works, we must first understand what language is. Language is defined as ‘a body of words and the systems for their use...
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...Khalid Al Mansuri Dr. Davidson LING 513 October 16, 2014 Outline I. Topic Gender and Number Agreement in the Oral Production of L1 Arabic Among Bilingual Arab-Americans. II. Thesis Statement This study investigates Arabic heritage speakers’ knowledge of gender and number agreement and concord morphology in two syntactic contexts; subject-verb agreement and noun-adjective agreement. Additionally, how does their dominant language (English) may affect the correct usage of gender and number agreement in the two syntactic contexts. III. Hypothesis There is a negative influence of the dominant language (English) on the mastering gender and number agreement in Arabic among bilingual Arab-Americans. IV. Methodology A. Participants: Ten participants (Bilingual Arab-Americans). B. Data Collection Two tasks: 1. Oral-production task: includes the description of 10 pictures via PowerPoint. The purpose of this task is to produce examples of subject-verb agreement in Arabic as the following: a. human-singular masculine. b. human- singular feminine. c. human- plural masculine. d. human- plural feminine. 2. The second task is: Demonstrate and compare these pictures; each picture has contrastive adjectives, For example, happy/sad. Five pairs-pictures. The purpose of this task is to elicit examples of noun-adjective agreement in Arabic as the following: a. human-singular...
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...important things on life such as loving and take care with their family. I think that Hwangs parents were good parents in terms of their hard sacrifice that they make to their daughter by sending her to another country. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that Ms. Hwang can grow up and move her life to one of the greatest opportunity across the nation. Hwangs parents did not regret by taking her to America they know that if they will bring her to another country and become a layer they have confidence that she can make it in terms of her young age. I think it is a good feeling that Hwang did go to school and pursue her career. As a matter of fact she ended up of being a writer none of this would happen if she didn’t believe in herself that she can make it but in the end she did. Her parents were good parents but what confuses her was the fact that she doesn’t speak Korean in most cases Korean people doesn’t speak English as their first language most of them are immigrants. If I have the opportunity to be in Hwangs situation I would probably take seminars in Korean class or school that teach native language. It is hard for her because it is not her second language I understand that it is hard for people to talk if they don’t know many languages. I think her parents left her unjustified or with no answers If they know that their daughter will suffer the consequence on not be able to talk in different language then that will probably take under consideration. It’s not good at all...
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