Language Differences in America Essay

“Our culture, our traditions, our languages are the foundations upon which we build our identity.” - Unknown. The concept of bilingualism represents several different ideas, two writers share their personal stories about learning being immersed into the English culture and learning the language. They both share their views of what Bilingualism means to them personally and make arguments about the importance of the concept.

I am the youngest of five sisters and two brothers. My family is Mexican- American, both of my older brothers were born in Mexico and were brought by my parents at a very young age. My parents were also born in Mexico and like every immigrant migrated from their home countries to pursue what is called the American dream. I very much enjoy being from Mexican roots, because my traditions, foods, dances, culture and kindness makes me who I am today. I have three nieces and one nephew from the ages six on down. We are all Mexican American ancestry.

America is greatly influenced and enhanced by the many versatile cultures which inhabit it. Cultural diversity has added to our economy in such a way that it brings innovated ideas and contact structures throughout the world. International cuisines have come to America through subcultures, have expanded the food industry, and have allowed English Americans to try new foods and flavors. Immigrants have brought with them religious values that greatly differ and vary from those at which were natural in the main stream American culture. The educational development through foreign nationals has led America, as a nation, to excel and be deemed one of the most intelligent nations in the world! Consequently, the subcultures have kept our

There is a saying foreigners use that goes “If you speak three languages, you’re trilingual. If you speak two languages, you’re bilingual. If you speak one language, then you’re probably American.” Living in America, the home language is English. So when foreigners come and are unable to pronounce or understand the traditional language, they come off as a useless individual to some members of American society. On the contrary, America is one of the few countries that is so heavily dominated by just one language. There are around 40 million Spanish-speaking citizens in America, however, compared to America’s population of over 320 million people, that is under fourteen

The changing environments throughout the ages have caused the movement of thousands of families out of their homelands. Whether forced to make such decisions or doing so by their own desires, all immigrants have had to survive the physical and psychological challenges encountered along the way. To speak about the experiences of all these different people using the same ideas and examples would be quite inaccurate. They all, however, had to live through similar situations and deal with similar problems. Many of them succeeded and found the better future they were looking for. Many others found only hardship and experienced the destruction of their hopes and dreams. All of them were transformed.

When I first started school, I remember how difficult it was for me to make the transition from Spanish to English. My Mom left me at the door of the school in the morning, but since I was placed in an English-only classroom, the next time I opened my mouth to speak to anyone was when she picked me up again that afternoon. I didn't know what anyone was saying around me, and to make matters worse, my teacher didn't speak a single word of Spanish. That day, like every other day, I came home crying because I felt like an outsider. That year was very difficult for me because I ended up in the back corner of the classroom not participating. As a result, I had to take several years of summer school in order to catch up, something that

I moved to Arizona from Boston in 2014. We have moved around before, but this was different. We were going across the country. I was sad to leave everything I knew behind for someplace I didn’t really know about. We moved in July, and as August came closer and closer, I got more nervous. Would I sit alone at lunch? Would I like my teachers? As any 6th grader would be before the first day of school, I was scared and a bit nervous. I was pretty shy, always hiding myself in books. So I was relieved to find that we wouldn’t have to find our classes alone on the first day. I was dreading lunch, but I put it out of my mind. That day, in fact, I met one of my best friends. I managed to survive my first day of middle school. And the next. And the next. I even got good grades in math! I sometimes struggle, and did previously, in math.

English is the most common language spoken in The United States; however, there are a vast amount of dialects spoken in the country. America is currently divided. The way in which one person speaks places them in different hierarchies in civilization. Some people may look down on others who speak in a different way than they do. Social groups form over whether a certain individual talks the same as another. Americans are placed in a position of power if they are able to speak in “proper” English. Many black Americans may feel even more disenfranchised from white Americans that are in power because they cannot relate to the way in which they

Throughout the 1800s to 1900s, Russians (and many more) have Immigrated to America. The Russian Immigration to America was to enjoy their new taste of freedom and start a new life in the land of opportunity, But! The Important reason they Immigrated was too escape the Politics, Poverty, and Disease. This pushed them too leave their home and come to America.

Growing up we’re told repeatedly that, “grammar is important, and you will need it in college.” As I sit in these lectures, however, I see that claim hasn’t fazed anybody. I sit in an English class expecting to read these great, well put together papers, and I get the same writing level I saw my senior year in high school. I should expect this, I mean, no kid is going to magically learn the rules of writing over the summer. I didn’t. It took nine grueling months of an English class that, quite frankly, was hell on earth to learn most of them. The class was the toughest class I have ever sat through, and yet, I’m blessed. I’m in my second semester as a college student, and Sandra Stebbin’s English class has saved me more times than I care to count. It’s time for the United States education system to start taking grammar seriously. This is a huge concern, because our future leaders can’t afford to have writing skills equivalent to a 7th grade middle school kid.

I still recall my first day at an American school how everyone just stared at me I didn't understand. I thought my English was nearly perfect but I guess it was not enough to mask my strong Indian accent. My new

→ Undocumented immigrants faced much kind of challenges among them; one of main difficulties arises from languages. For example difference between American slang and formal English. Likewise Jose Antonio describes in the video difference between “ what’s up? Where he replied “the sky”, if I were in his place I would have replied it as same way like he did. Also another challenged would be bullying by classmate they will make fun of your accent, if you have notice most immigrant kids won’t talk in front of the whole class because if they answer question asked by teacher they have to repeat several times so that teacher can understand fear of rejection, embarrassment and later bullying from you classmate outside of class. This why most immigrant

     Once my family and I arrived at our new house I was still very saddened because of the move and had trouble not getting mad at my parents. Summer went bye like it wasn’t even there and by the time school started I was very depressed. The new school I was going to was Naperville North High School which was about ten times the size of my old school in Pennsylvania in size and in the number of students. In my school in Pennsylvania there were about twelve students in each class, here the number runs around thirty two. The school building was so big I had a lot of trouble getting to class on time let alone finding them in the building. The school wasn’t what I was bothered by the most because it was the fact that I didn’t have any social life and I was a social person. There were a lot of different groups of people at my new high school, it was tough for me to fit in and meet new people. Everyone just knew me as the new kid and didn’t even bother to find out what my real name was. The first

The language barrier is one of the biggest problems people face when they move to another country. Many immigrants who come from other countries are met with many linguistic challenges that not only impede their control of daily life tasks but also their ability to survive. I believe that it is important for immigrants to speak a national language. If they are unable to speak a national language, they will be unable to function to the fullest and therefore become isolated and disempowered from the community.

Teaching is a very rewarding career if you learn and understand how to work with the diversity of the classrooms we teach in. As teachers, we need to be more vigilant of where are students come from. Before we can teach we need to know who we are teaching and what background, knowledge, and customs they bring with them to the classroom. We must also be aware of the factors that are relevant to the academic achievement of the students we currently teach. There are many of these factors, but I want to focus on two; teacher quality and low teacher expectations.