My Experience In Learning A Foreign Language

Transition: I was never to fond of learning different a language. At least not until I got into high school

I was excited to learn a new language but initially Spanish was very difficult for me to grasp. After a certain point during my freshman year of high school, I could not keep up because I was struggling with the basics. This made it hard to focus on my other subjects. I reached a

One big question, when the subject of language comes up, is exactly what language is. What

thought I'd never leave. I spoke only Cantonese, both to my friends and to my parents.

If someone has a language barrier you should use interpreters when possible as you may interpret what they are trying to say wrong and cause unnecessary distress to the person. However if an interpreter is not available you could use picture cards or other forms of communication to try and understand what is trying to be said this may help calm the situation until an interpreter is free.

Good morning everyone, as I prepare this speech I prepared it with the same intense motivation that of my peers and myself would have devoted for an end of term assignments, so late last night I began with the assist of my trusty friend caféine. As I drifted into my thoughts, I found myself reminiscing in the past. My first breath of real words was consequently grammatically incorrect and not English; it was in my mother tongue, Bahasa Indonesian. I lived on white and red soil, so naturally, I grew the custom of learning my cultural ties that included immersing myself into Indonesian literature and the media which created the foundation of my identity. Learning literature and media wasn’t solely following the Indonesian current, but

I've already met a Filipino-American coworker, who start learning Tagalog. She was fluent in it when she was a child, before immigrating to the States, but gradually lost her ability to speak it

According to oncology nurse, Suzanne Robin in her article “Why Is It Easier for a Child to Learn a New Language Than an Adult,” “Young children are hard-wired to learn language in the first few years of life. When frequently exposed to two languages, they unconsciously acquire the second language naturally, applying the same skills they use to acquire their native language. Older children and adults have to learn the language consciously by studying it.” (2014, para. 2).

Not being able to communicate with someone who is new to the family was extremely difficult, but when I heard my Uncle Gerardo speaking in Spanish I instantly knew I had to learn the language. From then on him and I exchanged small lessons on our primary languages with each other. We began with the basics- uno a diez (one to ten), and then moved onto more difficult topics. By the time I entered middle school I was beyond excited to finally be able to take a Spanish class. Halfway through the year I realized something extraordinary, I was passing the class with an impressive grade and could understand much more Spanish, but I also understood so much more about the culture. This is about the time that I became obsessed with learning how people in other cultures live- what do they eat, what do they wear, do they go to school, how many people are in the average family? And the questions did not stop there. I have fallen in love with places I have never even seen with my own two

That is a perfect example of language within a language. Your “home” voice in my opinion is the one that comes most naturally, and makes you feel the most comfortable. It is important to know, and acknowledge all the languages you have within yourself but also the ones you encounter. “We can celebrate differences- for this is what it means to be modern and civilized…” (Williams). Languages have the ability to unite people around the world.

Growing up, my mother was a stayed at home in order to take care us, teach us how to pray, and read Arabic. I was taught to speak Gujarati at home and I learned to speak English through ESL classes in school. Being raised in a rural town and being the child of high school graduates, I did not have many people that could help me

Since my diaper days, I’ve always spoken a kitchuri of vernacular English, Bengali, and Spanish, pushing and pulling the three in eternal dance. As a child of the

Language is our thoughts expressed, it’s how we attempt to define ourselves and set ourselves apart as individuals or as part of a social gathering of living situation.

What is Language? Language as we know it is a form of communication, however if we stop to really think about the concept of what language is, we can see, it is any means used to communicate a feeling, an idea, or the way we exchange points of view with others. Speech, which is the definition of spoken language, is only one example of the different methods we humans use to communicate, as we know other species utilize their own form of language. As children we learn to speak within our family circle and as we grow up our language skills broaden and become endless. Of course we must keep in mind; the development of language can be affected by many factors such as education, culture, environment, a person’s illnesses, the time period a person lives or lived, and whether a language is primary or secondary.

“Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.” – Benjamin Lee Whorf