After a few years of hard work, I learned English—attaining native fluency in my speaking, comprehension, and writing…
Throughout my life I have been part many diverse cultures and of many community that contain a wide range of race and ethnicity. I was born in Ecuador and moving to the United States was a huge slap in the face. The culture and the way thing were done here compared to my home country was totally different. The life style in Ecuador was harsh and unpleasing but in the states life was so much more pleasurable with all the opportunities that are given me. The only problem is that people where closed minded.…
In a college government course, it is taught that America does not share societal culture because it has been founded on immigration. This means that there are many people who live in America with many different origins. Though it (America) has been founded on immigration and does not have a national language, the dominant language is English. School is taught in English, the majority of the people speak English, street signs are in English, so on and so forth. Immigrants that come to America who do not speak English may have trouble with feeling at home in their new environment.…
My whole life I have struggled with answering the question “where are you from?” As a little girl I was always tongue-tied. I didn’t know my family’s history, I never had the ability to establish myself in one place because my father’s job required constant adjustments to my surroundings. However, my sophomore year I took my first college level American History course and it began opening doors I didn’t know existed. I soon realized that I may not know exactly where I come from, I may not belong to a specific state or region, but I am a part of the big picture –The United States of America.…
My Second Language I was born in Palestine, a country in the Middle East that only speaks Arabic. I lived there for fourteen years and studied at an Arabic school from first grade to my freshman year of high school. After finishing my sophomore year, my family and I moved to the United States of America. Moving to a new country and trying to get used to its language is hard, but will pay off when it comes to improving a person 's education.…
The world is an ever-changing continuum; therefore, it is our responsibility to constantly adapt in order to thrive. During my personal and educational experiences, I have had to endure one of the biggest challenges for an adolescent: moving from a country in the Far East to the Land of the Free. When I immigrated here, I spoke no more than three words in English. Through extensive immersion learning, I transformed from a new immigrant to attending Honors courses in a few months. Although this rapid transition occurred in 2008, my adaptability to an evolving situation has not faded; it is the same adaptability that will translate into success in analyzing foreign affairs.…
For almost two decades I have known that I wanted to be a doctor. However, seven years ago I I decided that I wanted to be fluent in Spanish so that I may treat those whose first language is Spanish. While volunteering at the New York Hospital of Queens, I got to experience first hand a Hispanic family who spent approximately 12 hours in a waiting room due to the language barrier. I have seen patients before waiting for a long period of time, but this was the longest. In that moment, I felt sympathy for that family.…
I grew up speaking German so I was unable to catch what he said, so I simply shrugged, staying quiet. The man patted my head then floored the pedal to the floor, taking rough turns and speeding down the streets. I held on for dear life before sirens blew around the town. He slowed down, I tensed up.…
I will bring my language proficiency in Portuguese and Spanish to translate legal documents and correspondence written either in either Spanish or Portuguese. My proficiency in Portuguese was acquired from my background as a Brazilian-American, as well as from completing Portuguese language courses at UMD, while my proficiency in Spanish was acquired from successfully completing International Baccalaureate Program in Spanish (Higher Level) in high school. I will also contribute my previous experience as a student intern with an immigration law firm. Specifically, in Spring 2014, in connection with my Senior Project at my high school, I interned at the law firm of Mooers Immigration in Bethesda, MD. During my internship there, I learned about…
“The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” Ludwig Wittgenstein. I came to realize this after I was influenced by many people. Specifically, after attending my language teachers classes, and understanding her view and passion about foreign languages. Also, I was inspired, and even more motivated into the world of different languages after watching an eight-minute video about a teenage hyperpolyglot.…
Ukraine to the U.S. I had the privilege to become friends with a student from the Ukraine my first year at UVa-Wise. I saw this student, Andrew*, in my art class, but he barely spoke to anyone. I assumed he was just shy, so one day I asked him about a piece he was working on. That is when I heard his awesome accent, and I was immediately intrigued.…
I am bilingual. I state this based on Grosjean’s perspective that “the bilingual is not just someone who speaks two languages, but he possesses… communicative skills in two languages at different levels” (in Wei, 2007). In this paradigm of bilingualism (or multilingualism), being able to use English for communicative and academic purposes, being able to read academic texts in Italian and understanding general conversations in such language, being able to understand general ideas from conversations in French; makes me multilingual. It is clear I am not able to use any of those languages with the same level of proficiency as I use my first language, Spanish. Speakers very seldom use two different languages for the same purposes.…
My journey with English is a short one. It started in august 2009 when I started school in ISLK in Lund. I wasn’t able to speak one whole sentence in English; I felt awful, I didn’t know anything happening around me, I felt very lonely. Rose was the name of my knight in shinning armor, she was the English teacher in ISLK, and without her I don’t where I would have been right now. Two years later, English became my first language, I read in English, I wrote English, I spoke in English and I even dreamt in English.…
English is my native language. Southern English is my dialect. I traveled all over the world, many times over and I have many observations on languages. I grew up in Northern California, son of father from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and a mother from Graceville, Florida. Though English was my natural language, but needless to say, I was surrounded by a large variety of dialects.…
There are a few essential ingredients needed before a thunderstorm can become a thunderstorm. Initially, there needs to be a transference of heat from the earth’s surface to the atmosphere. Then, if moisture, instability, and movement are added to the mix, you better grab your rain boots! My decision to become an educator formed similarly to a thunderstorm. A necessary atmospheric series of experiences culminated into what would eventually become my downpour of knowledge.…