Linguistic Background (Maria)

A person able to communicate and understand two languages ​​is a person with super powers. My first language is Spanish and for me learning English was always a challenge. I never felt comfortable speaking in English because I used to think that my accent was constantly ruining everything I wanted to say. What I did not understand before was that language is something beautiful and unique, each person speaks it in a different way and that is exactly what makes us unique and special. At home, we always speak in Spanish to teach my little siblings that speaking Spanish is also important and necessary. However, that made my process of learning English a little harder and longer because the only place I needed it at that time was at school. When I started working, that changed because at work I had to speak in English since I had to interact with different people of different nationalities. That’s when I realized that there was not a single reason why I would be ashamed of my accent. Some people tried to correct the way I say certain words, but that does not affect me anymore because that is what makes me different from the rest.

Linguistic Background (Peter)

           Hello my name is Piotr Golda I speak two languages, my first language was polish then later on I learned English. It all started from my parents that lived in Poland most there life, then later on moved to America. This was difficult for them because they had to learn a new language all over again. When I was young I would spend a lot of time with my grandparents and all I knew was how to speak polish at the time. This became a problem because I was starting to go to school in New York not knowing how to communicate in English, with time I learned both and speak them fluently. What I am noticing is that some times when I am speaking at home  I tend to mix the languages i think that is because i can explain a topic better in one language than the other. In the book “Language Myths” it talks about accents and how people misinterpret certain ideas because of it or do not know what the word actually means. 

Linguistic background (Cristal)

ELL 101  

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CRISTAL WILLIAMS 

 

 

                                                          LINGUISTIC BACKGROUND 

Knowing more than one language has helped me break barriers in life, it has allowed me to engulf into different cultures. Growing up knowing two languages has been very beneficial. Having parents that only spoke one language at home and learning a different language in school allowed me to take part in two different heritages. Our linguistic practices at home consisted of trying to speak Spanglish more often once we started taking bilingual classes in school. Learning different languages at a young age affected the way I communicated with others, many said they could not understand me in Spanish while others said I spoke broken Spanish (whatever that means). Being bilingual made me a stronger contestant when it came to defending myself, whether it was for job interviews or when it came to translating for someone that needed help. My bilingualism has helped me achieve many goals professionally when it comes to networking and my personal life as well. Everyone has a different point of view when it comes to dialects, at home I speak Spanglish with my family. As discussed in the classroom, the U.S does not have an official language, from my experience many foreign people think English is the main language because the majority of people speak it.  When it comes to school and work, I speak English to communicate better with my fellow co-workers. Majority of my family has a slight accent, when it comes to speaking English, I’ve learned how to rotate my social and professional accent when needed. Living in the U.S you encounter people from many different backgrounds, so it would be beneficial to know more than one lang

Talking more than a language is fun! (Minhazur)

I have learned many linguistic definition and enjoyed  ELL 101 since it is started. I understood some controversial definitions of language, dialect and accent, and I really enjoyed the arguments about these topics. Mostly at home I speak in a  dialect which is my mother tongue. I never knew that it is a dialect until I attend this class. Bangla is my native language, beside that I can speak English and Arabic. I learned Arabic at high school, and I don’t want to forget this language. So I made some arabic friends for practicing the language. In college and work mostly  I speak English, and it become easier to speak English since I started college. When I speak native Bangla, sometimes I mix it with my native dialect. I am a little public speaker in my native language, but people can easily figure out where I am from by listening my accent. It embarrassed me a lot. Talking more than a language is interesting for me, and I enjoy it.