English 1301.059
Britt
09/11/2013
Language For a long time ago, people started to use language to communicate with each other. In different countries or areas, people use different language. Today, English is used as a general language that people use around the world. Second language speakers may encounter many difficulties, such as: a new language can cause confusion, learning a new language requires frequent usage; a person fist language may hinder process, and those who don’t speak English as a first language feel embraced or stupid in public
First, a new language can cause confusion. According to Amy Tan in “ Mother Tongue”, the way her mom English reflected and what she thoughts was imperfect, so people in department stores, at banks, at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her (264). As Richard Rodriguez in “ Private Language, Public language”, his nun said oddly impersonal voice about his name. Then he turned to see his mom’s face dissolve in a watery blur behind the pebbled glass door (235). It will be a big distance between people who aren’t the first language and others because the more they try to explain what they thought, the more made other people feel confusion, but in order to get better, specially Tan and Rodriguez, they are trying
Second, learning a new language requires frequent usage. Like Tan in “ Mother Tongue”, her mom was using “ broken English” that made people can understand some of it or none of it, as if her mom were speaking pure Chinese (264). According to Richard
Rodriguez, “ Private Language, Public Language”, his parents spoke a hesitant, accented not always grammatical English, but they would have to strain their bodies tense to catch the sense of what was rapidly said by los gringos. And when Richard was 5 years old, he had enough English for his mom to trust him on errands to store (236). As Tan used English to a large group of people or a half dozen other groups, and the talk was about her writing, her life, and her book (262,263). With Rodriguez, “ Private Language, Public Language”, he was unable to hear his own sounds, and he knew very well that he spoke English poorly, but he still a listening child, careful to hear the very different sounds of Spanish and English (236,237). In order to get acquainted of better in English, not only Tan and Rodriguez, but also their parents, they all practice and did their best trying.
Third, a person first language may hinder process. Most second language speakers who are Asian people did better in Math achievement tests than in English. According to Amy Tan, “ Mother Tongue”, the writer said that the language spoken in the family affected her results on achievement test, IQ tests, and the SAT. While her English skills were never judges as poor, and she did scoring perhaps in the sixtieth or seventieth percentile, but in math and science, she achieved ninetieth percentile or higher (266). As To Rodriguez, “Private Language, Public Language”, he was unable to hear his own sounds. His words could not stretch far enough to form complete thoughts, and it was more troubling for him to hear his parents speak in English in public (237). However, the lack of understanding made those who don’t speak a first language did not get very high achievement in some major, but in other majors, they did well.
Finally, those who don’t speak English as a first language feel embraced or stupid in public. As Rodriguez in “ private Language, Public Language”, Rodriguez’s parents would say something to him and he would feel embraced by the sounds of their words (238). And Tan in “ Mother Tongue”, Tan’s mom would not leave until the doctor call Tan, who spoke in perfect English-lo and behold. The same at Rodriguez in “ Private Language, Public Language”, he was a bilingual child, a certain kind- socially disadvantaged- the son of working- class parents, both Mexican immigrants. Tan in “ Mother Tongue” was ashamed of her mom’s English because then she was growing up, her mother’s “limited” English limited her perception.
There are many difficulties of learning a new language. Second language speakers may encounter more difficulties than what they thought. However, we both believe that there is nothing can stop them to achieve success.
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