You can say I’ve had my share of experiences with language. At a very early age I was introduced to both Spanish and English. Spanish being my first language and English my second. It was easy for me to acquire English because my family made it a point to separate both languages. I was to speak Spanish at home and English at school. As I got older though I was able to express myself in both English and Spanish but I learned to be more grammatically correct with only English because all my education was in English. My Spanish grammar and spelling suffered because I was never formally thought these, which lead me to take two Spanish classes in high school. I wouldn’t call it a burdening experience but it was hard to answer questions by peers who thought I was taking a Spanish class for that easy a, when in fact I was trying to improve my grammar and spelling.

Later in life I decided to learn American Sign Language, learning ASL gave me a different perspective on language. It is very different from Spanish and English. The fact that I had been exposed to a different language so early in life I think made it easier for me to grasp the complexity of ASL.I found it easy to learn and enjoyed all aspects of it.

-Cristo Avila

I was raised in an English-speaking household.  With that said, I was also exposed to Spanish early on in my childhood.  In fact, I believe I learned common words in Spanish before I did in English, such as: “baño” rather than ‘bath’, “leche” instead of ‘milk,’ and “te amo” in place of ‘I love you.’  In addition to being already familiar with some words in Spanish, I have taken Spanish classes since I was in fourth grade.  Learning the language in school was quite different from learning it at home. My mother’s side of the family speaks both English and Spanish more or less fluently. I have found that learning the language from them is easier than learning it in a structured classroom environment where everyone is required to be there and few actually want to be there.  Regardless, I did very well in my Spanish classes and enjoyed learning another language so much so that I independently began learning American Sign Language by taking online courses.  By doing this in my own time and by my own will, I actually learned to sign much faster than I learned to speak Spanish in school.

-Andi Laidlaw

The two experiences that I’ve had with language are English and Spanish. Growing up I learned to write, read, and speak Spanish just as fluently as I did English, because it was the language spoken at my house. I feel that because Spanish is my first language many adults and teachers always assumed that I needed extra help with homework and other activities when I really didn’t, because my English was just as fluent as my Spanish. Being influenced by both languages all the time determined that I chose linguistics as my major. With that I want to teach English as a second language.

-indra Gómez