Growing up my parents raised me to speak English because they didn’t want me to go through their difficulty they experience when trying to communicate in English. My mom is a native speaker of Tagalog while my father speaks in Pidgin/Hawaiian slang and little Japanese but either way their English is considered poor. As years past my parents realized they made a mistake of just teaching me English and found out it was better to be accustomed to other languages. They began speaking to and teaching me in their native tongue but they were a bit late. I’m able to understand Tagalog but have difficulty responding back and I just rejected Pidgin all together because it’s not useful unless you live in Hawaii. Understanding Tagalog has it’s up and downs. It helps me know what my mother wants when she can’t communicate properly in English and let’s me know when people are talking bad about me. I work in retail and knowing Tagalog makes Filipino customers engage with you more but also wanting discounts and such.

Besides picking up Tagalog, I decided to learn Japanese because it’s a lost language within my father’s side of the family. Overall Japanese is a difficult language to learn but learning the culture and customs have been worthwhile. Being a native of San Diego, it just makes sense to be familiar with “our slang.” Talking in slang is favorable in some cases because it makes more easier to communicate with your peers and appear more approachable but obviously talking in slang usually doesn’t work in your favor when talking to adults unless they’re okay with it.

Through my other experiences I learned the language can just be a burden. I experienced this within my own family because I don’t speak Pidgin or how my Hawaiian relatives do so our communication tends to be broken or just listening to them tends to be annoying.  In school I’ve had groups where some members rather speak in their native tongue leaving either me and/or multiple members left out of the group work. At work, language also tends to be an issue if they don’t speak English. I’ve had customers communicate extremely slowly or fail entirely altogether and get both frustrated and mad at me and belittle me. So my language experiences are changing each day.

Cory Stapleton
Paige Bowden
Carl
Michelle Kuerz
Katrina Chavez
Blog 1
Language is a complex subject. Although it is inherently learned, our actually understanding of language itself is rather limited. This may seem like an overstatement, knowing that we speak and use language in nearly all aspects of our everyday lives, but when given the task of explaining language, one often finds their self struggling. This is especially true when one is attempting to dissect and understand the way in which the sounds and mouth movements we use create the language. Not only is the comprehension of the characteristics of language difficult to grasp initially, spoken language varies from place to place and is also continually evolving. Language is dynamic and therefore when we encounter language, our experiences vary in a wide array of ways.
Learning another language separate from our native tongue can prove to be a challenging task as we grow older with age. It is much easier to teach a child a different language versus an adult for children are able to absorb and gasp concepts much more easily because their minds are still fresh and not indoctrinated like their adult counterparts. Many young adults are required to learn a second language in high school, but the ability to speak the language fluently is either never achieved or disappears once the student is no longer required to use it on a regular basis. Language acquisition is a task that requires rigorous work and is full of trial and error. But with consistent exposure to the language within the context of the environment it is used or in a classroom, one may be able to grasp an understanding for their new mode of speech.
One member of our group, Paige Bowden, is bilingual and grew up learning both English and Spanish in her household. Her father made an effort to use Spanish around her and her sister in order for them to feel connected to that part of their ethnicity and in hopes that they would learn both Spanish and English concurrently. Their father knew that, as residents of Southern California, these two languages are predominantly used and could potentially give them that advantage when applying for jobs. The American Speech-Language Hearing Association suggests that being bilingual can contribute to good listening skills and the ability to learn new words easily. Children have the highest capacity for learning an additional language, so she is thankful to have learned Spanish at an early age rather than attempting to master it now. Being bilingual and growing up around two languages has only aided her and is a beneficial skill that she hopes to pass on to her children as well.
Another member of our group, Carl, grew up with a speech impediment. This speech impediment was similar to stuttering. His speech hinderance proposed many difficulties in his early childhood. His early acquisition of language was greatly hindered and even stunted. For awhile, he was unable to even say articles like “the” and “a” without adding 5 or 10 syllables. This was a serious struggle for him. Sometimes, he would become frustrated and would just give up, forgetting what he intended to say. Due to a lack of identification towards his speech impediment, his ability to speech during his childhood resulted in an unwillingness to communicate. Thus developing a refusal to talk or fear of talking, which greatly interfered with his language development.
Overall, language has proven to be a crucial part of the human experience, but not everyone interacts with it the same way. Nor does everyone acquire it the same way. Sometimes we are unable to grasp the fundamentals of a language due to speech hindrances or a lack of practice and exposure. Other individuals not only comprehend it with exceptional ease, but also learn more languages than just their native tongue. For these reasons, language can be difficult to define. Not only is it difficult subject to explain, the way an individual views and uses their language may be a radically different approach compared to another speaker.

The two languages I’m most familiar with are English and Spanish. Because I grew up in a small town that has a very high Hispanic population and the fact that I am Mexican, many people expect me to be a fluent Spanish speaker. However, this is not the case. The language barrier issue has always been one of the biggest reoccurring problems I’ve encountered throughout my life.

My father and his siblings grew up speaking Spanish and didn’t learn English until they attended American schools after moving here from Mexico. They eventually became fluent in both Spanish and English, but my grandparents did not. Despite my father knowing and regularly speaking Spanish, he never really spoke or tried to teach me Spanish at home and this opportunity, being the only way for me to learn Spanish as a child, was not utilized. It hurts me to say that at every family party or house visit I was not able to communicate with my grandparents. I was presented with a new obstacle in communication every time I was around them. Whenever we tried to have a conversation they would talk to me in Spanish and I would look desperately at the people around me for help because I had NO IDEA what they were saying. The lucky person I chose to assist in our attempt to communicate would tell me what my grandma or grandpa was saying and the rest of the conversation would only continue with the help of that translator. More often than not, after moments like this one of my family members would tell me, “You need to learn Spanish.” Whenever I heard that dreaded sentence I would feel so much shame from the many eyes that looked at me because I knew they were all in agreement. The fact that all of my other cousins, even ones that were younger than me, knew Spanish and could communicate with my grandparents without a problem didn’t make me feel any better. To this day- eighteen years later- I still hear that dreaded sentence and it gives me that same gut wrenching feeling of guilt and embarrassment that it did years ago.

In more recent years I have tried to learn Spanish but I never got very far in the understanding and usage of the language. I’m sure this was because I was not comfortable speaking Spanish so I never allowed myself to gain enough practice or experience to feel confident when I spoke. Also because I never knew enough of the words to put together a proper sentence. You would think that taking two years of Spanish in high school would have helped in my long journey to learning a new language but it didn’t. I only learned the Spanish terms for basic words like ice cream, boy, and sun.

Now that I’m being forced to speak Spanish in my college level class, I am hopeful that I will soon have the confidence to comfortably chat with anyone who speaks to me in this once-so-foreign language.

Learning new languages has always been a passion of mine. I was born to bilingual parents whom raised me speaking both spanish and english. At home I primarily speak spanish to both my parents and my seventeen year old sister. I began studying bilingually at Nestor Elementary School in San Diego; this school is widely know for having a dual-immersion program where students study both in english and spanish. After elementary school I continued in a dual-immersion program at Rancho del Rey Middle School in Chula Vista, where I took a math class in spanish, as well as history, and actual Spanish language classes. After middle school i attended Olympian High School, where i did not continue in a dual-immersion program, however I proved my comprehension of both the english and spanish language by enrolling in AP Spanish Language, AP Spanish Literature, AP English Language and Composition, and AP English Literature and Composition, and passing each AP exam. Along with these classes another language I learned throughout my 4 years in high school was Italian, as i became fluent and passed the AP Italian exam, as well as earning the school-wide senior standout  Italian award. As of now I am currently trying to learn both French and Portuguese, and over time I hope to learn many more languages. My love for languages translated towards my college years as I plan to double major in Spanish as well as earning a minor in Italian.

The members of our Linguistics group have had several unique experiences with languages. There are multiple methods of learning another language, such as at home or in a classroom. Many of us took French or Spanish in high school as part of our curriculum.
Within our group, two of us have grown up with Spanish as our primary language. These native speakers have learned how to speak, write, and understand Spanish from being raised in a Spanish-speaking household. They continue to fluently converse in the language at home and with other native Spanish speakers. Bothhave traveled to her parents’ homeland or other Spanish speaking countries where they were able to practice speaking the different language as well. They were taught mainly at home and some got extra support by taking Spanish for native speakers classes in high school. Although they all speak Spanish and come from a Hispanic background, each of them have his or her own unique words and phrases that they were taught. One of our group members has Salvadorian roots, while the other two members are more familiar with the Mexican heritage.
A third group member grew up with parents and family who were native Spanish-speakers, but decided not to teach him the language. He took two years of Spanish in high school, resulting in an understanding of Spanish, but not fluency.
The other two members of our group learned French and Spanish in high school. Although they could not practice the languages at home, they became fluent in their respective languages. Both girls took proficiency tests before graduating high school (International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement tests) and passed, proving their fluency.
The ability to speak Spanish as a primary language for one of our group members raised barriers in certain situations. She could only speak Spanish, making it challenging to communicate with English speakers. This lasted until she picked up English in elementary school, and she is now bilingual. The opposite problem occured for the non-Spanish speaking group member. At a family reunion in Puerto Rico, everyone in his family spoke Spanish. As the only person unable to speak the language, he had to rely on his parents for constant translation. The French-speaking member of our group grew up with a lisp, making it difficult for her to pronounce the English letter ‘s’.
The member of our group who learned Spanish high school has experience with many different languages despite not becoming fluent in them. As a child, her parents hired an au pair each year to watch her and her siblings while the parents went to work. If you do not know what an au pair is, it is basically a babysitter from another country who lives with a family for a year. She was cared for by young women from multiple countries including Germany, Mexico, Poland, and France. Although she did not learn the languages, the different types of speech were familiar to her.
We have each had our own unique experiences with languages throughout our life. Although most of us have learned the same language, we have lived it differently. For many of. us it is normal and routine because we have grown up with it. For others of us it is a special skill that we have acquired through hard work and persistence in a classroom setting.

Kaitlyn DeJesus

Laura Kalmanson

Paula Soto

Kim Gonzalez

John Rivera

Throughout my life, I have experienced two other languages besides English—Italian and American Sign Language. Growing up in an Italian family, I was exposed to this dialect early, unfortunately, English was the main language spoken in the house with a few Italian words thrown in here and there to make a statement. When I first started college, I took two semesters of Italian, hoping things would come easier to me since I lived in a household of Italians, but this was entirely untrue. Trying to have a conversation in class using this language was the most challenging thing for me because the placement of words were different and I could not grasp how to use them in the proper form. I do hope to pick up this language again on my own time where I am not graded.

After barely passing Italian, I took American Sign Language, not only because it was needed for my major, but a friend of mine was going for interpreting in ASL and I was interested by how her hands flowed so flawlessly while signing. I took four semesters of ASL and enjoyed it when I signed to others at my own level. Signing with individuals who were more advanced than me was just as difficult as Italian. I did like it more than Italian because I was able to fingerspell a word when I did not know how to sign it, and I still use it to this day every now and then. From taking two languages, I learned that I definitely need to work on my conversational skills. I can have a great conversation in English, since it is my native language, and am able to sustain it for as long as needed. Other forms of languages however, not so much. In the near future I hope to learn about these two languages more in depth (especially Italian), because I find them both beautiful and fascinating.

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