Summary Response Outline for ESL1070
Summary/Introduction Paragraph
The two articles are “Two Languages in Mind, but Just One in Heart” by Louise Erdrich and “An Immigrant Learns Two New Languages” by Eric Hoover. Erdrich believes language is vital for the spiritual connection with the world around and inside of a person. Hoover states that language can provide plenty of new opportunities.
On her own example, Louise Erdrich shows how important a language can be in terms of world perception and connection to one’s background.
Language has a great impact on how people think, behave and see things. It is a substance that is accumulated through long history of a people or a country. It reflects all the knowledge of that people and its general life attitude. Set expressions, idioms, sayings and even the sounding of a language serve as a proof.
Through an insight into a senior student’s life, Eric Hoover proves that learning a language opens new and sometimes unexpected possibilities.
Knowing languages is beneficial in both personal and professional life. They broaden horizons of communication and understanding. Also, the process of learning a language is a great exercise for memory and brain as a whole.
Through the article “Two Languages in Mind, but Just One in Heart,” one may see what a deep impact a language has on people’s feelings and connection to various world phenomena. And in the article “An Immigrant Learns Two New Languages,” the reader finds proof of how learning a language may change one’s life.
The more languages one knows, the better it is. They allow to explore the surrounding world, with all its possibilities and interpretations. Also, it allows to find the best expressions to describe the world inside of a person.
Summary Response Essay
The chosen articles are united by the topic of language’s importance. The articles themselves are “Two Languages in Mind, but Just One in Heart” (2000) by Louise Erdrich and “An Immigrant Learns Two New Languages” (2010) by Eric Hoover. Erdrich believes language is vital for the spiritual connection with the world around and inside of a person. Hoover states that language can give plenty of new opportunities, be it the desired job, education, travelling or something else. Thus, language should be seen as a tool that improves and deepens understanding of various phenomena; also, people can greatly benefit from it.
On her own example, Louise Erdrich shows how important a language can be in terms of world perception and connection to one’s background. The author feels the need to learn the language of her ancestors, as it is comforting for some reason; also she admires how it represents the unique world perception of the people. Language indeed has a great impact on how people think, behave and see things. It is the main instrument for shaping how people express their thoughts. If a language lacks some expressions or names for some things, a person struggles until he or she finds how to put it. This is why poetry is so expressive and charming. It finds new and at times more accurate ways of describing how a person feels, it opens hidden potentials of a language through new collocations, similes, metaphors etc. And the feeling when one finds how exactly to describe something is highly satisfying psychologically. Moreover, when speaking a different language, one treats oneself differently. When speaking in Spanish, one may become more passionate and emotional. When speaking in German, one feels serious and business-like. Speaking in French gives the feeling of sophistication and elegance. Such feelings occur because of, more specifically, set expressions, idioms, sayings and even the sounding of a language. These factors have the power to contribute to people’s peculiar approach to life. They were accumulated through long history of a people or a country. Language survives historical battles, national and geographical interactions, technical progress etc. Sometimes it even outlasts the lifespan of a nation. The Romans are no longer here, and people in Italy speak Italian. However, there still is an explicit record of the Latin language, with some world classics being written in it. Language is a significant substance of the gained wisdom, which reflects all the knowledge of a people and its general life attitude.
Through an insight into a senior student’s life, Eric Hoover proves that learning new language opens various and sometimes unexpected possibilities. Learning English has allowed a woman from Colombia to live and work in the US and to further pursue college education and further career as a paralegal. The case shows that knowing languages is beneficial both in personal and professional life. Communicating with friends all over the world, travelling, studying and working abroad, everything becomes possible if some effort is put into language acquisition. Languages broaden horizons of communication and understanding. Knowing more languages gives access to more original information, be it news reports or works of literature. Also, tracing language development and interlinguistic relations can help better understand intelligence patterns: how people articulate and express their mind, and how tendencies of this articulations change. Moreover, the process of learning a language is a great exercise for the brain as a whole. It triggers associative thinking, memory mechanisms, systematizing and analyzing information. Language is an inexhaustible source of communicative and developmental possibilities.
Through the article “Two Languages in Mind, but Just One in Heart,” one may see what a deep impact a language has on people’s feelings and connection to various world phenomena. And in the article “An Immigrant Learns Two New Languages,” the reader finds proof of how learning a language may change one’s life. Authors advocate different aspects of one topic, which is what a unique and influential the phenomenon of language is. Whether one learns a new language out of necessity or for own pleasure or inner need, it is always worth doing so. Discovering and mastering it is a challenging, yet fruitful process.
All in all, the more languages one knows, the better it is. Knowledge of languages exposes one to a myriad of new revelations and discoveries. They allow to explore the surrounding world, its possibilities and interpretations. Furthermore, they allow to find the best expressions to describe the world of emotion, feeling and reflection that sits inside of a person.
