My Linguistic Narrative Essay Example

Language is an important part of a person’s life because it connects one to other people. There are many languages used by people all over the world. Learning language other than the native language helps a person to communicate to more people. Personally, I experience this benefit by knowing how to speak two languages- Spanish and English. I was born in Dominican Republic where Spanish is the native language. Learning Spanish is greatly influence by my family and by the environment I lived in. In Dominican Republic, all people speak Spanish. That’s why I think that learning Spanish was easier.
Learning a language is kind of automatic that remembering my experiences in learning Spanish is a bit difficult. Looking into my memories, I remember the time when I used to call objects by other words that is different from its actual name. In our discussion I learned that this is because of adopting the speech style called caregiver speech. This kind of speech is brought by different forms such as “babytalk” that uses simplified forms or calling things by the use of repeated sounds and syllables. I think the caregiver speech explains why I used to call some things differently. I also learned that this is a usual experience for a person learning the first language.
In our lessons about language, I also learned that a child learns to speak the language by hearing it being used. This fact can be related to my experience when I heard words that seemed new to me when I was young. Whenever I heard unfamiliar words, I asked adults particularly my parents the meaning of those words.
With plans about moving to the United States, my parents, who can use both Spanish and English well, taught me English at a young age. At first, it was difficult because I am already used to speaking Spanish and the classes at school were taught in Spanish. I was also surrounded with classmates and friends who know no other language. My parents help me a lot to learn English well.
Moving in the United States at 12, I was shy to talk with people because I felt that I didn’t know the language well. That became a hindrance somehow to interact with people and made me feel embarrassed. I learned in our class that this embarrassment is normal for people acquiring their second language. There are barriers that may exist in second language acquisition. These barriers can affect the ability of the person to learn the second language. The guidance of my parents and other people helped me to overcome that weakness. Compared with learning English while in Dominican Republic, I felt that learning English in the US was easier because I am surrounded with people speaking that language. Also, English was used in school. That helped me to develop more my ability in speaking, reading, and writing English. I also learned to use slangs and jargons which are features of sociolinguistics.
Now that I got older and have live in the US for a long time, I think I am proficient in both Spanish and English. Being a bilingual, I speak Spanish with my family and friends speaking that language too. Spanish is my first language and it makes me feel more at home. Meanwhile, I use English at school. I also use English for group of friends who can speak varying language because using English can help us understand everyone in the group because it is the common language.
English is regarded as the universal language. Speaking this language helps me to communicate with many people. Also, it helps me to understand well the topics discuss in school since English is the medium of instruction. On the other hand, Spanish is also one of the major languages used by different nationalities. Being my first language and the one used in my homeland, it makes me comfortable whenever I talk to people in Spanish. Overall, these two languages have helped me expand my network and improve my communication with people.