Daisy's ROML Project

Second Language Acquistion

Introduction

Bilingualism has always been somewhat of a fascination to me. Even though I grew up in a bilingual household my parents never actually took the time to teach me their language, Ibo. Thankfully though, I grew up learning to basically understand without being able to speak. However, this project is not about me or my family, instead I decided to focus on my two friends Sophia and Amy and the way in which they learned they learned their 'first' and second languages.

Sophia was born in Hangzhou, China and moved to the States when she was six. Amy was born in Suart, India and moved to Michigan when she was 3. Even though Sophia and Amy both learned Chinese and Gujarati, respectively as their first language, they are both stronger in English. This is because while they spoke their first languages at home, they had formal training in English and were for the most part immersed in an English society.

For my project I engaged in dialogue with both Sophia and Amy asking about their early experiences with language. Then I had them talk about anything wanted to in their 'first' language.

Transcription

Sophia

Sophia Describing Room (Translation)
Listen

Room Um..hello, this is Su Yue. This is…This year I’m going to school @ UNC. This is my first year living in a dorm. Our dorm is bigger relatively speaking. Our room is also really tall. We don’t have a lot of stuff in our room though. We have two desks and some places to put our clothes and some tiny tiny bookshelves. We, my friend and I, brought some stuff too. We brought a tv, a fridge, and some other little stuff. And…what else…a big sofa like chair and some art prints to put on the wall. So I think our room is prettier than all the other rooms. Our room has a special trait. That is, we both have pandas on our beds. My friend really loves pandas, so her bf always gets her panda, so does his family. So we have..1, 2, 3, stuffed pandas and we have more panda prints and pillows. And you can see right away that we like pandas. And…we also have some food…candy…medicine…and lots of instant noodles.

Sophia Decribing Youger Years
Listen

Younger Years I came to the US when I was 6. Before 6, I lived always lived in china. At first, we only wanted to visit my mom over the summer, then my parents decided I should go to school in US so I needed to learn English. It was the summer and US schools started in the fall, so we had about two months to learn. When learning Chinese, my parents used some interesting techniques like they put girls on the bathroom at home so I could get used to. When I started school, my dad had already returned to China, so my mom went to school with me for a week. She translated for me and told me what to do. When my mom went bck to work/school, I just copied other people. Sometimes I think they were annoyed, but the teacher was understanding and allowed me to do whatever. I remember I asked the teacher for some tissue, so I asked the teacher I want that paper. The teacher thought I meant crafts paper, and said I couldn’t have any. So I didn’t really understand at first. I learned some words and things but it wasn’t very detailed. People didn’t really understand exactly. After two months of school, I started getting a hang of what everything around me was called and people’s names. So learning English only took a few months. Relearning Chinese was harder. I went back to china for a year then I came back to the states. That time, I was in fourth grade. So my mom put me in the city Chinese school. Chinese school met on Sundays or Saturdays. The people were interesting and the teaching material was pretty ok. But a lot of kids didn’t know Chinese, and I was in the highest class. So I had to do regular school work and study for tests and stuff, but also had to do Chinese on the weekend. Fortunately we spoke Chinese at home, but then it turned into that my mom spoke Chinese to me, but I answered in English b/c outside everything was in English. When the Chinese kids got together, we all spoke English. So it was only when we went back to china or when my grandparents came, then I would speak Chinese daily. So now my Chinese is really crappy but I want to learn some in college. But I think the best way is to go back to china every summer and study Chinese. But when we return to the states, we start using English everyday again. It’s a pity.


Sophia Describing Room (Translation) Listen Room Um..hello, this is Su Yue. This is…This year I’m going to school @ UNC. This is my first year living in a dorm. Our dorm is bigger relatively speaking. Our room is also really tall. We don’t have a lot of stuff in our room though. We have two desks and some places to put our clothes and some tiny tiny bookshelves. We, my friend and I, brought some stuff too. We brought a tv, a fridge, and some other little stuff. And…what else…a big sofa like chair and some art prints to put on the wall. So I think our room is prettier than all the other rooms. Our room has a special trait. That is, we both have pandas on our beds. My friend really loves pandas, so her bf always gets her panda, so does his family. So we have..1, 2, 3, stuffed pandas and we have more panda prints and pillows. And you can see right away that we like pandas. And…we also have some food…candy…medicine…and lots of instant noodles.
Sophia Decribing Youger Years Listen Younger Years I came to the US when I was 6. Before 6, I lived always lived in china. At first, we only wanted to visit my mom over the summer, then my parents decided I should go to school in US so I needed to learn English. It was the summer and US schools started in the fall, so we had about two months to learn. When learning Chinese, my parents used some interesting techniques like they put girls on the bathroom at home so I could get used to. When I started school, my dad had already returned to China, so my mom went to school with me for a week. She translated for me and told me what to do. When my mom went bck to work/school, I just copied other people. Sometimes I think they were annoyed, but the teacher was understanding and allowed me to do whatever. I remember I asked the teacher for some tissue, so I asked the teacher I want that paper. The teacher thought I meant crafts paper, and said I couldn’t have any. So I didn’t really understand at first. I learned some words and things but it wasn’t very detailed. People didn’t really understand exactly. After two months of school, I started getting a hang of what everything around me was called and people’s names. So learning English only took a few months. Relearning Chinese was harder. I went back to china for a year then I came back to the states. That time, I was in fourth grade. So my mom put me in the city Chinese school. Chinese school met on Sundays or Saturdays. The people were interesting and the teaching material was pretty ok. But a lot of kids didn’t know Chinese, and I was in the highest class. So I had to do regular school work and study for tests and stuff, but also had to do Chinese on the weekend. Fortunately we spoke Chinese at home, but then it turned into that my mom spoke Chinese to me, but I answered in English b/c outside everything was in English. When the Chinese kids got together, we all spoke English. So it was only when we went back to china or when my grandparents came, then I would speak Chinese daily. So now my Chinese is really crappy but I want to learn some in college. But I think the best way is to go back to china every summer and study Chinese. But when we return to the states, we start using English everyday again. It’s a pity.

Amy

Amy Decribing Family
Listen

My family has 4 people: My mom, my dad, my brother, and me. My brother is 21 years old. He studies at NC State. It is his last year and now applying to law school. My mom and dad live in charlotte. They own there own small business. We moved here in 1990. We first lived in Michigan for 8 years and then 1 year in SC. We moved to Charlotte in 2000 and are still there.

Amy Decribing Room
Listen

My room is on south campus. My room isn’t that nice because it is too small but we have an AC so that makes it better for us. My roommate and I have bunked our beds. Mine is on top and hers is on bottom. All my stuff has a color scheme of dark blue and baby blue. My roommate has red, orange, and purple. It doesn’t much that much but it still looks decent even though the colors don’t match. I brought the TV and DVD player and everything that goes along with it. My room is very small,…yeah. My walls have a lot of posters because of my roommate she really likes artsy stuff so she brings all the movie posters and stuff. I haven’t brought that much but when I go home I will bring what I haven’t yet. I’m a little slow in that process.


Amy Decribing Family Listen My family has 4 people: My mom, my dad, my brother, and me. My brother is 21 years old. He studies at NC State. It is his last year and now applying to law school. My mom and dad live in charlotte. They own there own small business. We moved here in 1990. We first lived in Michigan for 8 years and then 1 year in SC. We moved to Charlotte in 2000 and are still there.
Amy Decribing Room Listen My room is on south campus. My room isn’t that nice because it is too small but we have an AC so that makes it better for us. My roommate and I have bunked our beds. Mine is on top and hers is on bottom. All my stuff has a color scheme of dark blue and baby blue. My roommate has red, orange, and purple. It doesn’t much that much but it still looks decent even though the colors don’t match. I brought the TV and DVD player and everything that goes along with it. My room is very small,…yeah. My walls have a lot of posters because of my roommate she really likes artsy stuff so she brings all the movie posters and stuff. I haven’t brought that much but when I go home I will bring what I haven’t yet. I’m a little slow in that process.

Analysis

Listening to the two clips it is apparent that Sophia seems to be relatively more fluent in Chinese than Amy is in Gujarati. Even though her grammar not always correct, Sophia has the ability to express her ideas more easily than Amy can. Amy will often insert English words for those that those that she does not how to say in Gujarati

The major reason for this difference in ability level is because when Sophia was younger she attended Chinese school and was able to obtain some formal training to supplement the language she spoke at home. In addition to that, Sophia also frequently went back to China during her summer vacations. Amy on the other hand has only gone back to India very few times and thus has not had as many opportunities to be fully immersed in the language and culture the way Sophia has.

This gives evidence to the fact that it is truly difficult and almost impossible to be entirely bilingual or fluent in a second language without being completely immersed in both cultures. A person’s environment plays a huge role in how well and effectively one can learn a given language. As seen between Sophia and Amy even though their family situations at home in the United States in relation to language is somewhat similar, other environmental and social factors have the ability to greatly enhance one’s ability in speaking a language

This shows that the more formal schooling that one can receive in a language the better the chance to learn and retain the language. After all, if it were not for the formal training in English that most of us receive in school many of us would be very limited in our English abilities.

As pointed out in the dialogue with Sophia there is great difficult in obtaining and retaining a second language. This is especially so in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom where learning a second language is not as heavily focused upon. In other countries where bilingualism is basically a must, people do not find it difficult at all to pick up the second language and are often equally bilingual.

The one thing mentioned by both Amy and Sophia is that they enjoyed having their bilingualism because in various ways it made them feel a lot closer to their culture. They also felt that at the very least one should understand the language in order to not be entirely 'cut off' from the culture. I agree entirely with what they say because second language learning is not simply about being bilingual but also about being bi-cultural. Even though both Amy and Sophia are not 100% proficient in their 'first' languages the can still convey ideas and actively participate in their respective cultures. The same also goes for me, even though I am not bilingual I can still understand Ibo and participate in my parents’ culture, even if it is not as actively as I may like.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Language_Acquisition

Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning

http://www.sdkrashen.com/SL_Acquisition_and_Learning/SL_Acquisition_and_Learning.pdf#search='Second%20Language%20Acquisition'

About the Author

Hi Hi. My name is Daisy Nneka Duru-Iheoma. I find it necessary to list my middle name as well because I go by both ‘Daisy' and ‘Nneka'. Even though it sometimes confuses people, it has always been that way. I feel incomplete when I only go by one name. If you're wondering, Nneka is an Igbo name meaning ‘mother is great, wonderful, etc.' both of my parents are Nigerian and were born and raised there. However, I am not a first generation American. I was born in Dublin, Ireland and when I was still young we moved to London, England where my two younger brothers were born. In fact, I still don't have my citizenship, but hopefully that will change soon. Currently, my hometown is Charlotte, North Carolina and I went to Harding University High School.

Besides my Nigerian heritage I have had the opportunity to experience many other cultures mainly because of the friends I have had in high school. Being in the IB program exposed me to many people from many different backgrounds. My best friend Sophia who I have know since middle school (and who also goes to Chapel Hill) is Chinese and I've often had dinner with her and her family friends. I've also gone to some of the cultural festivals that I've been held in Charlotte. I also have friends who are Indian, Hispanic, and from other places in the world. My classmates shared knowledge about their own cultures and our school often had activities in which we would share food and other things about our heritage.

When it comes to technology, I will just have to say that I'm proficient in my own way. I can certainly manage whatever problems I encounter and I'm often mistaken for being a computer genius. Compared to the people I know, I'm most certainly not. That doesn't mean I won't try to help others with what problems they have. I have to admit though, I love my computer. Mainly because of the programs I use to draw and paint pictures as well as listen to music. Music is another one of my few loves. I don't have a particular genre that I associate myself with. It's more of an “I like what I like and I don't like what I don't like”. Finally, I'm not quite sure what I want to learn in this course. So far it seems like an artistic psychology class, (which wouldn't be a bad thing at all). I think when it comes down to it I want to learn interesting things I never knew before.