Acquiring a second language is required for students throughout the globe. It is seen as a vital part of one's education and is encouraged by many employers. However, learning a second language is a necessity when you have immigrated to a country that does not speak your native language. With the large influx of immigrants into America daily, English as a Second Language is a common course offered throughout the globe. Many people struggle when learning English because of the complexities of the language. While many parts are straightforward, such as conjugation of verbs and sentence structure, other parts are much more difficult. There are many exceptions and spelling can be misleading. Difficulty learning English usually relates to how much different English is from the learner's native language. Someone who speaks a Germanic language would have a much easier time than a speaker of Mandarin Chinese. Pronunciation is often difficult because of multiple factors. One is consonant phenomes, the “th” sound is relatively rare in other languages, and is replaced by “t”, “d”, “s”, or “z”. Vowel phenomes are also difficult to hear and understand because there are more vowel sounds in English than other languages. How a vowel is stressed is more important in English than other languages, which causes English as spoken by a foreigner to sound different and be easily misunderstood.
Hebrew is one of the official languages of Israel, and is spoken by more than 7 million people around the world. My friend Shahar is one of these people, and she only spoke Hebrew fluently when she moved to the United States in 7 th grade. Shahar began learning English in 3 rd grade in Israel, but only the rudiments of the language and the numbers 1-10. She was exposed to English when subtitled American shows were shown on television, but mainly learned slang words such as “gotta” “wanna” and “ain't”. Only once she came to America in 7 th grade and took ESL for a year did she become fluent. Most of her family is fluent, except for her mother, Shahar has to call credit card companies and make appointments for her. They try to conserve the language at home, but encourage Shahar in her efforts to learn Spanish. Secondary language acquisition is difficult, and it was interesting to see what it is like to go through the process.
Transcription
Interview with Sahar
Question 1:
Caroline: What was the hardest part about learning English?
Shahar: I think spelling some words, like, that have the combination with “gh” in it like “night” and “light”. And then…I think it was really tough for me to read and comprehend what I was reading…and some slang words were tough.
Question 2:
Caroline: Were you ever made fun of for your…accent or learn-when you were learning English? (laughs)
Shahar: Constantly. People always make fun of me, of things I say- I used to say “to have a good life” ‘cause to have a good time in Hebrew that's how we translate it like, literally. So- people always made fun of me.
Question 3:
Caroline: Uhh…what still gives you trouble in English?
Shahar: (pause) I think pronunciation…'cause people still make fun of me of, like how I say words, like the policeman I would call it a “cup” (laughs) I still don't know how to say “cup” “cuuuup” I don't know how to say that.
Question 4:
Caroline: What are some of your favorite English slang words?
Shahar: I think “wanna” and “gotta” are, like, really nice ‘cause they just make everything a lot better (laughs)…and ain't, ain't is a fun word.
Question 5:
Caroline: Did you have any difficulty learning to write English?
Shahar: Yes, I did. ‘Cause my native He-language Hebrew starts from right to left, so I would write English from right to left and everyone would look at me like I'm crazy.
Question 6:
Caroline: Is it harder for you to read or write English?
Shahar: I think it's harder to read, ‘cause…when I write it, it's my thoughts, so I understand it better. When I read it I have to understand what someone's trying to tell me, so it's-both difficulties together, and, it's really hard.
Analysis
Secondary language acquisition must occur during the critical period, which is defined by Pinker as ending around puberty. A child is guaranteed to acquire normal language by the age of six, will continue developing language through puberty, and is rare after puberty. Once a language is learned more languages can be learned, although not as easily as those acquired during the critical period.
English is an optional course for Israeli students in 3 rd and 4 th grade, and it is required from then on. Since Shahar moved here in 7 th grade, near the end of her critical period, she was able to acquire the language fairly easily, with a few minor problems, most notably her difficulty in comprehension and difficulties with speech. She took two years of ESL despite becoming fluent within the first year. She said that this was a frustrating process because the teacher was unable to communicate with her and learning the language was achieved by memorizing definitions and matching them to other memorized definitions. Often, it was not the words she learned but how they looked. While it is possible to detect an accent in her speech, people often have difficulty placing it, asking if she is French or Spanish. When a person immigrates to a new country past their critical period, they often never develop a convincing accent or lose their old accent. Since Shahar came to America near the end of her critical period, she has only a faint accent at times. The difficulties that Shahar has with English are the same problems that any student has learning another language. Literal translation of metaphors, trouble with pronunciation, and inability to comprehend literature are problems I face at times when learning French. Shahar also has trouble with certain phonemes, such as the example of “cop” and “cup”, this is probably because the phoneme for the “co” sound is not found in the Hebrew language, and since she never heard it as a child, she never learned how to form that particular phoneme. A unique problem Shahar faced was relearning how to write. In Hebrew, words are written from right to left while in English they are written from left to right. This posed difficulty and embarrassment for Shahar and it also shows how a native language influences the learning of a second language. The fact that Shahar learned English so quickly while her mother still struggles also shows the power of the critical period. It took Shahar one year to become fluent, but six years later her mother still needs help calling credit card companies. The rest of Shahr's family is fluent, which was helpful in the learning process, she was able to hear the words defined in her native language rather than simple English. Obviously being an immigrant is no easy process in itself, especially when it is necessary to learn a new language. It is much easier for immigrant children to pick up a second language, and how early they arrive makes that much more
I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and I lived there until 10th grade. Despite my 16 years living 20 minutes from the city, I never picked up Pittsburghese, thankfully. I moved to Raleigh the summer before Junior year and I attended Wakefield High School. My knowledge of foreign languages is limited to French, one year of Latin, and a semester of German. I took AP French Literature and Language my junior year, whuch makes my french class here at Carolina difficult since I've forgotten everything I've learned in my 6 years of study. I have been fortunate enough to travel to Paris twice and London once, and I really loved both places. As far as computer abilities go, I can do what I need to on the computer, but that's about all I can handle. I played the flute from 4th grade until 10th, but I was not any good. I hope to learn more about languages, which will help me with my French major. I think the interconnectedness of seemingly different languages is very interesting. I would like to be an expert at whatever my future career is, because then I would feel like I have truly accomplished something.
Acquiring a second language is required for students throughout the globe. It is seen as a vital part of one's education and is encouraged by many employers. However, learning a second language is a necessity when you have immigrated to a country that does not speak your native language. With the large influx of immigrants into America daily, English as a Second Language is a common course offered throughout the globe. Many people struggle when learning English because of the complexities of the language. While many parts are straightforward, such as conjugation of verbs and sentence structure, other parts are much more difficult. There are many exceptions and spelling can be misleading. Difficulty learning English usually relates to how much different English is from the learner's native language. Someone who speaks a Germanic language would have a much easier time than a speaker of Mandarin Chinese. Pronunciation is often difficult because of multiple factors. One is consonant phenomes, the “th” sound is relatively rare in other languages, and is replaced by “t”, “d”, “s”, or “z”. Vowel phenomes are also difficult to hear and understand because there are more vowel sounds in English than other languages. How a vowel is stressed is more important in English than other languages, which causes English as spoken by a foreigner to sound different and be easily misunderstood.
Secondary language acquisition must occur during the critical period, which is defined by Pinker as ending around puberty. A child is guaranteed to acquire normal language by the age of six, will continue developing language through puberty, and is rare after puberty. Once a language is learned more languages can be learned, although not as easily as those acquired during the critical period.
I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and I lived there until 10th grade. Despite my 16 years living 20 minutes from the city, I never picked up Pittsburghese, thankfully. I moved to Raleigh the summer before Junior year and I attended Wakefield High School. My knowledge of foreign languages is limited to French, one year of Latin, and a semester of German. I took AP French Literature and Language my junior year, whuch makes my french class here at Carolina difficult since I've forgotten everything I've learned in my 6 years of study. I have been fortunate enough to travel to Paris twice and London once, and I really loved both places. As far as computer abilities go, I can do what I need to on the computer, but that's about all I can handle. I played the flute from 4th grade until 10th, but I was not any good. I hope to learn more about languages, which will help me with my French major. I think the interconnectedness of seemingly different languages is very interesting. I would like to be an expert at whatever my future career is, because then I would feel like I have truly accomplished something.