English is my first language, and I am nearly fluent in Spanish (I really need to visit a Spanish speaking country to become fluent). I am currently starting my first Japanese class. Learning new languages, and struggling to think from the perspective of a different language has caused me to wonder about language acquisition and the differences between people who speak a native language from birth those who learn the language later in life. I actually had an interesting experience today in my Japanese class. When my teacher asked me a question and I could not think of the word in Japanese, the first thing that came to my mind was the same word in Spanish. I had no idea why this happened, but it was pretty crazy.
My personal experiences with my grandmother have had an enormous impact on the way I perceive the power of language. I am half Japanese (I'm a hapa), and my grandmother is full Japanese. She speaks mostly Japanese, and often a mixture of Japanese and English. Because of this language barrier, I feel like there is not only a physical obstacle in way the of our communication, but also a psychological obstacle. Despite the fact that we see each other often, I feel that our relationship is limited because we do not speak the same language. We cannot connect very well. My relationship with my grandmother makes this topic very personal to me, and makes me want to study how language can influence and individual and his or her relationships with others. I wonder if learning Japanese will change my relationship with my grandma and how we see each other. I want to know about her from her own words-the things she likes, what she did when she was younger-i want to know everything about her. When there is a language barrier it is almost as if you can't get to know a person. I am hoping that learning Japanese will open the door between us that has been closed for my whole life.
One of my most memorable experiences (and the one I will never forget because it was so amazing) involving language was when I went to volunteer at an inner city school in Richmond. I was helping work registration because many of the students were Hispanic and had parents who were immigrants and could not speak or understand English. My job was to help show them around and answer any questions they had. At first the parents walking by my table were extremely shy and would not make eye contact with me, but as soon as I bean approaching them and speaking Spanish everything changed. It was so amazing; as soon as I spoke a sentence, it was like the parents' faces lit up. They were no longer timid, and became excited, talking to me as if we had been friends forever. I realized that had I not been able to communicate with them in their language, we would not have been able to share this connection. All worries they had were swept away once they knew we could communicate. This experience really made me realize how significant language is in connecting people to one another and the impact it has on how people think, feel, and act.
Another cool moment I recently had was this past summer at my job at a veterinary hospital. One of our clients was deaf, and had to communicate via the computer or by writing. I had never really thought about life from the perspective of a deaf person. I wondered how she could possibly comprehend a sentence written down in the same way a person who could hear could. I also found it interesting that she had become deaf later in life; she was not born deaf. I wondered if this tragedy had changed her way of thinking and how she would think differently than a person who had been deaf throughout their entire lives. I wondered if she and her children had suffered any type of change in their relationship with one another. I feel that it would be so difficult to communicate without a spoken language, and thought about body language and whether or not it would come close to sufficing as a replacement to spoken language.
It seems like every day more and more happens that makes me appreciate language. I truly believe that language is one of the most important gifts that we have. It has always fascinated me because I think that there exists nothing that compares or could replace the connection between two people that language creates. Language is a communion between two people-a sharing of something special that when absent causes difficulties in all types of communication. What is said and how something is said can be so powerful.
I could ask questions about language forever. Does the language you learn first create a specific thought process only used by those who speak that language. How does learning language or new words affect the brain physiologically and the mind psychologically? Why is language so central and crucial to communication? How does language influence our emotions, thoughts, behavior, and culture? Can different language truly cause societies to develop in different ways?
I hope to learn several languages throughout my life and to travel the world. I think that my favorite thing to do would be just to talk to different people from all over the world and to experience the differences I would feel with each language and culture. I absolutely love this topic and cannot wait to learn more and hear about others' experiences with and perspectives on languages! See you all tomorrow! (And yes...my map is also quite pathetic...but I hope that in about 10 years it is much more colorful :)
create your own visited country map
