Hi Denise,
I live in Texas and unfortunately, I only speak English fluently. However, I have learned a little bit of Spanish over the years from friends and people I encounter every day. It is also my goal to learn more Spanish by using Rosetta Stone. My husband is currently going through the German program. It is a remarkable software!
The other language I know is American Sign Language (ASL). I am not fluent in it but I know enough to communicate with someone who is deaf. I started learning from a deaf friend many years ago and I have done my best to keep my skills intact. I had the privilege of working at The Kentucky School for the Deaf for 2 years and I was able to learn more words and communications skills. Something you may find interesting is that deaf people have also come up with shortcuts and slang just like hearing people have. They use acronyms in text and signs.
I believe all languages evolve and change with each generation. It is a challenge to keep up with all of them. :)
Kim Templin
University of Texas at Tyler
Tyler, TX
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Hi, Denise.
It was good to see you during your stop in Japan!
The two main languages for me are English (my first language) and Japanese, which I use on a daily basis both at work and in my personal life. I studied Spanish and Sign Language a long (long, long) time ago. I have also had some exposure to Chinese, but I haven't done much to actually study it.
If I think about it, Sign was probably easiest to learn for me. Something about using my hands to communicate seemed to engage a different part of my brain, so there was less conflict between languages going on in my mind. Spanish was second; I grew up in Southern California, where Spanish is prevalent. All that exposure made it easier, and the linguistic similarities between Spanish and English also helped.
Japanese, now--that's been (and continues to be) a challenge. The basic grammatical structure is completely different from English, the character-based writing system is difficult for someone not familiar with these systems, and there are other aspects that make the language challenging.
Something I noticed not only in my own studies, but also as I watched others around me, was that early many people have a tendency to fight the foreignness of a new language. I would look at two very similar characters in Japanese and in frustration wonder why "they" had to write two different things almost the same way. Once I stopped fighting and learned to accept the language as it is, it felt like my development accelerated.
At our university, pretty much all students speak at least Japanese and English -- depending on which of these languages they were admitted under, they study the other -- and most students choose to study another language during their time here. On top of that, almost all of the students who enter under the English admissions process speak their own native tongue, meaning that trilingual is pretty normal on campus. I've known students who can speak seven different languages. That's inspiring!
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Jerry Pietrzak
Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University
Beppu, Oita
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