Cross-Linguistic and Cross-Cultural Identity Essay

I grew up in a sphere whose native spoken language is not incline. But I grew up chartering the office language nevertheless. In my home, we had access to position shows which I was constantly exposed to at a very new-fashi whizzd age. This is the reason wherefore I learned English without much advised effort. The language learning was taking place within the sub-conscious, which is the best mood to learn any language constant exposure at a very young age.Mei-Yu (1998, paragraph 2) once said that in the attainment of oral language, young children argon active agents, constantly refining and delimit the inputs that they get from their surroundings in way that corrects sense to them. Children create hypotheses al well-nigh language rules, constantly filtering them through active engagement with the more cap adequate to(p) language users in their immediate environment. Unconsciously, they learn to recognize contexts and begin getting fine discrimination in their use of a language. Looking back, I guess the constant exposure to the English language is the reason why I grew up knowing how to use it.There was never a conscious effort on my part to use or learn English, because it was already ingrained in my person. The people in my household knew English and spoke it on many occasions. I also had access to English books which strengthened my phonological assuredness or sound-symbol relationships. This happened side by side while I was learning my mother language as well. As a child with a facility for the English language, I was undefendable to an excess of attention that I would not have received otherwise, had I just spoken our native tongue and zippo else.There is a prestige attached to the English language that thrusts people in my acres take a second look and listen closely to what I have to say. They also make speculations as to whether my family is reach and if I grew up in the United States or have been travelling there on a regular basis . Such is the high stature of the English language in my country that if you let out it well enough, most people that you argon rich or your family is. Growing up, my situation as a multi-lingual was still more fascinating.Perhaps it was because as I grew older, I became more aware of peoples actuations, and I am also more able to discern their motivations for why they act the way they do towards me. In my country there is a fascination for the English language because there is a fascination for the country. My people look at the United States as magical place where dreams come legitimate, and life is generally better. To them, it appears like those who ordure speak the English language have greater chances of going to the United States as well.This general notion extends in each situation. That is why in every conversation where my ability to speak the English language is displayed, people seem to treat me better and pay me more attention. Sometimes, in order to revoke emba rrassment, I hide my fluency in English when interacting with my community. Clearly, there is an raw favor towards those who speak the language, as if we are better than the rest of the local anaesthetic people. This is consistently true in all areas of endeavors, from school to social, to professional career.It is a sad situation, but true nevertheless, and I used my fluency in English and strive to make more of myself, in order to relate societys expectations. Sometimes it can be difficult, trying to abstract up to expectations, but I felt that it was my duty to do so, oddly for those who sincerely believed that I could. The situation changed when I moved to the United States. If you are multi-lingual, you are regarded as ethnic, especially if your pronunciation has a very heavy and recognizable accent. You will be subject to stereotyping, and in whatever cases, be even regarded as second class citizens.While I am not saying that everyone will react negatively to your accen t or your use of your mother language, it is a reality that there are some people who will take it against you. If there is any field that multilingualism is incessantly an advantage, and that is in the corporate world. This is especially true in the age of globalism, where most companies deal with overseas transactions. Being multilingual means that I can air with my colleagues, and at the same time be able to communicate with a client or supplier who speaks my mother tongue, but nothing else.Thus, I am able to bridge the communication gap and make sure that there will be no misunderstandings and conflict later on on because of the language barrier. Actually, upon deeper reflection, I realize that people do not react to your multilingualism as much as they are reacting to the accent or how you speak the English language. The lesser your accent, the better people regard you. And this is true regardless or what place you are in. What we speak and how we speak, speak nearly our hi story as an individual. How we speak makes a statement towards who we are as a person. And people, for better or for worse, react to that.In an era of increase globalization, more and more people requisite to learn English to make themselves more marketable and competitive. However, the value of the mother tongue should never be forgotten. Our mother language keeps our identity intact and sets us apart from the rest. penetrative English is the ship that will help us to get where we want to go, but it is our mother tongue that will be our anchor the one that will help us find our way should we get lost. type Lu, Mei-Yu. (1998). Language Learning in Social and Cultural Contexts. ERIC Digest. Retrieved April 14, 2007 from http//www. ericdigests. org/1999-2/language. htm