I love language!

I’m a language geek. Thus far, I have studied French, Spanish, Italian, and Chinese and don’t plan to stop learning new languages until I’ve study as many as I can remember! There’s nothing that fascinates me more than the words people choose, the intonation with which they say them, and in turn the meaning behind the words. I also enjoy the grammatical and linguistic nuances that each language has to offer. Even languages in the same branch can vary greatly in sound, vocabulary, grammar, structure, etc. Also, countries and/or provinces/states in the same region have different cultures and traditions.

While studying these various languages, especially French, I developed a greater awareness and understanding of different aspects of English language and grammar. For instance, the past tense of French uses two forms of the verb: a past participle (-ed ending in English) and an auxiliary verb (to be or to have). I had no idea what an auxiliary verb was or when/how to use it in any language before my French class; however, through French I learned its function in French and English.

Language does not have to be studied in a school setting, though many people are first introduced to language in school. It can be studied at home using an interactive language program such as Rosetta Stone, in a foreign country during a vacation or a study abroad program, or at a library or other public place that offers a language program, to name a few. In these settings people can learn the language at their own pace and in the manner in which they want.

Language learning is not simply academic, it is social and cultural as well. In the process of learning a new language, I learned about the food, music, history, art, etc of the countries in which that language was spoken. By learning about another culture I started to reflect on and compare cultural practices in America and in my family to those in France and discovered that despite the differences, there are many similarities between cultures (i.e. Bastille Day and Independence Day, All Souls Day and Dia de los muertos, etc.).

     

Vocabulary

1.      Fascinates (verb) – interest, intrigue

2.      Intonation (noun) – the way someone says something, the tone

3.      Branch (noun) – group of languages with similar origins; part of a tree that has leaves or loses them in the winter

4.      Linguistic (adj) – related to language

5.      Nuances (noun) – subtle difference

6.      Function (noun) – purpose or use; (verb) fulfill daily activities

7.      Auxiliary (verb) – helping verb used in the past tense

8.      Geek (noun) – someone obsessed with something (when used with an adjective); someone deemed “uncool”

Vocabulary Exercise

1.      Your ____________ choices in this paper were far more advanced than in previous papers.

2.      I cannot __________ in the morning before I drink my coffee.

3.      __________ verbs in the French past tense are “être” and “avoir”.

4.      He was ___________ by the hot dog eating contest.

5.      The __________ of his voice told me that he was very excited about something.

6.      English and German are in the Germanic language __________.

7.      He loved video games so much that his friends called him a video game ________.

8.      A __________  of Spanish dialects is that the letter y can be pronounced with a “yuh” or a “juh” sound depending on the region in which the speaker lives.

Grammar Point and Exercise

Throughout its history, the English language has adopted words from other languages (the reverse is also true.).

How many English words can you name that were adopted from another language? List at least 5.