Why You Should Consider Using More than One Language in Your Studies

In recent discussions of identity and language diversity there has been a controversy on whether there is one correct way to speak a language or not. Authors such as (David Foster Wallace, Gloria Anzaldua, Amy Tan, and Silvia Montrul) present the different ways that language diversity can be a challenge. However some people believe that in order to learn a new language they have to lose their identity, hence they might refuse indirectly to learn a second language. Still others, though, by considering that different dialects are used in different situations, believe that the use of one dialect does not cause us to lose cultural identity but gives us not one but two identities. All the Countries have a diversity of dialects in their language and because of this reason a person from the south can call a certain thing in a different way than a person from the north, or the west, even though they are in the same country. Although there are many dialects used in every country it is important for people to be able to change between the different dialects and the Standard way of a language in order to succeed in the many areas of life. In this paper, In this paper I argue that being capable of switching between more than one dialect increases your opportunities in your academic as well as your social life without losing one’s identity and native language.

In my own experience, as an international student in college in the United States, language diversity has been a challenge. International students face a culture shock when coming to a whole different country, with different language and culture, and the language is one of the hardest parts of living in another country. Standard Written English (SWE), also known as the preferred use of language, is a language we as international students have to learn as a matter of convenience because it minimizes any misunderstanding and miscommunication when speaking with other English speakers. David Foster Wallace the author of “Authority and American Usage” claims that using Standard Written English is appropriate in professional life. He gives an example of a Snootlet (offspring of a Snoot) who is a very smart kid and very fluent in SWE who stands out for his teacher but his peers loath him. Although this kid has a very good management of SWE and in the future could become a very successful businessman, he has a deficiency in successful communication with the other kids of his age, which can also affect him with future relationships in community. Those who can only speak in SWE are less successful in their social life. On the other hand, other kids that have a deficiency in speaking and writing SWE, are punished in their academic life, but they are really good relating with the other kids. Learning SWE is important so that people don’t close up their career advancement opportunities, however knowing what language to use with your peers can help you make friends. In addition, Amy Tan’s excerpt “Mother Tongue” discusses the limitations that a person, in this case her mother, who does not speak SWE face and the benefits that Tan speaking SWE gave to her mom. She states “ when I was fifteen she used to have me call people on the phone, to pretend I was she” (page 713). For Tan’s mother it was not a matter of not understanding what was going on but a matter of expressing her ideas in the correct way. Moreover, the benefit Tan gave to her mother was helping her communicate the needs and the problems she had through her ability to speak her mother’s native language and SWE to explain other people in a more standard way. Indeed, Proper expression is sometimes difficult when you don’t have the right words, but being flexible in language makes it easier to communicate your thoughts.

Language diversity is not only being able to move between dialects but also, language diversity or “multilingualism” is a nation’s identity and cultural diversity of each individual in unity. Gloria Anzaldua in her excerpt “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” from her book Borderlands/ La Frontera, argues that language cannot be defined as correct or incorrect due to the amount of existent dialects, and insists that preserving ones identity is just as important as learning SWE. Anzaldua states that one shouldn’t be ashamed of the way we speak and we should continue practicing our language with other people that speak the same language to preserve our identity. Many dialects of Spanish are acquired by influence from other Spanish speaking countries. For example, the way a Mexican speaks Spanish is not the same as how people from South America speak but it does not mean that either one is incorrect. The world is too big and the variety of people is too broad to have only one correct way of speaking. However holding to your heritage language makes the learning of a new language harder. Wallace gives a different example of variety and why there’s not one correct way of a language because of the variety of dialects in his excerpt, and how learning a language correctly is important. When Wallace is speaking to his students that he says speak ‘Standard Black English’ (SBE), and says that it is not that they were not using English right but that they speak a different dialect than SWE. Wallace is trying to teach them the other way of English, which is used in different environment then when these students are speaking SBE with others that speak the same dialect. Wallace is not asking them to forget or stop using SBE, he is teaching them another dialect of their language can have many benefits like finding a job or helping in better communication with teacher and people who do not speak SBE.

Sometimes it is not only that it’s hard for some people to learn a language correctly but also that they fear to learn it. Many things can trigger a person to hesitate from learning a new language. In Silvia Montrul’s book The Heritage Language Learner the hardest thing of Heritage language is speaker is the loos of one’s native language. Family and educational institutions play a huge role in HL maintenance, for example East Asian Immigrant families in the United States or Canada. Immigrants who have had a previous Chinese, Korean or Japanese background are taught English and slowly drift away from their HL because they are fearful that speaking their HL will impede them from learning English completely. Although they can speak and understand their HL they have trouble writing and reading it because they do not speak it that much. On the other hand, others are strongly trying to improve their HL by continuing to speak it with their parents, learning from past generations and trying to stay in touch with their roots. Although Montrul states, “ the small culture cannot win over the big culture” and although the environment in which we live has a strong influence in our language, that does not mean that we can’t give our own efforts to maintain our HL and learn to speak another language. The Spanish speaking population of California is just another example of how although we face problems trying to preserve our HL there are ways we can do it. Minority teaching of Spanish is being perceived/taken as to be a threat to American culture. The expansion of Spanish speakers has caused anti-Spanish policies to be imposed like the use of Spanish at work is prohibited. The maintenance of heritage language depends in how much you practice it at home. The use of heritage language at home does not affect the learning of English. Since language defines our identity, the speaking of two languages means that we have two identities.

As you can see, language has more than one interpretation and meaning. The language we speak is a huge part of our identity and culture. There is no correct way of using language, however for success in all parts of life it is important to move between the different dialects. Knowing more than one language opens many doors to success in your professional life as well as in your social life. People are more than just the way they speak a language and because God created us for community it is very important for us to be able to communicate on a social level. When we learn a new language it is not losing our Heritage Language and acquiring the new language as our new identity. Learning a new language is acquiring a new identity and the challenge is preserve both, your HL and standard way of a language even though society does not help in preserving it. My own experience gives me the opportunity to understand that my ability to change between dialects gave me the opportunity to be in a good college where I’ve met other Spanish speakers who also speak English as their second language. Language diversity is a broad and complicated topic but what everybody needs to understand is that the world is too big and the variety of people is too broad to have only one correct way of speaking. Hence As Frantz Fanon once said “To speak a language is to take on a world, a culture.”