Multilingualism

Intro

Some people excel in the math and sciences. Others achieve success through art or writing. I, on the other hand, don't fall into either category. However, I do believe that I have a knack for langauges. "Multilingualism,", as I call it, is a word I just made up to to create a catchy name for this section heading. I speak, read & write in 3 different languages, not including English. Amazing, huh? Well, note quite.

Spanish, part I.

I began studying the Spanish language back when I was 6 years old. My elementary school had an unprecedented Spanish immersion program. So basically, all throughout my years in elementary school, grades K-6, I was taught math, science and health in Spanish. History and language arts was taught in English. So it's safe to say that when I started learning math in English, that was quite odd. With this system, the ability to merely converse in Spanish during class was more important than understanding the grammar. But even without the proper understanding of Spanish grammar, I became quite proficient with the language in all 3 areas of reading, writing and speaking. But, as middle school rolled around, I ditched my Spanish "roots", opting to learn Japanese instead, but that wasn't the end of my love affair with Spanish...

Japanese

I would have to say that my proficiency is lacking most with Japanese. Even after dedicating 5 years to learning this language, I still have so much more to learn. Many people assume that because I am Chinese, learning Japanese must be easy for me. Indeed, I was able to pick up the language much faster than my peers, but the grammar construction of Japanese is very different than that of the Chinese language. And, unlike immersing myself in the Spanish language as I did back in elementary school, I learned the Japanese language from a textbook. The opportunity to converse in Japanese is much more scarce than that of Spanish. And, since the grammatical structure of Japanese is so different than that of the English language, the rate at which the material is covered is much slower. For example: The Spanish language uses Roman (Western) letters and the sentence structures are quite similiar to English, e.g., subject + verb (+ (in)direct object, etc). But, since the Japanese language does not use letters but symbols that represent a particular pronounciation, a good part of the learning process in the beginning is dedicated to being able to recognize and write these phonetic symbols. In addition, in Japanese, the verb will alwas come at the end of a sentence. So for natives of the English language, that takes some getting used to. So, a student taking Spanish 101 will know roughly 500 vocab words and be able to form fairly complex sentences, where as a student taking Japanese 101 will know roughly 250 vocab words and only be able to form the simplest of sentences. As I advanced through the higher levels of Japanese, I became more proficient, but much of the class time was occupied by grammar, and not conversing, which is not the best way to learn the language. After my highschool graduation, my journey of learning for Japanese ended, not necessarily because I wanted it to, but because Mason only offered 100 and 200 level classes in Japanese. To this day, I can read and write in Japanese with ease, but speaking it is a different story. With no practice, my ability to retain the language has decreased.

Chinese

Around the same time that I started to learn Spanish, back when I was 6, my parents forced to go to "Chinese" school. Boy, did I dread going to school on Sunday, but this is where I start to mislead people. I'm not lying about the fact that I can speak 3 Chinese dialects, but what I am leaving out is that my proficiency varies with each dialect. I would have to admit that I am more proficient with spoken Cantonese and Teochew than I am with spoken Mandarin. But, since I learned how to read and write "Chinese" in Mandarin, I am better at reading and writing text in that dialect. Besides, it's hard to explain, but Cantonese and Teochew are more colloquial than Mandarin is, therefore it's more common to read Chinese text in Mandarin. Also, Mandarin is the "official" language of China. Another contribution to my decreased proficiency in Mandarin is that I learned it out of a textbook, as well. I find it rather odd because both my parents can read, write and speak in Mandarin with absolute frequency, yet they never practiced doing so with me. Therefore, without practicing Mandarin outside of class, I am not as fluent as I could be. On the same note, my fluency in Cantonese and Teochew is not the same as it used to be. Back when I would spend more time at home, therefore speaking the dialects, I was able to retain the fluency. But, as I spend less and less time at home because of school or work, I find myself speaking both Cantonese and Teochew less and less and as a result, I find myself forgetting how to speak the languages. It's gotten so bad that sometimes, in one sentence, I will mix all 3 dialects. Like I would say one word in Teochew and the next few words in Canton and then finish the sentence off with Mandarin. Yea, it gets quite confusing at times. And, even though I dreaded "Chinese" school every Sunday afternoon for 12 years, my only regret now is that I was not more active in learning to speak Mandarin. And, every chance I get with my relatives, I will speak Teochew or Cantonese, so that I won't forget my heritage.

Spanish, part II.

Remember how I said that going to middle school was not the end of my journey with Spanish? Well, after 5 semesters at Mason, I finally decided to take up Spanish again. With such a heavy Hispanic influence throughout the country, learning Spanish would only help me. In addition, I hope to be able to volunteer at a clinic for underpriveledged and/or native Spanish speakers once I am out of medical school. Anyhow,after taking the placement test, I was placed into Span 202, which I thought was quite appropriate seeing as how I am not unfamiliar with the language, but needed to improve my grammar skills. The odd thing is, even after my 9 year hiatus from Spanish, I am still able to grasp the material better than most of my peers. Good thing I got a head start, no?