My name is Ishak, and I come from Yemen. My parents speak Arabic to me. I came to the U.S. about three years ago, and I thought it would be hard to learning English. I feel like I learn the most English in ESL class. My nephew Yousef came from Yemen about the same time as me. “Do you think we have to learn a new language?” “Yes because it can help me in different countries”
“What the language you want to learn?” “Spanish, because most people around the world speaks Spanish”
“How the language in school?” “Good because in!! because when first I come to U.S. I learn more, more English, so I can talk to other people.”
I learned this year in ESL that there is no official language in U.S. Everyone has to respect this, but there are people who don’t know this fact. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/students-walk-out-after-teacher-tells-students-speak-american-n811256
At home I speak the Arabic dialect we speak in Yemen. It’ a hard language to speak. There are different sounds, pronunciation, and words throughout the Middle East. One thing that’s different in the US: When I speak my language some people make fun of me. People think it’s funny because they don’t understand Arabic and they’re not used to hearing it. The sound of my language is funny to people, because it’s different and it’s looks like new language.
My mom tell me to lean more than two languages.
Now I try every day to be intelligent. If I learn two new Languages, it will help me at school and in different countries. I like when I study English because now I understand the students and teachers. Today I feel smarter than last year. The language I speak I am not going to forget.
Ishak, I enjoyed reading your post, and I’m impressed with your English skills with only three years of learning. I would agree that being bilingual or multilingual is definitely a huge advantage in life. You may find this article helpful: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160811-the-amazing-benefits-of-being-bilingual. I’m looking forward to seeing what you write next.
Ishak,
I really enjoyed your post. You title caught my attention because I think people do not think about expanding their mind by learning new languages to further their education about the word we live in. Learning new languages will certainly help you become more intelligent and understand why certain things happen in the world. You may enjoy this article: https://www.fluentu.com/blog/advantages-of-learning-a-foreign-language/
This is very interesting commentary, Ishak. I am impressed that after only three years in the U.S. you have developed very strong English skills. According to The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-benefits-of-bilingualism.html#), being bilingual makes you think about the world in a different way, and in turn makes you smarter. Many people believe that when you speak another language, your thought process is very different from when you speak your own language which in turn helps you see the world in an entirely new way. I will look forward to your next post.
Dear Ishak,
I am really impressed with your work. Your podcast could relate to a lot of people, there experiences of language loss.One aspect of your podcast that stood out for me was: when you said people make fun of Arabic language. I think that’s not right to make fun of any language in general. People could speak the language they want, nobody is perfect.
Your podcast reminds me of something that happened to me. I’m not really good at reading or writing in Arabic. A lot of times my siblings makes fun of me speaking Arabic.
Thanks for your writing. I look forward to seeing what you write next, because it was really good, keep up. !!
Hi Ishak,
I would like to say that I was very impressed with this piece of writing even more so when I learned that you only started learning English three years ago. I though you brought up a lot of good points about how being multilingual can never be anything other a positive thing. I myself wish I was able to speak more than one language. It appalls me that people in this country still do not respect others cultures and languages. Are you still learning Spanish? Can’t wait to see what else you write.
Violet