Mymona Tasnim

The City College of New York

Brenna Crowe

FIQWS 10111

Sep 11, 2022

My Language Story

Language and literacy are the two sides of the same coin. One can not be imagined without the other. Language is the oral method of expressing ourselves through words and phrases. On the other hand, literacy is the ability to read and write. There are many factors that influence the learning process of a child. It actually depends on the environment how fast or how slow a child is going to learn. 

Family is the basic unit of our society. A child starts her learning process from her family. Families play an important role in making a child speak and learn her first words. It completely depends on the family what language a child is going to speak. After having a proper knowledge about language, one starts reading and writing. If a child can not speak, he can not read or write as well. They are correlated to each other. 

I am the eldest daughter of my family. I have seen my little brother and sister growing up in front of me. I have seen their language and literacy development. After coming to this world, they had no idea of what language is and they did not know how to express themselves. Often I used to ask my mom, “Will they ever speak and understand what we are saying? How is it even possible?” My mom always used to say, “Give them some time, they will start talking.” It always amazes me seeing how an environment and family influences a child’s ability to read and write. My sister was thirteen years old when she moved to the United States with us. Even though she knew how to speak in English, her English always seemed broken. What does broken mean? Elaborate On the other hand, my little brother was only four years old when we moved here. We never thought that he would start speaking fluently in English just after a few months of going to school. Before he got admitted in school, we tried our best to make him read and write English as well but he was always struggling. After starting school, it became so much easier for him. It’s because he was then fluent in speaking as well. This clearly suggests that language and literature can not be imagined without each other. 

I also faced a lot of complexities and difficulties when I moved to the USA due to the language. As I went to an English version school in my country, I already knew how to speak in English but I never really practiced back then. After coming here, I struggled to speak in English fluently in spite of knowing English. Often, I could not understand what the other person was saying. It was really difficult for me to understand because their accent was completely different from mine. I am from a country where everyone follows the British accent while speaking English and that’s why the American accent of speaking English was really unfamiliar to me. I struggled a lot because of that. It was really difficult for me to find a job at first due to not speaking English fluently but I never gave up. After I got a job at a local clothing store, I got the opportunity to speak in English all the time. Even though at first it was kind of difficult for me, I improved with time. I can never say that now my English is proper, but now I am fluent. I would say, now I can speak broken English with fluency. I think that a child has a definite period of time to adopt a new language completely. I moved here when I was seventeen years old and thus for me, that learning period was over. That’s why, no matter how fluently I speak, my English always seems non formal. 

The ability to read and write depends completely on how the child speaks. If they have a really small vocabulary with incorrect grammar structure, that’s how most probably they will write too. Thus, it’s really important for a child to have a rich vocabulary of words with correct grammar in order to be skilled in writing and reading. Some children often have language delays, Those who suffer from these language delays, often struggle to read and write as well. The literacy of these children is also delayed. It’s really important for the parents to identify these delays in their child in order to come up with the best solutions. 

We are the luckiest creatures on the earth as we have the most developed language. Almost every creature on earth has their own language but ours is the best. And our literacy can not be imagined without language. No other creature on the planet is literate due to the lack of proper language. All human beings on earth have a lot of stories regarding their language. We are an enriched civilization because we are blessed with language and literacy.