Amanda Wright

Fresno Pacific

Language ***

my primary language is English I learned this from birth to probably age 5. Most of my family spoke English but also spoke several other languages but they refused to teach us until we got older and had to buy for classes

I have been in English question language community as well as an American Sign Language community and I also belong to a sign language community outside of school. I also belong to an Italian community. Also belong to a Native American language which I miss you as well as shoe mash culture. We used to have weekly dinners. I love is going to weekly dinners it was fun if you didn’t know what con Dewey was then you sure would be hungry.

in most of these communities it was not hard acquire admittance to them the only one that I had trouble getting into the English language people they were a little bit more earthy. What time the shoe welcome to anybody at any stage in any other type of the language. The American Sign Language group is welcome to everybody no matter who they are what they believe in what their backgrounds are or what their beliefs are. Most of the other languages that I know welcome people a lot easier than the people with English as a primary language.

Personal language acquisition story.

Most of my personal language acquisition is being said at home learning how to read and write by my mother. Most of my class days were spent with excruciating painfully days vented home doubling up my extra work due to the fact that I had trouble reading and writing. So English was not my easiest language ever and will probably never be ever to be mastered by me but no language should ever be mastered we should always learn some new things every day.

The easiest language that I have learned was American Sign Language. It is a visual language were nobody is going to worry about if you misspell a word or if you can’t say the word correctly or with an accent yes even in sign language we do have accents. Pretty amazing most people would’ve never thought we had accent in sign language. This group is the most accepting group I’ve ever been into they don’t care where you come come they don’t care who you are they just care that that you are there and that you were learning a language that they can understand they are the most loving community you will ever come across. From sign one or basic signs with my best friend in grade school all the way through my fluent sign language as an adult and my children’s journey and never have I ever had a problem being accepted in this community they are wonderful can drop my kids off in a deaf community and they can learn where to go to get something to eat where to find a bathroom where to find me and whatever else they need. Specially me Lord knows my food allergies are horrendous.

my sign language classes were kept small more than 21 people we had small groups like we did in class and on most of the videos that we watched in class. We used our primary language as well as our secondary language that we were learning on how to understand what we needed to get across. There was one day we had a death day yes a death day DEF nobody can get that if they have not worn AirPods walk around outside look like a crazy idiot assigning tree grass food lunch I want to eat a cheeseburger. But there was a group of 20 of us doing the same thing every day we learn how to go through the deaf world and navigate it without hearing it this is pretty amazing because now I have no hearing and what little I do have is very very faint.

I social aspects of my L2 is a lot easier to describe than my L one because English was just family. It’s sign language I had my best friend in grade school who did not hear and it could only sign so I was one of the first students to help her learn how to speak English or sign with me so I can interpret for her. Even the teacher didn’t even want to be bothered because she kept calling or deaf and dumb. Well just because your deaf does not make you dumb it just makes you a little different which we all know God likes us all a little different and he is got one wonky sense of humor.

I learned basic science like our me eat before I could learn how to two anything else other than her name her name was Rini.

Now I have joined several Facebook pages in deaf culture as well as several definite cultures. Where we go to dinner and I can order whatever I want to eat if it all possible in the restaurant we go to. It is extremely difficult because most of the waiters and waitresses do not understand what we are trying to say and for those who are deaf and do not speak English or refused to speak English because they find it a loss of losing their culture which I would understand about due to the fact it is a loss of their culture to be able to assimilate and be acting as if they are hearing. We have had pizza nights several times which is great if we go to me and Ed’s then I can eat a gluten-free dairy free pizza which is all so yummy. One day we had to ask one of the waitresses to see if they could find the TV remote so they could put on the close captioning due to the fact that they were being very rude and watching football games with only audio and no video subtitles. One of the customers decided that it was going to be such a big deal that he had to complain that they had subtitles on the TV in one room OK what they do if you don’t like the subdials go to the other room watch it without the subtitles enjoy your own movie.

I in my language analysis I have realized that my formal training and the social aspects of my training in American Sign Language are somewhat different. The social is a little bit more intense than the classrooms that I had it see you with. Even though I took all my classes from a distant deaf instructor either Reno Colletti or Kathy Carlson it was pretty easy to understand due to the fact that we had a seeker swim philosophy if you didn’t get it then you failed the class. If you got it then you pass the class doesn’t matter if it was a name or a B but she passed the class usually with a higher grade if you could at least formulate four or five sentences and write a paragraph in ASL. Yes we had to use our drawing skills to write a paragraph in ASL wasn’t easy but we got through it this is a lot easier than using my English language because it’s easy for me not necessarily for you it’s like ripping off a Band-Aid some of you can do it others if you cannot. I do like my language and I prefer my sign language over my English through the fact that some people who just speak English or as rude as they can be and I would rather be with my deaf people who are nice loving caring and helpful when you were trying to talk to him or anybody in the culture.

in conclusion I find that my cultural and my learning aspects are different from others I do understand a lot more in ASL than I do in English I have no idea why God made me a little weird but you know a little weird it’s always fun. I do believe that sign language is a beautiful language and it should be taught to children with deaf and hard of hearing issues also I do believe English should be taught whatever primary language of the country that to check lives in should be taught to the child who is hearing and not just deaf but both cultures should be in or twine instead of being one or the other they should be mixed fluently. Mixing cultures is kind of like blending people no one‘s the same everybody’s different and we are all created in the image of God and we should learn as many languages as we possibly can so that we can be multilingual in our futures. I hope to have a multi language classroom when I am a teacher due to the fact that many children need to learn more than one language. We can include cultures and the language and the food and that is the best part is to have a lunch one day in a certain language many people do not know there are fine everything and every idea you have ever had in ASL. There are not a lot of different interpretations in any other linguistic areas. I do believe linguistics is an awesome area to be in but I don’t think it’s going to be my favorite subject I am so sorry. I think my favorite subjects would be more of math and arts. I do find those can be Cos cultural cross language and any other area of aspect art is the language and all to itself and so is eating. People can learn how to cook and do the math. People can learn how to eat and learn how to use the words in a different language which will also help them in many cultures I want to thank you for our experience and God bless.