Language
I have been studying Italian these past
two semesters and it raised two very important questions. Why is it easier to
grasp Italian than it is for me to correctly speak or write my native language
of English? How many limitations does the English language put on who we think,
feel, and act? The answers to these questions are not simple, but the more I
study Italian the better answer I obtain.
It is easier for me to learn Italian
than for me to understand English for two very simple reasons. The first is I
never got taught the correct grammatical layouts and as you notice from my
horrible writing skills grammar is not innate as some assume. On the other hand
I was able to get an in depth study of Italian grammar and learn exactly how to
formulate complex sentences. The second reason is just that English is an unnecessarily
complicated language that does not seem to follow a set pattern as opposed to
other languages. For instance if someone gave me two words one in English and
one in Italian and one in English and told me to pronounce it and give you the
number of syllables in it. The only one that will be correct is the pronunciation
of the Italian word since letters in Italian always make the same sounds I just
have to put the different sounds together while in English the sounds of
letters change and I would have no idea how to pronounce it. I can easily tell
you how many syllables is in any given Italian word since the number of
syllables is simply the number of vowels while in English there seems to be no
way of knowing.
In English I know a lot of words and Italian I
know few words, but I am able to better describe things in Italian than in
English. For example take the English word love that can be used to describe
the feelings you have for activities, your family, or your significant other,
but do we feel the same about all three? No, but there is no other way to
describe our feelings because there is no other words. In Italian there is
three different was to express love for all of these things which helps us
better express the way we feel. In English I lack the language used to
adequately describe my feelings and if there is not the right words then how do
we know how we really feel?
I have been taking spanish for the past ten years in my school system (and I speak a lot at home) and I can see where you are coming from. English is very hard to learn, especially for foreigners because it is so different. Italian (like spanish) have very consistent verb conjugations unlike English.
ReplyDeleteWell since I can remember, I've always been told English is the hardest language to learn because of all the exceptions in the rules. Like you mentioned I also am lacking with grammar skills. I think this issue is so common because after a certain grade in elemantary school, grammar skills are not emphasized.
ReplyDeleteI've heard this too. Maybe English is so tough because it is a conglomeration of so many different languages rather than an original language. Alexis is right--school systems don't emphasize grammar enough, and they NEED to, because our language has so many funny rules that it just doesn't come naturally. As a result, we have a whole generation of people who really don't know grammar. From the little bit of Spanish I know, other languages are not so complicated.
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