Response Blog January 18th

I never really paid much attention to the different aspects and interpretations that could come from one specific language - especially my native language, English, until now. Not only is this language class affecting my outlook of English, but the communications class I am taking this year is coinciding with this new viewpoint. Spoken English and written English is very different, many rules of the language apply to some situations and not to others, and we often mean the opposite of what is said in either correct vocabulary or slang. For example, in “Language Conveys News” I remember the author mentioning that we park in driveways and drive in parkways, and also that blueberries are blue but cranberries are not cran. How do I explain this to a person who is not fluent in English if I cannot give a reason to these bizarre rules myself? I have never considered those words to be odd until now, and since that has been brought to my attention I can think of many words with the same strange meanings. It is important to not take words I use for granted but to think about what they mean…at least if I am ever attempting to converse with a foreigner. When I read the essay about ESL students, I realized that I should probably work harder to communicate more effectively and properly because everyone does not understand what I am saying. This was even more evident in “Me Talk Pretty One day” because I realized that as much as the students struggled with French, there are many, probably in in my own dorm room, who struggle as much in English. It is unfair to assume what is being said is understandable to everyone, especially if I know I have said it incorrectly. I should not assume what I have said is automatically comprehended. The same is true even when I am speaking to someone who is also native to my own language.
It is natural for me to put stress on certain words when speaking and it is natural for me to apply certain stress on words when reading to understand sentences in certain contexts. ESL students, however have to experience that, rather that be taught it. When I read “Learning English Good” it was coincidentally after Communication class. In Communication class, my teacher had 7 students read the same sentence “I didn’t say he stole my book” with a different stress on each individual word. The exercise taught us that that one sentence had 7 equally correct, but different meanings. It was funny to me when we did the exercise because I don’t usually read a sentence and say, “hmm, this could have several meanings”, but now I am learning that to communicate effectively, I must realize this is possible. This new way of thought was confirmed when I read “So English is Taken Over the Globe. So What.” where I realized that although I may say one thing, others, especially ESL or business partners knowing little English will almost always interpret what I say incorrectly unless I am more specific. Of course this seems common knowledge - two people of different cultural and language backgrounds may often misinterpret each other- but still this can be minimized by viewing the situation from their perspective. From “Learning English Good”, I learned that in some countries, putting the subject before the verb, especially when the subject is “I”, can seem rude. It is also interesting that when communicating with foreigners, Noam Cohen say, our word “kitchen” is a nice tool but “room for which you cook in” serves the same purpose and may be better understood when communicating with people other than ourselves. It is a matter of precision and not concision that we should adapt to better understand language. I have learned that that is something that I must work to re-teach myself. I have always been taught to say what I mean in as little explanation as possible (for that can be redundant) but as a look at the language I so often incorrectly use, I must be more precise in some situations and more concise in others, I assume it is all according to whom I am addressing at the time. Hopefully this class in conjunction with my communication class will teach me how to be more aware of what I am saying, how I am saying it, and what I mean. For even in “Empty Eggs” I learned that although one thing is said, it may mean something totally opposite from what I have assumed and words can easily be accidentally or purposefully deceptive.