Language Awareness

The English language. For some, this is a person's native language and it is easy to acquire. Others, English is their second language and is extremely challenging to learn. In my opinion, Stephen Pinker had the right idea when he described English as, "a zany logic-defying tongue" (159). Although the complexity and trickiness of this language is not recognized by many of its native speakers, the English language can truly be a hard language to master. Like Kuma stated in this chapter, there are so many difficult rules and words to remember when learning English. For instance, "there are atleast nine different spellings for the sound of the vowel [I:] in English: believe, receive, people, key, leave, machine, quay, be, and see" (159). I think being aware of how complicated the English language really is and how often the spelling of the words is nothing like the pronunciation of that word is very important; especially when dealing with English language learners. Being aware of the rules and factors that can make English learning difficult, can help people be more understanding towards those who are not "naturals" at acquiring the language. In other words, learning English as a second or even a foreign language is not as easy as some people make it out to be. Even native speakers have difficulties with the pronunciation of words based off of its spelling. Take Illinois State's very own Schroeder Hall. People who are visiting campus or are just not familiar with the building may pronounce the name as [shr-oder] because that is the way it looks like it should be pronounced. However, the correct pronunciation is [shr-ay-der] hall. Even though they might be native speakers, they are looking at the spelling to assist them in the pronunciation, which is not very helpful in this situation.

Overall, I think Kuma brought up a great point when he discussed the importance of being aware of a language. Knowing the complexity or rules behind a language can be very insightful and help an individual. This knowledge can help a person be more understanding of another person who is learning the language as his/her second language, especially when it comes to English language learning.