Assignment 1
A different language is a different vision of life. ~Federico Fellini
There are many different languages in the world. Some of them are only used in countries where there are strong believes in certain religions. Like the Arabic language. Most people who speak Arabic are Muslims. Muslims do have a different vision on life than for example Americans. Of course there are Muslims in America who do speak English but if I hear the Arabic language I immediately thing of a different culture and a different vision of life.
Conversation is the slowest form of human communication. ~Author Unknown
I do believe in this quote. A conversation is a form of communication but you have many more forms of communication. For example face expressions. If you see a man crying you know immediately that he there is something on his mind in a negative way. You will notice that much faster than if he is telling you that he’s sad. So noticing expressions is much faster than a conversation
Assignment 2
I believe that people are able to learn a language. We can learn a language by studying it or by just hearing the language in real life, like in foreign countries. This means that there’s a cognitive process going on in the brain. The new information (language) is stored in the brain and you’ve learned a new language.
What would the difference between learning and acquiring a language be? If a human being grows up he/she automatically picks up the L1 language. That’s important for the development of the communication between other humans. The L2 is learned after you have learned L1. The L2 will always fall back to the L1. So the L2 won’t be learned just like the L1.
Assignment 3
I think that not everyone is creative enough to play with a language. Comedians, writers and poets do have more creativity than other people. Not everyone can become a famous writer or comedian because not everyone is good in making nice combination with a language. It’s possible that you make a mistake by using a word in a different context but that is more a mistake than a creative action.
Assignment 4
Language comes from communication. There’s always been the need to communication and this need is developed in a language. Instead of communicating with hands and feed it’s much easier to communicate by using your voice. Language is always developing. Some language disappear and new language will come. Now we life in a world using language which are combinations of previous languages.
Assignment 5
I think in my L1. Before I want to say something I first think in my L1. That is much easier and it happens automatically. But if you want to make the L2 your basic language it’s better to start thinking in L2. Thinking goes a lot quicker than speaking but that is not always the case. Some people say: First think before you say it!. If you said something you actually didn’t want to say, than apparently speaking was quicker than thinking.
Assignment 6
Sometimes I dream language. In my dreams I sometimes talk to people like if they are really there. I do this because I know how to speak a language. Deaf people can’t do this. They have never heard sounds before so they can’t know the way we sound like. I think deaf people dream in gestures.
Assignment 7
Dreaming allows extralinguistic thinking. That is thinking beyond the bounds of language. Would you call this form of thinking, super language? I think that there is a universal language in every human being which is always there. Maybe it’s not a language we know about and maybe it doesn’t look like language. Sometimes we think something but not in language. It’s just a thought and when you think about that thought you link it to language.
Assignment 8
Language awareness is really important for a teacher because in the nearby future you will have students who are not familiar with a certain language. If you are aware of a language you’re able to explain the language to him so that he can adopt the new information and will learn the language. So for a teacher it is very important to be aware of language because that’s you job. Without language awareness you will not be able to teach a language to a student properly.
Students need a teacher who is good in his own subject. English teachers have to be good in English and a math teacher in mathematics. Every teacher first has to explain how a language actually works and where it’s good for. If he understands that part, than you as a teacher know what the best way of teaching a language is.
For me is language awareness very important but sometimes we won’t see how important is actually is.
