Charm of Language

Today more than at any time in the history of the world it is important to be able to read and write. This change has been brought about by the Internet which we use to communicate with one another, or to get our news or information. There are different factors in society and our identity may affect our read and write. Each person’s different identities have an important influence on their literacy. The difference in language is an important reason which affects my relationship with literacy. Since my native language is not English, if I don’t understand English, I will not understand the meaning of the book or the text which will affect my literacy. No matter which identity we are in, we need to try our best to overcome the difficulties or we will never succeed.

When I was sixteen years old, my parents told me we were going to move to New York, USA. I was so excited about the news, but at the same time, I felt very nervous. Before I moved to New York, I asked my parents many times, “Why are we going to the United States?” As we all know, it is difficult to decide move to another country from your native country. Not to mention, a country with a different culture and language. They told me that we were going to the United States because it can create more opportunities for me and my brother in education and future employment. I am from China, a country with a population of 1.3 billion. The excessive population had led to employment difficulties, and many Chinese are unemployed. In education, the China government can only care about basic education which was middle school because of overpopulation, but higher education had not been full.  The first day I came to New York, I was very new to everything. The environment I saw was very different from China. I heard people speaking different languages, like a newborn baby, can’t understand anything. So I am extremely confused and overwhelmed by the variety because English is not my native language. Fear, like I was flipping in my head, with a sharp and a ghost sound in my ear, and it seemed to stand in front of a ghost. Before I entered school, I even stayed at home and tried to avoid going into a strange environment.

The first day of school was such a terrible day. The school I went to was relatively small and it shared the same building with another school. Even though the teacher led the new students around on a tour visit of the school, I still felt confused and didn’t know where I was. In class, the teacher handed out some paper. Faced these white papers with black fonts, I felt incompetent because I didn’t understand them. I hopeless like to fell into the deep pool without the bottom. I doubted my literacy, the lack of English skills made reading and writing difficult. I didn’t understand the text in the book, the instructions on the product, or the words of others. I am inexperienced in the new environment, new language and the new faces of the school. When the teacher said something to the class, but I only understand some of what they are saying. At the same time, when the teacher asked me to do something, I am just confused and don’t understand what I need to do. I felt helpless and incompetent. I had no idea how I was going to survive the next years with my poor English.

In the advisory class, I felt a sense of familiarity again. Because both teachers and classmates spoke the same native language as me, we could comfortably speak in class. The advisory teacher asked us to talk about the troubles of the new semester. Many students expressed that they didn’t understand the class and cannot read the text on the paper. I felt the same way. My teachers, however, encouraged us not to be afraid. As a freshman in the United States, this was a very normal thing. As long as you work hard and don’t give up, you will overcome these problems. My parents also told me not to be discouraged. It is just the beginning, but as long as you stick to it, you will slowly adapt to this environment.

After that, I set up a plan to learn English. I don’t understand because my English ability is not enough, and hard study can overcome these difficulties. Find out what I don’t understand during my studies and classes, and you can succeed in the right way. With the effort and encouragement of the teacher and my family, I regained my confidence. Confidence is a ray of sunshine that allows me to find directions in the dark. Now, I am well adapted to life in New York and enjoy my life. Reading and writing is very important for a person and losing it will make our lives become difficult. Everyone’s life has different identities and difficulties which impact our ability to read and write.

For me, my experience has made me realize that language is not a problem that influences the read and writes. The language is very attractive. Not to mention poets and literati who have literature, but language also plays an important role in our daily lives. Scholars who lack language skills have a reputation, but no one knows what they are, and thus loses many opportunities to promote their talents. Scholars who are good at using language can easily display their strengths based on their good eloquence. Language is very important and it shows our knowledge and ability to read and write. But I can’t make the language as a stumbling block to my reading and writing. I should try hard to learn and overcome the issues or I can’t succeed.

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