Lawrence Ekeke VBLOG
The introduction chapter of Ortega simplifies a lot of factors for me that pertain to not only speaking a second language, but the level of difficulty that it could come with. The most universal influence in which individuals learn a L2 is their, age, mother tongue, environment, and cognition (Ortega, p.9). This made perfect sense to me because it always amazes me to see Hispanic children flowing easily from Spanish to English. Sometimes I would even see young children being interpreters for their parents. I would ask myself, "Why can't the parents just simply learn to speak English like their child?" Well, it was not clear until after this reading. The underlying issue could be age and environment. If I was in an environment where I had a personal translator at all times, then I would not feel so inclined to learn an entirely new language. At the same time Ortega stated "the process of acquiring language is essentially completed by all healthy children by the age of four, in terms of abstract syntax, and by age five or six for most other "basics" of language (Ortega, p.4). So not only are they spoiled with an in-home interpreter, but their mature cognition will not allow them past that barrier to properly grasp the second language.
Growing up I never had a passion to learn a new language. I was fine with being monolingual. I went to predominantly African schools, so I never really had a passion to learn another language. The first time I was officially introduced to Spanish was my freshmen year of high school. This was the year I took Spanish 1 and 2. It was a good course because I passed; however, it did not truly connect me to the language. We learned basic vocabulary words like lapiz (pencil) and libro (book), but nothing outside of everyday classroom vocabulary words. I could not say a full sentence in Spanish besides short elementary phrases such as "Yo tengo lapiz" or "Yo tengo libro," so communication in my L2 was almost impossible. I do not understand why schools do not demand you to learn a second language once you have been introduced to it. They just let you take the introductory classes, and once you pass, Spanish is gone never to be seen again.
Now that I am older, I find myself trying to learn Spanish more and more. I find myself sitting with a Hispanic friend and allowing him to teach me small phrases that connect me to people. Living in Texas, I feel learning Spanish is very important to a person's success in any field. There is such a a large Latino population in Houston, that not learning Spanish can even become a disservice in many cases. Even knowing simple phrases can go a long way.
My parent mother language is Igbo, which is a Nigerian dialect spoken in southern Nigeria. They were raised speaking Igbo and English so they were bilingual. When my siblings and I were born, they decided not to teach us Igbo. They still spoke it to friends and family members who were from Nigeria, but they spoke to us strictly in English. I resented that because I really wanted to learn my native language. These days I find myself intensely listening to their conversations trying to break down the words and deciphering them the best I can.
I really want to gain knowledge about Spanish and learning the language. I hope this class equips me with the knowledge necessary to do so. I also would like to gain knowledge about the Igbo dialect and find literature that will further help me understand it.
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