Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Blog Summary 3: Pronouns and Prepositions--Asian ESL students

Dear all,
Since Terra didn't post her reading summary, here's the one from the other section, created by Erin Morris:

Mark J. Alves, explains that the roll of a pronoun in Asia is very different than the European languages. In Asia common proper nouns are often used when pronouns would be considered appropriate in European languages. According to the author Southeast Asia's "pronoun" systems are made up of terms of address having to do with family relations. Asian ESL students may also struggle with prepositions because they are "words which show a relationship between a noun or pronoun and some other word." It would be difficult to translate and learn prepositions due to how differently pronouns are used in the two cultures.

16 comments:

  1. This article enlightened my view on the problems concerning translations between western English and Asian languages. The pronoun principle concerning the number issue, however, is not just an issue among the translators but also among native English speakers. For example, combinations of words are generally concocted to represent to what number of persons “you” is referring. Among my favorite “new words” are y’all and you guys.

    The Asian languages’ respectful nature of familiar and proper pronouns also confirms an idea of respect that is nonexistent in English, with the exception of added words such as ma’am and sir.

    However, it is interesting that, even with added words, we cannot sufficiently translate their statements without distorting their sentence structure or replacing prepositions with verbs. It is no wonder that ESL students are baffled at the English language; it simply does not translate evenly into their native languages—a fact that I had never realized before this article!

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  2. This article shows that we as Americans or Westerners cannot view the world through our culture. We instead have to view other cultures through neutral eyes. View other languages through the culture that goes with it instead of our own. Culture is like a key to a map and language, in this instance, is like a map. We cannot try to interpret Southeast Asian languages using an American key, it won't make sense. I feel that we need to appreciate everyone's culture. Appreciate the uniqueness of the different languages instead of trying to write them off as nonsense. English is not the ideal language so we should not try to measure every language up to it. Appreciate differences and learn new things.

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  3. I had no idea this was why Asian speakers had a hard time with English. I've always known, however, that English is one of the hardest languages to learn.

    As Dana said, language should not be ethnocentric. We should not be looking at Asian languages or cultures with an American lens. America and the English language is not the end all, be all of the universe.

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  4. Having worked as an English tutor at a community college for 2 years I worked extensively with foreign exchange students. When I would grade their drafts the two most common mistakes were that of tense and the use of pronouns. This article helped me better understand the context of which they come from. That being said, I know that I would be utterly lost even attempting to write a paper in Mandarin or any other language for that matter. It is unfortunate the English language has so many rules and exceptions to those rules, such as Elizabeth pointed out in regards to "you" and "y'all." I have found this article very useful since I now tutor at SIU, and I plan on using it in tutoring foreign exchange students.

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  5. I have often heard that the English language is one of complexity. There are many rules in the language that I being native often forget about. SIU is a large and diverse university with a a lot of different languages being spoken. I often hear foreign speakers mis- using pronouns and mixing the order or words, but never gave much thought as to why. This article helps me understand how easy is is to do, especially in the English language. The author helps me understand how a ESL student might have issues with English grammar

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  6. At the last college I went to, I met a lot of foreign exchange students and several of them were Asian. I figured that it was hard for them to learn and understand the English language but now that I know how the languages differ so much in the two cultures it's made me realize how difficult it must be for those students!

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  7. Since so many languages differ in the way they are written and are really complex when trying to learn a new one. Such as something that might be right in one culture might be grammatically incorrect in another.

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  8. I guess it had never really occurred to me why the English language would be so difficult to learn, but I can start to see why. With so many different rules sometimes the English language is hard for me to understand, as well. It it completely understandable for Asian ESL learners to have difficulty based on their rules versus our rules for our language. Sometimes I wonder why some people often criticize non-English speaks for their mistakes, when we as English speakers do not get it right ourselves.

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  9. I found this article really interesting because I did not know about the Asian culture concerning grammar. I now see how difficult it would be for an Asian student to learn English and vice versa. I feel like the English language is so different and complex, and sometimes that other languages make more sense.

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  10. I have found this article the most interesting thus far. I had no idea that grammar was so culturally different; it also helps verify why Asians have a hard time learning English.

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  11. After studying the spanish language it is very hard to translate from spanish to english due to the correct conjugations of verbs where as in english are verbs and rules for them vary greatly than spanish. Knowing the transition and translation from one language must be difficult in its entirety, making sense of it is almost impossible. Which I think is the struggle for Asian ESl students when trying to make sense of where the pronoun is appropraite and makes sense and where it does not for english. Since the English language is a melting pot for all other languages,I agree it is a very difficult language to learn.

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  12. It is astonishing how two separate forms of language can be so different. It is also interesting to see how and why it would be hard to adapt to English as a speaking and writing form. English contains so many different forms of words and meanings for words, in short it is a somewhat difficult language to learn.

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  13. Understanding that English is one of the most difficult languages to learn, it is understandable that it would be difficult for the Asian culture to learn proper English. I dealt with multiple Japanese exchange students in high school so I witnessed first hand their troubles speaking proper English. After reading this article, it now makes me understand why speaking in correct English was so difficult for them.

    I think when the core problem has been realized, it can be easier to try and help a student learn the proper way to speak English.

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  14. Understanding the English language would be very difficult if it had not been my native language. I have a lot of foregin exchange students in my classes as well and I often hear them making simple grammar mistakes when they speak. Now I really understand how hard it is for them to actually know any of the English language, but to get into the specifics is a whole other thing. It really will make me be more patient while listening to them and will make me help them to understand things more.

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  15. There were so many things in this article that I could relate to. Since English is my second language, I do find it harder to express myself verbally than it is for me to do so in writing. While writing I can always go back and correct my mistakes, but when speaking, it would improper say, “hold on let me repeat what I said”.

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  16. I have heard that Asian languages are the most difficult to learn. This makes sense after reading this article. Asian languages are very different from European ones because of the different pronoun uses. If the structure is vastly different from our language it would be harder to learn such a language.

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