Miguel Beltre

Freshman English Composition

Feb 15, 2023 

   

  Learning A New Language Experience 

 

Coming to the United States and learning a new language is very challenging Especially coming at a young age. I remember struggling with English. I used to read for the class and felt embarrassed that I couldn’t  read as fast or as well as the other students. I remember that one day in class we were reading a chapter of a book. Everybody had to read one page of the chapter. Thank god I was not one of the first ones that had to read, but I knew my turn was coming soon. I wasn’t really paying attention to the others. I was reading my chapter first in my head to memorize the words, because I didn’t want to make a mistake when it was my turn to read out loud. When my turn came I was very nervous because I knew I’ll struggle with it and the other classmates will giggle or make fun of my Spanish accent. When it was my turn to read I took my time. I still pronounced some words wrong but I managed to finish it. One word was “Tomatoes” . I would pronounce it “To-ma-tos.” Through time I lost my fear of reading. I practiced my reading for months, my Spanish accent still came out while talking or reading sometimes but I did get better at it. It wasn’t only reading, but also my Spanish had an effect on my writing which till this day I make grammar mistakes.

My problem was that wrote the words just how I pronounce them, a word like  “Geography” I would write the word “Geografi” I would say Identity and write “Identeti” some times for us Spanish speakers to learn a new language we would write  word just how we think it’s written even if writing in a different way. To this day I still do that while writing or speaking. Through time I practiced my English and it has gotten much better, I can speak it more fluently. I still believe that I am not perfect in language because no one is. That moment I had to read for the class was meaningful because it was the first time I had to try speaking out loud in front of all my classmates.  Through school in English class I started to get more confident with it. Now that I am much older, speaking English and also speaking Spanish has helped me a lot more when it comes to communicating, writing and speaking. On occasions I found myself mixing the both languages talking what seems to be Spanglish in a way. One thing that stands out for me when talking English is words that sound pretty much the same. They call those words Cognates an example of those words can be Radio, Television, Camera. Those words mean the same thing in English and Spanish. You write them and say the same thing. The only difference is the way you say it in the accents. It can sound laughable but the point for me and many of us Spanish people, is for people to understand what we are saying even if it doesn’t come out perfectly. One example of that is my one father, he has been in the United States for years. He doesn’t really know English but when he is trying to communicate or he says the word how he thinks it is pronounced even if it is wrong. One time I was helping him translate important documents for his citizenship appointment. He was pretty confident to go to the meeting alone with the penny of English that he knew because at the end his point was to know all his questions and did know them. 

When it comes to learning a new language you are not perfect, words might come out how you want and people might make fun or not take what you say seriously. It doesn’t matter if it is talking or writing, I remember when I was younger there in that school many teachers and friends that I made even in the park would take me seriously to my English. They would be like trying to correct my grammar mistakes in a bad way, making fun of it. 

I did have a moment where I had to go to The Dominican Republic to study because my sister was busy in college and my Father was always working and I had to study over there. I got very used to speaking English and it was funny speaking both languages. People would ask what different words mean in English. That’s when I started thinking about that meaningful moment I thought if all these kids would have a similar experience that I had will learn a new language of english. It was only me that had experiences like when my sisters came young and started high school and the same experience that I had when it came to writing and speaking. Sometimes we speak about our experiences and smile.