Communication is defined as “a symbolic process whereby reality is produced,
maintained, repaired, and transformed.” (Martin & Nakayama, 2011, p. 94). I find it very interesting that the main struggle that the immigrants have coming over to America is communication, the United States considers itself as a melting pot of cultures and being the land of oppertunity for immigrants, and since the United States has no offical language I one might think that this would be one of the easier adjusments for immigrants to make.
However when reading the articles and based on my own struggles taking Spanish this semester I fully understand what a struggle learning another language in a different country would be. The second article titled, Lincoln’s
Refugee Students Find Language Barriers when Doing Homework was eyeopening to me. The family was in a refugee camp for ten years and their mother did not speak any English, and a number of the children attened schools taught in English. This became a big struggle for the students because they could'nt get any help from their parents with things like homework. It reminded me on a small scale of taking Spanish in high school, if I got home and had homework I did'nt know how to do I couldnt ask for help meaning either I would'nt do it or I would do it wrong.
Being a tennis player I love watching pro matches on television. Tennis is a sport that is very international with players from tons of countries some that I have never heard of playing matches on TV. After each match the winner does an interview and it suprises me how many of the players are able to speak English. Almost every player gives two interviews one in their native language and one in English, it has almost made me think that people everywhere grow up speaking their language and English as well. I posted an example of Roger Federer in a post match interview, although he is from Switzerland he sounds almost perfect speaking English.
Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2012).
Intercultural communication in contexts (6th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw
Hill.
Stefankiewicz, R. (2012, May 13). Lincoln's
refugee students find language barriers when doing homework. Retrieved from
http://journalstar.com/
Your analogy between the Karen family doing homework and your personal Spanish homework situation is well-founded. It's tricky tackling a foreign language, but even harder if we can't ask friends or family for help on the subject. I like your video as well. I'm consistently impressed by the language skills of foreign celebrities. Americans need to step up their game.
Your analogy between the Karen family doing homework and your personal Spanish homework situation is well-founded. It's tricky tackling a foreign language, but even harder if we can't ask friends or family for help on the subject. I like your video as well. I'm consistently impressed by the language skills of foreign celebrities. Americans need to step up their game.
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