Essay2-03a Language Learning History

When the history of human beings started, we had no language. Along the course of evolution, we produced languages and had improved them to enrich our civilization (or as civilization progresses). At the present day, using languages is necessary to communicate with others. We can’t live without communicating with people using languages. Therefore, learning languages is very important in our lives. Like others, I’ve learned languages so far in my life.


When I was born, however, I spoke no language but just had been crying and laughing. Crying and laughing was the only sounds which I made to covey my feeling. Now, I speak Japanese as my mother tongue and English as a foreign language. I acquired two languages within over twenty years since I was born and I’m still on the way to the goal of English learning. In ten years, I'm sure I will be keeping studying English.


Why I’m sure of it is that I've heard some people saying that learning foreign languages is lifetime study. There is no end for language learning since languages keep changing. Of course I won’t be a student anymore in 10 years and I’ll be supposed to be working as an English teacher at the time using my English skill. Thus, I will have been studying at an English conversation school to improve my English skill for my students and myself. Besides English, I’ll have been learning French Korean, Chinese. As for French, I’ve studied it for two years and I want to improve it. It would be a waste not to learn it more deeply since French is widely spoken all over the world as well as English. As for Korean and Chinese, I’ve never learned it and I know almost nothing about it but I think learning neighbor countries’ languages is important like Europeans do.


Now I want to write my Japanese language learning experience as my mother tongue going back to the time when I was born. As I stated, I spoke no language but just had been crying and laughing when I was a baby. Crying and laughing was the only sounds which I made to covey my feeling. I couldn’t speak but I had already started my Japanese language learning on listening skill at that time. I actually started it when I was still in my mother’s womb. I don’t think I had motivation to learn languages at that time but I miraculously memorized a lot of words and expressions, as other babies, from my parents, older sister, friends, relatives and neighbors. I also memorized them through music and TV. My parents especially talked to me a lot and read many books for me. By entering kindergarten, I’d also practiced speaking skill making numerous mistakes without the least shame.


At kindergarten, I learned how to read and write Hiragana and Katakana. At that time, I started reading books and learning more Japanese by myself. By the time I entered elementary school, I could speak Japanese fluently enough to communicate with others. When I was in elementary school, I learned many Chinese characters every year. By graduating from elementary school, I’d learned over one thousand of them. When including combinations, they are countless. When I was a fourth grader, I encountered alphabet for the first time in my life. I learned Roman letters and how to write my name with it. After that, however, I had no chance to learn English until I entered Junior high school. Until I finished elementary school, I learned only one language. When I entered junior high school, I started learning new language English besides Japanese. Learning English took different process from learning mother tongue Japanese. I started learning English with letters, which are Alphabet, and grammar whereas I started learning Japanese with its sounds. That is I started learning second language with reading whereas I started learning mother tongue with listening. I kept learning English until I graduated from high school. During the time I rarely learned speaking except ALT’s visit once in a while.


Well then, let me write about my present. It’s my forth year at KGU now and I study English as my major. I studied French as well as my third language for last two years. I also studied Japanese to enhance my powers of expression in my first year at college. My focus on learning English is speaking and writing now whereas the focus was mainly reading and listening at Jr. High and High school. I mean I study productive skills now whereas I studied passive skills at the first stage of English learning.


Looking back on my language learning history and foreseeing my future language learning plan at the same time, I could reconfirm that language learning requires a lot of time. When you learn language, it’s important to take a long-term view and look back on what you’ve done to accomplish your goal on language learning.

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