{"id":985,"date":"2018-04-24T10:28:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-24T18:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.corban.edu\/global\/?p=985"},"modified":"2018-09-04T07:57:08","modified_gmt":"2018-09-04T15:57:08","slug":"a-linguistic-perspective-language-and-culture-at-corban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.corban.edu\/global\/2018\/04\/24\/a-linguistic-perspective-language-and-culture-at-corban\/","title":{"rendered":"A Linguistic Perspective: Language and Culture at Corban"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you ever fumbled your way through French classes or struggled with the subjunctive in high school Spanish, you may understand the difficulty of learning a second language. Many students in the United States spend at least a year or two in foreign language classes, but few continue their linguistic education. For international and cross-cultural students, these classes are only the beginning of language learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t understand how hard it is to learn another language or what it\u2019s like to be immersed in a different culture because they\u2019ve never had to experience it,\u201d Zalena Su\u2019e says.<\/p>\n

Zalena first learned to speak English in school in Samoa.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never saw it any different from learning science or math,\u201d she said. \u201cI would learn and speak English in school and go right back to S\u0101moan at home\u2026 It wasn\u2019t too difficult for me to learn English because I started learning it at such a young age.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marlina Sorabut also learned English as a student in Indonesia. Her first introduction to the language was not a particularly positive one, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was difficult because the teacher was mean and horrible to convince me to love the subject,\u201d she said. \u201cI hated English when I was in Middle school and high school\u2026 It\u2019s like you learn Spanish here for four years and don\u2019t really practice it, but you know it is there somewhere where you must deal with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Marlina, fourth from left, and her family in Papua.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kazuki Tateishi first learned how to write and read English in his native Japan, but didn\u2019t learn speaking or listening until he came to the United States at the age of 19.<\/p>\n

“Right now it’s pretty comfortable,\u201d he says of speaking English. \u201cWhen I speak in front of people, that’s different. I get really nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each of these students is learning and living in an environment where few, if any, people can understand or speak their native language.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one speaks Japanese here,\u201d Kazuki states.<\/p>\n

\u201cRunning into anyone that speaks even a little S\u0101moan is like running into a family member or long-lost friend,\u201d Zalena states. \u201cIt\u2019s immediately evident that there\u2019s an unbreakable bond between us because of our ancestors and the pride we have in our people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Zalena is confident and experienced in communicating in English, there are still moments of struggle or ideas that she cannot fully express in her second language.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t understand what true isolation is until you\u2019re surrounded by a group of people that will never truly understand you or be able to communicate with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Zalena strums a ukulele.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Each of these students noted that learning culture goes along with learning a language. It is important to not only be able to communicate, but to understand the people you are communicating with.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish people realized that learning a language is learning a culture in same time,\u201d Marlina says, \u201cFor me language is about living in the culture, speaking it and listening to it every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you study abroad you will learn a lot of stuff culture-wise,\u201d Kazuki notes. \u201cIt is important to balance your country and wherever you go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not everyone will have the opportunity to experience what these students live each day. However, there may be chances for American students to travel and be immersed in a new language and culture themselves. What would these students say to anyone who is planning to live and study abroad?<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid and nervous; don\u2019t even think about failing,\u201d Marlina comments.<\/p>\n

“Make a lot of friends who speak the native language. Try everything,\u201d Kazuki says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe open-minded. Embrace the new culture you\u2019re surrounded in. Don\u2019t try to \u2018Americanize\u2019 those around you because you\u2019ll definitely want to. Live in your new culture and enjoy it,\u201d Zalena concludes.<\/p>\n

Written by Brianna Ashmore<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Brianna Ashmore is a junior at Corban University. She is passionate about encouraging Christians to be more engaged internationally.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you ever fumbled your way through French classes or struggled with the subjunctive in high school Spanish, you may understand the difficulty of learning a second language. Many students in the United States spend at least a year or two in foreign language classes, but few continue their linguistic education. For international and cross-cultural […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[19,15,58],"tags":[73,7,64,72,71,74],"class_list":["post-985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cultural-intelligence","category-global-engagement","category-reads","tag-bahasa-indonesia","tag-culture","tag-global-engagement","tag-japanese","tag-language","tag-samoan","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.corban.edu\/global\/files\/2018\/04\/conor-luddy-455985-unsplash.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8KsXf-fT","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.corban.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.corban.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.corban.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.corban.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.corban.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.corban.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.corban.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.corban.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.corban.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.corban.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}