My Relationship to Language

   I have spoken Korean since I was born in Korea. I usually speak Korean with my family and Korean friends. However, after I came in the U.S, I start to speak English in school with teachers and foreign friends. It was very hard for me. I think I learned Korean from my parents. They taught me “father” and “mother” in Korean first and I could speak “father” and “mother” first. I think language happen to people from parents because people learn how to speak by their parents. 

   Deutscher’s article said that "the hypotheses, our mother speech limits what we can think, is not correct because the habits of mind that our culture has instilled in us from infancy form our tendency to the world and our emotional reactions to the objects we face, and their experience." For example, each language focuses certain type information such as sex or time. In addition, different languages let us speak about space in different way like egocentric or geographic coordinates.

   I thought mother language can restrict our language because mother teaches language to her children, but I can extend my mind by the article. Not only mother language but also culture and people’s experience influence our language. I also learned second language English after childhood. During studying English, I felt difficult because English is different culture from Korean and English is spoken different way. In my experience, I could learn second language when I understood other culture.

   I start to wonder about language. What is different between monolingual and bilingual? Can bilingual understand different cultures?