This is an opportunity for you to reflect on your language learning experience(s) and the insights you have gain through this (these) experience(s)
This is an opportunity for you to reflect on your language learning experience(s) and the insights you have gain through this (these) experience(s) about yourself and your notions regarding language acquisition.
Some questions that might guide your narrative:
· What is (are) the first language(s) you learned as a child?
· English only
· What do you (or family members/caregivers) recall about this process? With whom did you interact, and in what language(s)?
· My whole family are native English speakers with no foreign language use.
· Do you still use this (these) language(s)?
· English, yes.
· What additional languages have you learned (or tried to learn)?
· I have studied Japanese and Chinese.
· Why did you (try to) learn these languages?
· I love the history and culture from Japan and China.
· How did you learn them?
· I started Japanese at 17 years of age, self-studying. After I started to attend junior college I began taking formal Japanese. Last year I took a sabbatical from studying Japanese and focused on Chinese.
· What was the experience like?
· Self-studying a language is incredibly difficult for me, especially because I have no real practical use of the language outside of study.
· How successful were you?
·
· What is your impression of yourself as a language learner?
· I need actual immersion and practical use of the language daily in order to successfully retain the information I learn.
· What factors do you suppose might have played a role in your level of success?
· The immersion program I took to learn Japanese in japan was very affective. As well as the fact that my best friend, who is also my roommate back in San Francisco, is native Chinese. Therefore I get regular practice.
· (In what way) have any of your language learning experiences affected subsequent language learning experiences?
· Well, learning Chinese after studying Japanese for 2 years was very helpful because I already knew how to write the Chinese characters, and the meanings of numerous characters.
· Overall, what insights have you developed from your experiences in learning additional languages?
