Written Task 1

Rationale:

            This written task specifically relates to the study of language and identity including cultural identity, focusing on the importance and relationship between language and identity including loss of language, identity, and lack of involving in cultural identity as living in the international society.

            After reading the article “Language loss, Identity, and English as an international language”, Adel Dastgoshadeh and Kaveh Jalizadah describe the importance of language linked to identity, and the loss of language which affect the way of perceiving identity and acquiring knowledge of our culture. They also address the issues of using international language, which will decrease the ability of acquiring different identities, cultural knowledge, resulting to the lost of knowledge, human history and information in particular race or ethnicity. Meanwhile, they remark that international language provides opportunity for unlimited information exchange. However, inequality in using language is a way loss of identity occurs. Hence, from the point they made, I believe that the lost of language, which most likely to be mother tongue, can be occurred within international society resulting to the lost of identity and culture knowledge.

Nowadays, Students will have to use English as a general language when studying and living abroad. I realize that first language is very affective in showing our identity and particular culture. However, how important and useful of first language is in an international society? Should we maintain our first language? How do we lose our first language? These are basic questions we hear. Hence, I decided to write a blog about student who studies abroad, experiencing these problems himself, because blog allows narrator to give some opinion about the experiences. Blog is intended to be personal experience blog. Therefore, it shouldn’t be other text type as newspaper, and the intended audiences will be general students and parents who decide to live abroad.

Written Task:

Blog:

Hello everyone, I’m writing from Abu Dhabi, where it’s burning hot today. In today’s blog I’m going to talk about the importance of dialect from what I experienced. In the part of my journey living as an international student, I’ve seen myself and many people living abroad, who are losing their identity when they lose their dialect. I know that being bilingual is beneficial because I can explore the world much better. Since I’ve lived in the Abu Dhabi, English always plays important role for me and everyone. However, is it always good to use English instead of dialect every day? And what is the importance of dialect in the international society? These two questions came into my mind when I experienced the lack of communication by myself.

Yesterday, when I talked to my mom about the celebration day of my country, I couldn’t express what I really wanted to ask because I forgot the specific vocabulary that explains the actual meaning of the event. Furthermore, when my little brother asked me about the symbol of my country king’s throne, I know what it means but I really couldn’t take the word out of my head. The word I said was every vague and meaningless; this is where my realization about using only English instead of dialect came out. Using only English gives me more problem than using both languages. Therefore, I don’t agree with using only English in daily life, but it is still important to comprehend English because it’s how you communicate in this society.

 As I’m living in Abu Dhabi, which is an international society, I realized that the importance of my dialect becomes lesser overtime. I have to use English everywhere and every day to communicate, to study and to live. Hence, I rarely use my dialect resulting that I sometimes forget vocabulary. Meanwhile, my mom also encourages me to use English with my little brother every day so that he can practice using English. This command implies to me that the importance of it almost gone. I have strongly feeling that we need to do something with this because why? It is because dialect identifies my identity and I still need dialect to communicate with people who came from similar culture. There are still national day and many important day celebrations where I spent time doing my cultural activities every year. I need dialect to get involve within these activities. Although English is important, as I’ve lived here for many years I saw many effects occurring because the gradually lost of dialect. The most obvious one is people lost access in their initial culture, and they are losing their true fundamental and identity.

When meeting new people in school, language is the first thing I used to identify people. I know who they are by observing their pronunciation, acting, and speaking style. Once when I was in restroom, I accidently heard other students gossiping their teacher. I was curious enough that I try to identify them by listening to what they said because it implies what gender, age and sometimes nationality from the sound expressed. However, I couldn’t identify efficiently because they are using English. I could have identified them more efficiently if they had used their dialect. Since in each dialect has unique expression in its own, it clicks in my head that dialect plays important role in identifying people’s identity. Furthermore in my English lesson, teacher said that we will lose our human historical and unique knowledge if dialect is disappeared, and this problem mostly happens with young people.

Once I worked on my CAS in primary school, I’ve seen many non-native English speaking kids, who supposed to have their dialect but they were born and raised within international society, using English as primary language. Then, the question came directly into my head. Oh!! What will happen with their dialect and identity?

In my opinion, the kid will not have opportunity to study an actual dialect, which leads to the lost; because of environment around them is international society. It wasn’t surprise that my opinion was true because I’ve seen kids in primary school can only speak one language. Although the kids have dialect, they only speak English with their parents. With losing dialect, kids will not be able to access their fundamental culture. They will not gain various and unique perspective from their home country because of lack of communication, which occur when losing dialect. Furthermore in my English lesson, my teacher said that when losing dialect, the initial identity also lost, and changed to new identity.

It is indeed that their identities deviate from the original. I observed Cambodian kid in Primary school, who supposed to familiar with Asian lifestyle and culture, but the kid is living with European lifestyle. In this case, his cultural identity changed by living and studying in the international society. He bought European food, such as bread and sandwiches, instead of rice or noodle for many days. I know this is a simple observation. However, another observation is that he tended to stay and talk with European students rather than Asians. This shows that losing dialect and having new language are affecting identity. He might be able to get negative responses when trying to access his actual culture because the networking and social relation is cut due to the lost of dialect. With this observation, I can say that the changes in language are also losing in initial identity to another identity.

I think, it’s been a long day now. Being bilingual who live or study abroad is good and beneficial because you can explore the world much better. However, consideration about maintaining our dialect should be kept in our mind because the effect of losing dialect is huge. Identity can be deviated or lost, and access to community and culture can be a lot harder. Therefore, dialect is important.