Tag Archives: language

Asian American, Language, music

The Language of Humans and Me

By Iric Hong

Language is such a sophisticated concept. It can be studied and practiced for years and yet some things will just never be conveyable, or be the same, with only words.

Language, as the words you and I speak, the words your friends and everyone you do not know speak, is universally understood in the general sense. For me, I learned Cantonese alongside English so that I could communicate with my grandmother who raised me for most of my childhood. So I have two languages in my arsenal to convey my ideas. But what about everything else that life consists of? What happens when you do not have the vocabulary to translate your ideas? How are those things explained when words become dull and pointless?

This is where the third “language” I grew up with comes into play. Throughout my childhood, music, a classic way to convey passion, was passed on to me by not only my grandmother and my mother, but also my community, my brethren and sistren.

Passionate music is a truly universal language that transcends the boundaries of the languages we speak. Music has allowed me to understand myself and help others understand more about me than I think I know about myself. One does not have to understand the spoken language to understand the vibe of music. Music, in my opinion, beats to the frequency of one’s core, the frequency hiding behind the many walls setup to protect oneself from whatever life has in store for its people. 

Music has helped me to better understand the world around me and has also helped me to improve how I can convey my ideas when words fail me. In fact, listening to music that is not too fast paced has actually helped me to better understand languages that I am trying to learn while also teaching me specific lingo from where different artists herald from.

I listen to pop, indie pop, hip hop, swing, jazz, etc. But regardless of what you call it, at the end of the day, music is all about passion. Passion speaks louder and clearer than the words that can come out of one’s mouth. Anyone can listen to completely polarizing types of music but still get the same fulfilling feeling of strength because the passion and emotions a composer or artist feels when putting out music is all the same.

While I only listen to the music that people make, that is not to say that music only comes from people and their passion. Our passion was created by nature and we translated that with our instruments but nature has its own instruments in the form of its constituents and its many forces. Rain, the chirping of birds, the crashing of waves, the buzz of insects, the roar of the wind are in its own special way music that beats to the frequency of us all even if we all beat at different frequencies. So, if you’re ever feeling lost in words, whether in English or otherwise, listen to some music, or step outside and listen to the roar of nature, to find yourself again.

Featured image from Wikimedia Commons

Iric is a sophomore majoring in Electrical Engineering. His career inspiration from a very young age was on-screen robotics like Iron-Man and Gundam. He hopes to work in the aerospace industry, as that industry resembles what he wants to strive for the most. He likes to play tennis, play video games, and watch movies in his spare time.

Cultural Exchange, culture, L.A. Life, Language

Supplementing Language Learning

By Caroline Donat

When young children learn languages, they are also learning about how the world around them functions. Everything is new and exciting so learning is fun. When learning a language as an adult however, we often experience more frustrations with the learning process. We know what we want to say but struggle to express it properly. Though we can use the social and occupational skills we have gained in adulthood, bringing back the fresh newness we experience as children can help us with our language acquisition.

International students at USC already face daily immersion into American life. Since this immersion can be shocking, it is hard to resist an opportunity for the comfort of speaking to another international student in your first language. This is okay and perhaps necessary to stay motivated to conduct the majority of the day in English. These small comforts do not need to be sacrificed in order to improve one’s fluency.

If we want to accelerate our language-learning however, we need to take our learning beyond the classroom and literally translate aspects of our daily life. This means carrying out our normal behavior in another language with the openness we had as children, by reading the foreign text on our breakfast food packaging or watching a late-night soap opera (perhaps with the help of subtitles). I say “we” because, even though I am a native English speaker, I am currently looking for ways to obtain fluency in Arabic and Spanish. There is always more that we can do to promote our learning. While we will never find the time to do everything, there are some tricks that we can work into our schedules without rearranging other commitments and priorities.

Newspapers are a great way to not only improve your English (or other language) skills, but to keep up with the local culture. Depending on your free time and interests, you can choose to browse sections about fashion and upcoming performances, or dip into today’s politics. Either way, you will have something to talk about with other English speakers. The best part is that you can fit this reading into your schedule by inserting it during meals, while riding the bus, or waiting for class to start. You can sign up for LA Times to be delivered to your home, download a news app, or pick up a free local newspaper from the boxes on the sidewalk.

Also, listening to music in your new language is an easy way to enhance your learning. iTunes, Apple Music, and YouTube are all popular, but most students prefer Spotify because of all of the songs you can listen to for free. Sign in with your USC email to gain access to your free account! On Spotify, you can view the top songs in the U.S. (and many other countries) or find new music similar to songs that you already like. If you like listening to acoustic indie music, try some Ed Sheeran songs. If you would like to try out RnB, search for music by Miguel. You do not need to pay attention to the lyrics, simply surrounding yourself with the words of your new language can help your comprehension and pronunciation.

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Outlook

Growing Up Bi-Dialectal and Bi-Accented

By Aishwarya Badanidiyoor

They say language is one of the quickest ways to establish personal connections. Having grown up in multiple countries, adapting to new environments was always a priority of mine, and that meant picking up on the (sometimes subtle) differences in communication between the widely varied cultures and societies that I came across. To give you a little background, I lived in Saudi Arabia for the first ten years of my life, and then moved to India for the rest of middle school. I went to high school in Canada, and then attended Engineering school in India. Currently a master’s student and conversation partner here at USC, I have had the opportunity to meet quite a few international students along the way, and one thing that some of us have in common is our ability to speak multiple dialects/accents of English fluently, due to our diverse upbringing.

I grew up speaking a very neutral Indian accent for the first 9 years of my life, due to my stay in Saudi Arabia. Many people are not aware of this, but Indian accents come in varying flavors, which is why when I moved to India for middle school, my classmates and I had trouble understanding each other for the first few months. When I moved to Canada for high school 4 years later, the differences in accents, phrases, word usage, and intonation (amongst many other things) were quite obvious. Within a few months, my little brother and I had already adapted a neutral general North American accent, garnished with a few of the more obvious characteristics of Canadian English.

Once I moved to a different part of India for Engineering school there was a accent divide between me and my classmates once again. Within the year however, I had molded my tongue into sounding more local without much hassle. This brought about some new challenges for me – I regularly conversed with my Canadian friends in my north american accent, and switched to the new Indian one with my Indian friends.

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