Portfolio Letter
MY PORTFOLIO DENNIS CACHAGO YACHAY TECH UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROGRAM YACHAY, ECUADOR
My English Journal Dennis Cachago English Language Program Level 6 - Crash Course Teachers: Mark Alan Poese & Josephine Javens February 25, 2017 Yachay, Urcuquí – Ecuador
Contents 1. Portfolio Letter 2. Opinion Essay 3. Response Essay 4. Argumentative Essay 5. Final Research Essay 6. Thank you Letter
Portfolio Letter Dennis Cachago Yachay February 25, 2017 Dear Portfolio Reader My name is Dennis Cachago. Thank you very much for the time that you give to read my English Language Portfolio. In this portfolio, I included a variety of work that I did during this crash course. I am going to show, how I improved my knowledge in the English language. In this course, I increased my abilities to understand a lot in speaking, writing and listening. I will give you proofs that my essays in this course have improved. In this portfolio, I will tell you about my experience during this month. First, I have always been very shy and having to face the public was the most difficult part in this course because it’s so small. Nevertheless, we had many presentations, interviews and a debate between the classmates. This was beneficial because we can share emotions and laughs, opinions and comments. I improved in this speaking section, now I am less shy and more confident in myself. Second, I have to tell you that one of my new experiences is writing essays every moment. My opinions and thoughts developed more and more. I learned many new things with all written essays. For example, I didn’t have any idea that learning a new language shapes your way of thinking, or the fact that the globalization of a language is important in many aspects of the people’s, lives but it has its own consequences. With these two objectives that I achieved, I am ready to take my next step in my career. Nevertheless, I am not saying that English is finished here. I am going to improve my skills more and more to dominate this language. I want to become a good English
Portfolio Letter speaker. From here on I carry with me many pleasurable moments with friends, teachers and myself. My new expectations for my English career begins in the fifth semester because I will learn and have all my classes on this language. One of the things that I have to improve is communication in formal conversations. I know that future readings will be more complex to understand and the future presentations also will be more difficult, but this is a challenge that I have to overcome. Again, thank you for your attention in this letter. I hope that you enjoyed it. Sincerely,
Dennis Cachago
Opinion Essay
How Morality Changes in a Foreign Language Dennis Cachago Yachay Tech University February 1, 2017
Opinion Essay How Morality Changes in a Foreign Language What do you think if I say that your moral value would be affected if I do a controversial question in other language? Humans have a rational part where is ubicated the morality, but what is morality? Can be defined like rules imposed by the society to control our judgement about the good and bad. In the article “How morality changes in a foreign language� Julie Sedivy (2014) is proving that If I do a question in a different language this can influence in that your judgment of morality to change and react in different form of which reactionary if the question would have been done in his language native. First, I am agreed with the idea that the moral judgments change If we do moral questions in a non-native language because according the article when take the topic about the "trolley problem" "Most people agree that they would. But what if the only way to stop the trolley is by pushing a large stranger off a footbridge into its path? People tend to be very reluctant to say they would do this, even though in both scenarios, one person is sacrificed to save five. " (Sedivy, 2016) In my opinion they are reacting in this form based in their moral judgements that were imposed when they were children but this can change if we do the same moral dilemma in the native language. For example, when we are children our parents teach us about the values and how we will behave when we are found in a situation that we need decide between the good or bad, but this depend of the context that we are growing and usually in the religion which was imposed by our family. Then, considering these facts our morality will be affected because in other countries with other languages involve that rules dedicated to the morality can change. For example, in the religion of our country Ecuador the polygamy is prohibited but in other religion would been accepted.
Opinion Essay Second, in the article did another social experiment about the stories did in a nonnative language can be like a trap because If we are learning about a foreign language then, we would not be able to understand the whole context clearly, that happened because our brain is concentrate in understand the words and give us a traduction in our language and during this process we cannot concentrate in the problem but If the question would have been done in our native language the people will react immediately front the situation of mode that would associate with their experiences more similar and would give a judgement or opinion. In conclusion, the morality is a controversial topic because everyone is ubicated in a different place with different traditions, religions and forms to think between the good and bad. My opinion about the article is that has facts that can be checked in several social experiments. Moreover, the language can influence in the form to think because we cannot understand everything and that can be avoid with more practices and with this I think that our morality position would not change If the language of the question change.
Opinion Essay
References Sedivy, J. (2016). How Morality Changes in a Foreign Language. Scientific American. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-morality-changes-in-aforeign-language/
Response Essay
How Does Our Language Shape the Way We Think? Dennis Paul Cachago Pillajo Yachay Tech University January 7, 2017
Response Essay
How Does Our Language Shape the Way We Think? Throughout time, several philosophers, thinkers and linguists of history did a controversial question is the influence of language in our thoughts. In the article “How Does Our Language Shape the Way We Think?” Lera Boroditsky (2009) states different reactions about how people from other countries of the world show concepts like space, time, colors and genders. The author explains how a set of tests can show the influence of the language between different people. Moreover, the main idea is the different appreciation and thoughts of the people around the world which include feelings and ideas. Language is defined as “a system of communication consisting of sounds, words, and grammar, or the system of communication used by people in a particular country or type of work” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2017). When we are saying in a particular country means that some ideas in language can vary between all places. I agree when Boroditsky argues that language is the principal fact that defined us because this change between where we are y what we are and sometimes is hard to imagine a life without language. Languages require different things of their speakers. Due to the versatility of the different languages that we find around the world, people have to relate the name of the things that they know and try to imagine what those things are in another language (or in many cases in the same language but in a different region). For example, in Latin America the predominant language is Spanish and we have a vast vocabulary to refer to same things, like “aguacate,” is the Spanish word we use in Ecuador to refer to avocado. Dominican Republic people, Mexicans, and Argentineans refer to avocado as “palta.” Thus, as this simple word there are many others that can be used for the same things,
Response Essay
also Boroditsky asked the question “Is it possible that everyone thinks the same way, notices the same things, but just talks differently?” Actuality, learning and knowing several languages means that we could be considered as a competitive person in the world, but it needs some time, hard work and money. Besides, learning a new language implies how much we are acquainted with it, for example for Spanish speakers sometimes it can be easy to learn English, but for English speakers it is more difficult because this language has verb conjugations and sometimes the same words can have different meanings. This language problem appears when we do not have any relation with another language such as Arabic, Russian or Mandarin. When we are learning another language in some cases we relate some words with a little part of our native language, for example Spanish speakers give a relation between “T” and “C” because if in the English language is "Attention,” they think in the meaning of the Spanish language as “Atención.” The way to appreciate things differs around the world. In languages like Spanish and English people have words to refer directions (right, left, forward, back), but in the studies of Boroditsky, she found that aboriginal groups as Kuuk Thaayorre, use cardinal directions terms (north, south, east and west) to refer to space. To understand this, she explains with an example: This is done at all scales, which means you have to say things like “There's an ant on your southeast leg” or “Move the cup to the north northwest a little bit” (Boroditsky,2016). That sounds complicate because we say “move to the right or move to the left” and we understand. But, if we have to be oriented all the time, at least if we talk with someone that has this perception of the space, we are in trouble. In addition, An Boroditsky’s experiment to Kuuk Thaayorre show how is the perception of the time in this community “when they were seated facing south, the cards went left to
Response Essay
right. When they faced north, the cards went from right to left. When they faced east, the cards came toward the body and so on” (Boroditsky,2016). In conclusion, the work realized by Lera Boroditsky is a good source to show us the great impact that language has on the way that we define the things. Examples like “cat” that doesn’t any relation with another language as Spanish; or how people appreciate the concept of space and use it to show us other way to think in the time as a more complex structure, these facts are a proof that the language shapes our thought. Also, how language give us a different experience in whatever place that we are staying. Finally, A good phrase to explain this topic is of George Orwell: “But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” (1984).
Response Essay
References
Dictionary, C. (January 2017). Cambridge Dictionary. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/language Boroditsky, L. (June 2009). How Does Our Language Shape the Way We Think? https://www.edge.org/conversation/how-does-our-language-shape-the-way-wethink
Argumentative Essay
Should Science Have a Common Language? Dennis Paul Cachago Pillajo Yachay Tech University February 16, 2017
Argumentative Essay
Should Science Have a Common Language? Around the world, society is constantly changing and the people who travel to other places need a common language to express their ideas. In the same way science needs be expressed in a form that the world could understand. Some people and scientists were asked; If science should have a common language and what it should be. The evidence show that, science needs a common language for several reasons. First, the earliest papers were written in Latin, German and French as Newton’s Principia Mathematica, Einstein and Marie Curie’s works(Huttner,2015). Since the last century most scientific research is published in a common language: English, but why? According to a 2012 study from “Research Trends” examined articles collected by scopus (a data base of peer-review journals), the results were that “of the more than 21.000 articles from 239 countries currently in the database, the study found that 80 percent were written entirely in English” (Huttner, 2015). This is proof that most articles need be written in English. Second, talking about the audience. Some scientists who write articles in their native language have a limited audience because when they want a price for any research the scientists who are the judges cannot understand another language that is not English. This point is giving us an idea that “Scientists who want to produce influential, globally recognized work mast likely need to publish in English” (Huttner, 2015). It means that scientists need be able to attend conferences, read papers, have discussions and most important write research all of these on English language, because the language can give them prestige. Third, most non- English speaking scientist had their knowledge in their native language, but this information is easy to understand in another language such as
Argumentative Essay
mathematics operations or basic biology. Nevertheless, when they need to improve their knowledge or information several things are written in English language. That implicit “a cost of extra time and effort� (Huttner, 2015), but it shows that we can learn this language to improve our language. In conclusion, the common language that scientists need is English ,for these reasons that were presented so if scientists need write research in English language they can use a translator who can help to express their ideas and do a good work or research.
Argumentative Essay
References HUTTNER-K., A. “The Hidden Bios of Science’s Universal Language” (August 21, 2015). Retrieved February 16, 2017.
Final Research Essay
English as Official Language vs Respect for Diversity Dennis Cachago Yachay Tech University
Author Note Level 6 – Crash Course February 21, 2017
Final Research Essay
Abstract Through the History, we have appreciated a lot of invasions to aboriginal people by big nations. An appreciable consequence about that was an exchange of culture, and with this the imposition of a new language. Nowadays, English language is the most used language in several areas like science or international business, so that, people are obligated to learn it. This originate a great problem with the diversity of tongues around the world, losing much of these each day and with that valuable information. For this reason, English shouldn’t be an official language of all people in the world. English as a global language is a reality that we all face and we have to live with it. However, neither we have to deny that English is a good tool to link worlds, it simplifies our lives and all the information is in this tongue: investigation, discoveries, music, movies. Nevertheless, if we allow that a language, whichever is, the cultural damage will be irreversible. As we have seen, with the loss of the diversity of languages we loss more than a way of communication between people, we losses our identity.
Final Research Essay
English as Official Language vs Respect for Diversity Have you ever imagined a world in which whole people can understand each other? If you done it, maybe you never stopped to think about the consequences of the globalization of only one language in all over world. As we know, nowadays the importance to shorten distances and create bonds of friendship are obstructed by the lack of communication, in other words, people cannot communicate between them due to the difference of languages. For this reason, most of the people consider that the solution for this barrier is the globalization of only one language: the English. However, if we look at the other side of the coin the real problem we face is the extinction of several mother tongues. Several studies have shown that loss a language carries major cultural problems, among them, the loss of ancestral knowledge that is important for the future. In this sense, with the insertion of the English as a universal language many different mother tongues could pass to a secondary plane, in this way, they could be forgot and disappear, and the consequences that would bring the adoption of only one language for all people in the world could be very serious. For this reason, I think we should not have a globalized language. One of the most interesting things, and that many ignore, is the fact that the language shapes the way of thinking of people. This could be considered as an advantage because in this way people have the opportunity to see the world with other eyes and develop their cognitive and communicative skills. In the article “How does our language shape the way we think?� wrote by Lera Boroditsky, she claims that people of different parts of the world appreciate the same things in many different senses. For sustaining her theory, she developed a series of tests between people of different nationalities and contrasted the results with people that speak other languages. Summarizing her work the tests that she realized included concepts like space, time, and
Final Research Essay
gender. The clearest example that she gives us is the case of the Kuuk Thaayorre, an aboriginal community on the western edge of Cape York in northern Australia. In the article, she explains us why she decided to evaluate to this community: I came here because of the way the locals, the Kuuk Thaayorre, talk about space. Instead of words like "right," "left," "forward," and "back," which, as commonly used in English, define space relative to an observer, the Kuuk Thaayorre, like many other Aboriginal groups, use cardinal – direction terms — north, south, east, and west — to define space (2009 , p. 3). Boroditsky (2009) explain us that in base to this way of thought, aboriginal people have developed a better navigation ability than other speakers. Also the concept that this groups manage about the space is used for “build other, more complex, more abstract representations. Representations of such things as time, number, musical pitch, kinship relations, morality, and emotions […]” (2009, p. 4). In contrast with the space concept, Boroditsky argues that people have a different appreciation about the time. While some people (Mandarin speakers) have a vertical spatial metaphors for the time, English speakers (also Spanish speakers) tend to talk about time using horizontal spatial metaphors (2009, p. 4).In this way she tries to show that people in different places see their time as a different representation in a timeline; the past, present and future are organized in many different forms. In the last part of the article, she explains the importance of a grammatical gender for the different tongues around the world “In Spanish and other Romance languages, nouns are either masculine or feminine. In many other languages, nouns are divided into many more genders […] some Australian Aboriginal languages have up to sixteen genders” (Boroditsky, 2009, p. 5). In this sense, people classify things according
Final Research Essay
to their strengths and weaknesses, however the difference is that the things don´t have the same mean (for example) for Spanish or German speakers. As we can observe the diversity of languages not only create barriers between people, create something more attractive for the human being: a diversity of culture. The way that people see the world depends on their language and Boroditsky has confirmed it. Is in our hands keep this diversity and find the way to do it. The diversity of thought alloy an endless number of interactions between people. The second point that is important to remark is the fact that diversity create more opportunities that just following a line (in this case having only one language). Imagine a world in which people can understand each other using English (or whatever the language) as an official language. This is a great dream, but let's face it: this is a Utopia. If people learn more than one language this people could be prepare to be more competitive. It has demonstrated that children are born prepared for bilingualism “Some two-thirds of the children on earth grow up in a bilingual environment, and develop competence in it” (Crystal, 2003). In this sense, we are “programed” for being multilingual. Learn more than one language is vital for the future and it could be an advantage for the academic and professional fields. Let’s to see some examples: nowadays China is becoming one of the world powers and its language, the Mandarin, influence to other countries like Indonesia, Cambodia and Malaysia that also belong to the group of strong economies of the world; it could means that the imposition of a language depends on the economy of the most stronger country that currently is United States but this could change with the advance of China. Or the case of Brazil that is one of the countries with greater projection and growth in South America, and It has multiple university agreements and offers masters and doctoral programs that have high standards of quality
Final Research Essay
(H., 2014). Another giant of the educational agreements is Germany that also have many master´s and doctoral degrees in both languages, however not all these degrees are taught in English which makes it a problem of inaccessibility. This leads to the following problem: people consider that all people in the world have to know English. When someone want to travel around the world many of the times don’t worry about the mother tongue of the place of destiny. Simply they want to enjoy the trip. However, the complication could be arise when they want to communicate with aboriginal people. In this sense the traveler consider that the other person knows English (as a basic language for communicate between them) but the truth is that the other person prefer to speak in his/her native tongue and this create confusion and frustration for both parts. The fact is that if the other person does not speak English, it is the fault of this person, not the traveler. It lead us to the next question should be really considered English as a global language? Or, should be consider the idea of having a global language? Maybe, but if we think about it, this could be generate a problem of social status between native speakers and language learners. Most of the people are agree with the fact that English have to be consider as a universal language and they have the reason in many points. One of this points is that we can find lot of information in this tongue, in fact, the international community of scientists work in this language. Nowadays, if you don´t published your research in English you don’t exist for the world. The second point that is important is that English is the language of business: conferences, international deals, sales, international flights are some examples of the use of this language. Others affirm that English is too easy to learn, but it depends of the ability of learning that people have, it means for some people could be more easy to learn French or Italian in special this last that is very
Final Research Essay
similar to other Romance Languages. These and other examples can be mentioned and support the idea that English should be a universal language. As we can see English could be a universal language, nevertheless, this examples are a simply superficial surface application of it. As was already mentioned, adventure people take their things and they launch into adventure with the basic knowledge of English, but in most of the cases people don’t manage this language, they prefer to speak in their mother tongue. This originates a communication problem between the parts. In the other hand, if we consider to impose one language in all the world we have a problem because we will have to evolve in the sense that all people will have to think in the same way. Have a universal language would cause the loss of culture and the own identity, as David Crystal mention: When a language dies, so much is lost. Especially in languages which have never been written down, or which have been written down only recently, language is the repository of the history of a people. It is their identity. Oral testimony, in the form of sagas, folktales, songs, rituals, proverbs, and many other practices, provides us with a unique view of our world and a unique canon of literature (2003, p. 20). In conclusion, English as a global language is a reality that we all face and we have to live with it. However, neither we have to deny that English is a good tool to link worlds, it simplify our lives and all the information is in this tongue: investigation, discoveries, music, movies. Nevertheless, if we allow that a language, whichever is, the cultural damage will be irreversible. As we have seen, with the loss of the diversity of languages we loss more than a way of communication between people, we losses our identity. We losses the way of thinking that have each community, it lose the ancestral
Final Research Essay
knowledge that is very important for the progress of the society, which marks our past and develop our future. Finally, the best way for carry this “issue� is trying to preserve the identity of the different communities without imposing a new language.
Final Research Essay
References Boroditsky, B. L. (2009). How Does Our Language Shape The Way We Think Retrieved February 13, 2017, from http://integraloptions.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-does-our-language-shape-way-we.html This book is about how the language can affect our thoughts. The author use some social experiments to show us her point of view. Moreover, she has collected data around the world, for example: China, Greece, Chile and Aboriginal Australia. The objective is see how the people who speak another language do indeed think differently and that even flukes of grammar can profoundly affect how they see the world. Crystal, D. (2003). English as a Global Language. Second Edition. Cambridge University Press. In this book, the author is asking “English as a Global Language” and what means for a language to be global, in that way he asked what are their advantages and disadvantages. David Crystal suggest that “ a language becomes a global language for one reason- political power of its people”. Each chapter have an equal importance. First is about the surveys, the extent of its use around the world and briefly outlines the history of its spread. Second examines some ideas about the place of English in the revolution. The third describes the cultural legacy that underpins the present dominance of English its use diplomacy and international communications. The final chapter looks at the future of English.
Final Research Essay
H. (2014). La importancia de aprender idiomas. - Universidad de Congreso. Retrieved December 11, 2016, from http://www.ucongreso.edu.ar/la-importancia-deaprender-idiomas/ This article talks about the importance to learning English and other languages. In this case, give some examples about why is necessary the knowledge about languages as English, Mandarin, Portuguese, French and others. The main idea is that any language is necessary not just for fun, it is more because the learning is a constantly change in the world.
Thank you for reading my portfolio. I hope that you enjoy it. Best regards, Dennis Cachago