In my lifetime I only speak two languages which is English and French. But actually I would speak English more than French now. Its because I was never really fluent in French even though in my childhood I was surrounded by relatives who only speak French and my mother would teach to me despite me being shaky at learning the language. Now its been year since I last saw my relatives and I barley speak it and as a result I forgotten most of the language and its dialects. So to me I can understand French and its speech very well because I grew up hearing the language but I have a hard time speaking it in a complete sentence where I would stutter on what I need to say, I wonder sometimes if when a stranger who speaks French walks up to me and ask me a question or if I see my cousins again and they ask me something in French. Sometimes its like I would know what there saying but don’t know how to say it or emphasis it in a complete sentence. Even at time when I speak (but I don’t really notice it) people would say when I speak I have a slight french accent.
Now I’ve got some answers to my speech regarding to my languages in English and French. The question is that how would the general public describe my language/dialects. Can it be either in a prestige form or stigmatized form. Friends who are really close to me would hear me speaking in French would say that its in a prestige form because on occasions I would blurt sometime out in French out of frustration. they ill be like she must really know French. When I’m around family especially the ones who ca’t speak any English its on a stigmatized form because when they communicate with me sometime I wouldn’t know what to say back or when I’m communication g to them back I stutter in a middle of a sentence figuring out what to say. To be honest I would say that I’m at a stigmatized form because yes I understand and yes I speak it but I;m not fluent in it and because I have used this language in many years I forgotten most of it like if the easiest word or sentences in French are the ones that I know by heart. That what I believe in my point of view see it that way. Its like when I communicate to other people they’ll hear me speak and notice the slight accent like if I’m fluent in French. But when I speak it and I stutter in the middle and then blurt the rest in English. Others will think that maybe she knows it but forgotten it because French isn’t her primary language or if she a beginner taking French classes. For example, on rare occasions my sister would test me by speaking to me in French out of random and wants to know if I mastered it like she did and would make fun of me for it. Not really a difference to me. It depends on how you were brought up into the language like i two languages were spoken through the entire years of your life non stop.
Doing this essay has made me wonder on how people tend to perceive us on how e speak into our daily routines. Like how people in France would see English as a useful tool in their everyday lives especially on traveling and teaching it as a subject in English or ESL setting. When I’m in France the people there wouldn’t know that I’m an American regardless of my French speaking struggling and they way I talk. They’ll probably think that I reside from french speaking countries like Haiti or somewhere in west Africa. That’s how people there can perceive me. Finally, I do believe that these attitudes might be another way in which in various form of discrimination to occur. One form of discrimination can be on how the persons was brought up like if the persons has receive a good education or not. But if the person is having a good education regardless of where he/she is coming from then they’ll disregard those negative vibes from others.
- Do you believe that I put too much supporting details on my heading paragraph instead of the main idea?
- Should I have add also my English language speech more as my French language speech?
- Should have had a proper closing to my last paragraph? (Yes or No).
Overall, I think your essay was good. There are, however, a few points that you can add.
For your body paragraph, you can try adding more information on the 4th question given with the assignment: “What social factors do you think contribute to attitudes that people have towards your language(s)/dialect(s)? Racial? Socioeconomic class? Cultural? Education? Ethnic? Sexual or gender identity association? Physical/mental impairment? Anything else? Explain why any of these might contribute to people’s attitudes towards your language(s)/dialect(s).”
Secondly, I think you can add some transitions sentences from ending your introduction to going into your body paragraph. Same with ending your body paragraph and going into your conclusion.
Lastly, I think you can provide a few more examples/details as to your experience with being an English speaker and a French speaker and how it’s impacted you as a bilingual person.
Oh, also when I did this feedback, I did not see any questions at the bottom so just a little heads up! ☺
1). As far as supporting details go, I feel like they could be left in. However, the Paragraph could use better structured. The second paragraph could be broken up into two or three smaller paragraphs on their own if you make sure each one has at least five sentences. I’d say pick a main point in for each paragraph and focus on that specific point until that paragraph is finished before moving onto the next.
2). As English seems to be your primary language, your essay could potentially benefit by focusing more on how your french background has affected your ability to speak it.
3). (I may be the last person who can say this considering I outright forgot my conclusion in my own essay) I would say yes. The last paragraph feels more like another addition to the essay rather than a proper conclusion.
All in all for a first draft it’s not bad, It (as all first drafts do) just needs some work.
Rose-Ericka, good job! Make sure to check the rubric in order to identify the main parts of this essay. I think that you need to identify and clearly explain the attitudes towards your language(s) – it can be situational and it could depend on the audience, but as a reader they are not clear ( I did made some comments on your essay regarding this). Moreover, what are the factors that could contribute to these attitudes? (I think that reviewing the reading could help you identify several factors).