The language I chose to research about is Arabic. To be more specific about the Arabic language which would be South Levantine Arabic. Levantine Arabic is mostly spoken in Palestine and Jordan. One main location this language is used in is in a city in Jordan called Amman. Arabic is a common language spoken in the Middle East, an example would be Egyptian Arabic. The dialect and accent for the South Levantine Arabic and the Egyptian Arabic differ from each other. Before speaking or learning a language, it is important to learn the history of where the language came from and the location. The reason I am interested in researching this language is because I have been speaking it since I was a kid and I would like to learn more about it as well.

Arabic has many different dialects and accents depending on where it originated from and how the language evolved in different areas. In the middle east, Arabic is known to be the main language.  In the history of the South Levantine Arabic language, it’s been published in some parts of the bible in the 1940s. South Levantine was spread and accepted during the Roman and Byzantine periods as well. Levantine Arabic was a dominant spoken language in Palestine.

Arabic has influenced many languages around the world throughout its history. Some examples of languages being influenced by Arabic would be Turkish, Bosnian, Bengali, Indonesian, and Persian. Arabic is known as the holy language for the 1.8 billion Muslims across the world. It is the fifth most spoken language in the world. the reason for that is because different ways of speaking such as 422 million ways.

ELL 100

10-24-18

Linguistic Landscape

Language is displayed all around us in all types of way. Some of the most known ways would be through signs such as shop windows, commercials, posters, official notes, and traffic signs. There are also other forms of signs but people tend to not pay attention to the linguistic landscapes around them. One of the ways linguistic landscape could be used is for the general description and analysis of a certain situation. It can be in many different languages in geographical areas. In some cases, sings would have two different languages but have the same meaning. Linguistic landscape is not only through signs, but in speech and writing as well. Language does not only assume it’s in the present, but also brings the language from the history and the past of the language.

I used a sign that is in the train station that gives directions to which train are available. The sign only includes one language which is called monolingual. The sign is looked to be as authorized because it gives directions for transportation. The sign seems to be organized because it is strictly giving information about what is available in the train station and where the train’s destinations are. This sign is found at 59^th street in Manhattan. The sign is Top-down because it contains official information and is shown to be given public announcements to the people who want to use the train station for transportation.

The sign can be used by different kind of people. It can be used for people whose first time taking the train and not sure which where to go so they can use the sign for directions. Others would see the sign but wouldn’t really pay attention to it because they already know the ways of transportation in that area. Even though a person knows that they are in the right train station, they would still have to read it to make sure that they are in the right place. For me, I would know what train station I am in but I would make sure to read the sign before entering to make sure the train I need for transportation is available.

q1- what information can i add to my body paragraph?

q2- should i explain the sign more?

Professor Garcia

ELL 101

October 1, 2018

Reflective Essay #1

I was born in the in the Middle East and I went to America when I was about 2 years old. I grew up learning 2 languages which were Arabic and English. For me, Arabic was my first language and English was my second. I was pretty familiar with both languages but it was harder for me to learn English at a young age because I only used to speak Arabic in my household. Although I used to go to school to learn how to read and write in English. I felt like learning 2 languages at a young age wasn’t as hard because I was learning them consistently at the same time. As I grew up, I began to understand both languages better and the dialects of the Arabic and English languages.

I feel like I use both languages equally. I speak Arabic when I am talking to my parents but I speak to my siblings in English. My siblings and I grew up with the same level of the English language so I feel like we had a better connection when talking in English rather than when we spoke in Arabic. So in general I speak both languages in my house, I speak Arabic my with parents and speak English with my siblings. The dialect I use when speaking to my parents is different when speaking to my friends. The reason for that is because when speaking to my parents it’s a different language and its more professional.  The dialect when speaking with my friends is different is because were speaking in English and I feel like there is more slang in our tone and language.

Q1- what should I include in my body paragraphs?

Q2-  what information should I give when speaking about the 2 languages that I learned?