Language shows each person’s experience, as there is a difference of accent, phrasing, and origin behind each language. I have noticed as I grew up, there was a difference from the original English and Japanese to what I usually speak. I felt a clear separation between the languages, and the experiences I had were corresponding to the difference in language.

The first language I spoke was English. Although my parents are Japanese, I was born in Massachusetts, US, and used to live there, therefore most of the time I only spoke English. I did not know how to speak Japanese, so I was speaking English even with my family as well. Most of the television programs and animation I watched was in English, therefore I was influenced by them. For example, if I name some of the television programs I watched at this time, I watched “Sponge Bob Square Pants”, “Power Puff Girls”, “The Wiggles”, and “Kim Possible” for most of the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBWQCHb95rg

When I was six years old, I went back to Japan, which was a big change for me. That time, I did not know how to speak Japanese yet, so my parents decided to put me into an international school. At my international school, I was able to talk to various people from different cultures, different background, and different levels of English. As I was attending that international school, I gradually noticed that my English started to change, as in having a different accent from the English I learned in the US. At the same time, I started to learn some Japanese. Taking a Japanese language course was required for the school program, so that is how I first learned my Japanese. Since I was in Japan, I noticed that I started to watch more television programs in Japanese, more than in English. Not only the influence of media, I started to talk more with my relatives that live in other parts of Japan, as I also noticed that the accent or words may be different depending on each region in Japan. For example, when a person says that they were bitten by a mosquito, some people in the east side of Japan will normally say they were ‘stung’ by the mosquito, however people who live in the west side may say they were ‘bitten’. This is how I developed my Japanese.

Language identity can be presented by the difference in accent, history, origin, and geographical background of the language origin. I feel that this idea follows my language identity, because I can feel that my English and Japanese skills are different from other English or Japanese speakers. As I mentioned before, the English I learned was more influenced by my friends at my international school. Therefore, I noticed that when I speak English, the accents, words, and phrasing are different from other English speakers. For example, when I want to say the word ‘aunt’, people in the US may want to say as pronouncing like ‘ant’. However, as I was used to talk to people from England, and as a result, I usually pronounce ‘aunt’ almost like ‘awnt’. From this experience, I knew that my English was different from other English speakers in the US.

The influence of culture and media will affect the level of each language. As I grew up, I was influenced by both English and Japanese language through television programs, magazines, music, and culture. When I used to live in the US, I watched animation and television programs for children. I liked to listen to pop music in English, and I had friends that could speak English normally. As I moved to Japan, I had a culture shock that I started to change myself to be able to fit in with the Japanese culture. I started to watch some Japanese television programs, listen to J-pop music, and most of the people around me were speaking Japanese. As a result, I was influenced by the Japanese media and culture to learn some Japanese every year. By the experience I had, there is clear evidence that influence by media, culture, and daily life situations can change a person’s language, and therefore there was an effect in the level of each language skill as well.

Finally, I would like to mention how difficult it may be to be pointed out by someone about the difference of your language. As I grew up in Japan, at an international school, I was told by my teachers, friends, family about the difference in my way of writing and speaking language. For example, my English teacher told me that my essays do not explain the main point in the beginning, instead I explained it later on in most of the essays. This problem may have happened because most Japanese people like to describe things too vague, such as using the words ‘maybe’ or ‘sometime’. Therefore, it was hard for me to improve my essay writing as I got too accustomed to the expressions in Japanese. As I noticed this difference in phrasing and accents of my language, I first felt shocked because my teachers and friends started to not understand my accent in English, and my parents told me that the Japanese I spoke was not proper Japanese. However, I also felt that this expresses my experience as a student from an international school, and is an evidence that I communicate with friends that have different backgrounds and culture.

In conclusion, language identity may be defined by the history of each person had with their language. As each person has a different history of language, there are some complications shown when you start to speak to other people. However, this difference in languages also show your experience in your life, and can be useful later on.