My Language "English" Learning and Culture History

My Language Learning and Culture History

I learned English since 11 years old, when I was in the first grade of Junior High School. At that time, in my Junior High school, my English teacher always gave motivation to her students so that the students would not afraid to learn English. I was one of her students who were motivated in learning English. Although, I was not quite good to speak in English, I always tried to speak until I brave enough to speak in. I started to be active students in my English class. Also, I practiced my pronunciation in order to get better pronunciation in speaking.  Besides, I had positive experiences in learning English, when I was in the second grade of Junior High school ;I joined an English Speech Competition in my school, and I was the first winner in the competition. From that, I felt more motivated to learn English. Then, I also joined the private English lesson because I wanted to improve my English proficiency.

When the first time I learned English, I wanted to be like International journalist, Television Anchor, and English teacher. Being International journalist and Television Anchor were required good English proficiency and wide experiences, so I tried to improve my English proficiency in order to be international journalist, television anchor, or English teacher. While, being an English teacher was also one of my expectations when I learned English, because the English teacher should have good ability to teach others. Why English teacher?, because  I thought the English teacher could help the Indonesian students to be international students by learning English.

Furthermore, my ideal models of English were American and British’s English speakers. They became my English models because they had good English proficiency, such as : good pronunciation in speaking. At that time, I thought they had perfect English, because English as their first language, so I believed they were master of English. Actually, I got exposed them through TV show, and songs. For instance : when I watched Oprah TV Show , Oprah Winfrey as the host had a very good American English accent, pronunciation, and intonation . In short, I liked the way Oprah Winfrey talked to the audiences or guests star in the show. Besides, being the International Journalist, Television Anchor, and English Teacher were my imagine communities. Those imagine communities also affect me on the way I learned English.  I was more motivated in learning English by watching English TV Show, English movies, and listening English songs in order to enhance my English proficiency especially in my speaking skill. Moreover, I also tried to imitate the way American and British native spoke the English word or sentences.

Learning English in the University, especially in the English Department give big chance for me to learn English deeper. My expectations  before coming to the university were I would  be able to improve my skill in English, knew the new knowledge  related to English lesson, such as ; grammar, speaking, listening, and writing lesson. Yet, I was surprised  after coming to English Department ,because I also have some of the native English lecturer and learned the literature of English itself, such as; drama, prose, poetry, and etc. Moreover, I find many special things in the English Department of Satya Wacana Christian University. Furthermore,  the lecturers give a big chance for each student to be active in a class; in this case students will be able to share their thought, opinion, argument, give question, do the presentation task, writing assignments and etc. Regarding to those things, I think materials that is given in English Department is very valuable and important in order to enrich my English proficiency.

Graduating  from the English Department with title Bachelor of English Education is my first expectation, and then I hope I can continue my language learning plans and goals. My plans are I want to continue study in learning English in Magister of English Education. The reason why I will continue my study is that I want to learn more about English, especially in English Education. From that, I will become an English teacher, so I can teach English to the Indonesian people. Then, I expect I have own English private lesson in my village. I want to the villagers also know and learn English. So, English is not only learned for people in the city, but also people in the village.

 Talking about culture is very important. As I am Javanese and Indonesian, I have Javanese and Indonesian culture which should be preserved. As the time goes by, learning English affect my culture, especially in my language. In my daily conversation, I use code-mixing between English, Javanese, and Indonesia when I talk to my friends. For instance, when I say thank you to my friend, I will say “ Maturnuwun  ya, sudah menolongku, you are my best friend”, it means “ Thanks anyway, you have helped me, you are my best friend” . Regarding to my code-mixing, I think it is okay to use code-mixing as long as I know where, when, and to whom I use it.

In my view point, learning English affects 10 % on my culture, especially in the part of  languages itself.  It can be seen from the way I communicate with others, especially with my friends by using code-mixing between English and Bahasa Indonesia. Besides, English also affect my view on my culture. At first, I only view my culture as my important heritage which must be preserved in my local society. Through learning English, I also think my culture should be introduced internationally, so that there will be balance between English and my culture. All in all, it can be concluded that learning language also can affect the culture.