Abaineh 1

Lozza Abaineh

Professor Beadle

ENGL 114A

26 Sep 2021

A Wall of Words

Languages across the world are what bring people together, start conversations, and

are the foundation of culture. In Africa alone, there are about two thousand different

dialects that are spoken. Visiting my relatives in Ethiopia, I saw firsthand how the very

dialect that is spoken can either bring together or separate your own blood. Not being

able to create conversation and understand what life was like in my home country, I

questioned if my trip would've turned out differently if only I could speak to them.

Language is the very barrier of relationships, and division between the human population.

Communication is a vital resource for us to stay in touch with one another, in how we

meet others and create authentic connections (Green 2). I saw this on a personal

experience on my trip to what I called home. A trip I anticipated for years, excited to see

the cousins I only heard of was faced with a linguistic wall. The moments meeting my

never seen family was almost cinematic; Excited to be there but feeling like I just stepped

into an entirely different world. Listening to them with smiles on their faces, I could only

show them how thrilled I was to see them to a certain extent. I had no way of telling

them, and even though how hard they tried they could only say it with the little English

they knew. A sense of anxiety fell over me, immediately making me feel defeated that I

didn’t know my own ethnic language. Building a wall, I became quiet and didn’t even
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want to communicate. As a reader, I can see an initial correspondence between Corder’s

experience in “Learning to Sign” when first introduced to sign language and my

particular encounter. Corder explains, “ I was so anxious that my hands became my

enemy” (Corder 11). I instantly began to feel anxious and felt like my words had no

value because no one could understand them. I felt as though, that this was going to be

the longest summer ever, and that all the things that I hoped for would fall short.

The first month was very difficult, to say the least. I was very anti-social, kept to

myself, and didn’t have many friends. The times that I tried fell short due to not only a

lack of communication but also bullying. Many of the kids that lived in my

grandmother’s neighborhood had deficient English skills, along with my knowing only a

few words in Amharic (Ethiopian dialect). Every time I tried to communicate and create

friendships, I was told to be ashamed to come to my country without learning my

language. I was mocked for my accent and demeaned for my communication skills. I was

ecstatic that I was in my homeland but for many reasons, I didn’t feel welcomed when

people saw that I didn’t understand Amharic. From the words of Corder, “We were

honored to be there but some of them were not happy”(Corder 35). As Corder was there

to learn and experience a different environment, the students felt as though they were

taking something so sacred from them such as language. And for many reasons that’s

exactly how I felt, I didn’t feel welcome and felt more like an outsider in a world that I

am supposed to enjoy.

As my mother noticed my introverted behavior she began to realize how much value

I held in learning my native language. Shaming herself for not teaching me, she felt that it

was her fault. As I was feeling the pressures of not understanding the people around me,
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that’s something she has endured almost all her life after moving to the United States. I

reassured her and explained to her that there is nothing to be upset at herself for, she was

going through the stresses of moving to an entirely different country and creating a new

life for her family on top of learning a new language. She began to give me language

lessons every day in the afternoons. I began to see a difference in my skills, and

improvement in the way I spoke with family and friends. The more I learned, the better

my relationships became. I was able to speak to my grandmother, someone that meant so

much to me. Meeting her for the first time and not being able to tell her I love her was

something so strenuous for me. Every time she saw the improvement in my accent and

word usage, she told me how proud she was of my improvement. I began to spend more

time with my family and cousins, creating friendships and getting out of my shell. The

neighborhood kids that weren’t very fond of my presence began to talk to me and

explained that they felt that I was invading what they called home and created a wall to

not get to know me. But as they saw that I wanted to learn and be in touch with my

culture, they realized I wasn’t too bad after all. I felt more comfortable day by day and

my cousins didn’t feel like they couldn’t talk to me but instead also slowly but surely

helped me in my language skills. I felt more comfortable in my environment and Ethiopia

began to feel like home.

Saying my goodbyes, I realized how much I gained just from learning my ethnic

style of conversation. I created friendships, explored a new language, strengthened

relationships, and finally found a place my heart calls home. As Corder conveys, the lack

of understanding things and people around you ties to a multitude of obstacles. It can be

the very thing that opens you up to a new world to understand or closes you off to so
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many possibilities. Language comes in many forms and is an imperative tool we use in

our day-to-day lives. I learned hands-on that it is in fact the basis of culture, and

traditions. Everywhere you go it is the foundation of how people act, view life, and how

they conversate. It is at the tip of our hands, it’s our choice to utilize it.
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Work Cited

“Hearing Race: Can Language Use Lead to Racism?” OpenLearn, The Open University, 8
Sept. 2020.

Corder, Courtland. “Learning to Sign” Language and the Human Connection,

Waves A collection of student essays Fourth Edition