Understanding a universal language

                                                                                                         

          I am usually scolded when most people ask me what languages I can understand and communicate with. This s because, usually the only answer I have is that I speak English and understand Spanish, which is a no-no for a Dominican girl in my neck of the woods. By this time I am suppose to be fluent in both Spanish and English, but I never needed to learn Spanish at home because my parents chose to speak English at home. Another language I have picked up over the years is body language. The way I uphold myself and communicate with people is virtually the same wherever I go, whether it is work, school or home.  Although there is sometimes a slight distinction between how I communicate with authority figures as I speak to them with a more formal version of English then I would my best friend.

        My knowledge of the English language is a collaboration of what my parents have taught me and what I was taught in school. When I was a child, these two different structures of English was a crucial split in how I communicated with the world. The English that my mother has taught me was very proper. This is because my mother works in politics, so when we went to public functions we were all expected to speak with a certain dialect of maturity because of the people we were thus affiliated with. As for the language I spoke in school, that is a completely different story. The deplorable English I spoke in school to communicate with my fellow classmates, which is now known as Ebonics. My slight understanding of Spanish was due to the fact that I live with my very expressive grandmother, so after awhile words just get stuck in your head. Now learning body language was one that I put upon myself. This was when I realized how hard it was to learn many different languages around me but I wanted to understand how other people felt. No matter what world language you speak or of which dialect you communicate with, everyone that can move, even if only their eyes, can communicate with body language. Usually whether they like it or not.  I have taken it upon myself to observe how people physically react to situations and have set up my own library, if you will, in my mind that helps me understands genuine human actions they themselves do not even notice they do.

         Because I can speak with different dialects of English, have a limited understanding of Spanish and try to understand the complexity of body language, I have seen that I have a wide range of characters in my life. Even though I can understand both English and Spanish, communicate on different levels of English and have studied some body language aspects, I don’t seem to ever merge the languages together because it would confuse me. Understanding many different languages and dialects s very important because communication is extremely important in creating a professional network.  In retrospect I have come to understand that a person you cannot properly communicate with, you cannot add to your network. This gives you fewer opportunities because as everyone is quickly learning, when it comes down to the line; it’s not what you know, but who you know.