The Story of My Life...

I am personally aware of this process that most of our "stuff" goes through before we consume them. I have been an environmental freak for 3 years now and I have been doing a lot of research ever since on all aspects of the environment. I mean as far as I am concerned nothing in this world seems sustainable even the sun, the star humans once thought of as a God and our source of heat, will not just float up there forever. In about millions of years the sun will explode and turn into a black whole or a supernova (I don't exactly know the correct scientific terminology for it) but what I am saying is that all the things we are wasting and using are basically limiting the amount of finite resources we have. If the sun will disappear one day then nothing should be sustainable, well depends on how you view sustainability. In my point of view sustainability is anything that is able to maintain its quality or amount for an infinite amount of time. So the question here is should we really be concerned with the sustainability of the world's resources? Well, I think we should because different finite resources have different amounts left of them so we should be using their sustainable alternatives rather than completely diminishing the resource's availability. Let's take petroleum for example, so nowadays people are actually substituting oil-based cars with hybrid electric cars that work on solar energy because it’s cheaper and the decreasing amount of oil is jacking up its price because it’s a finite resources (and it should make sense that the less of it available means that the higher its value and thus the higher its price). So my point and the video documentary’s point converge in a way that we both think that we should act now rather than not be concerned thinking that all the world’s resources will diminish in far future generations to come. But no this mentality is wrong we should act know to decrease the risks of diminishing any of the world’s precious finite resources such as oil, coal, wood, etc.

"The Last Voice of a Dying Tongue"

The fact that the author is a linguist and has years of experience and knowledge entices the reader, let alone an attention-grabbing title “Where Have All the languages Gone?”As the author mentioned that he himself has worked to “save” extinct languages from vanishing encourages the reader to further find out and research more about the issue tackled. Using metaphors was amongst the many techniques in which the author used to engage a reader. For example: “the last voice of a dying tongue”, language murder...language suicide” and “when languages lose their speakers, they die.” In the previous example depicted from the text, the author clearly compared language to a human and perhaps personified language. Moreover, comparing the end of languages to endangered animals that ought to reach extinction gives the reader a clear idea of how important this issue is.
The author wrote in an objective manner, as he provided facts and statistics. He uses plenty of statistics enough to support his argument. Statistics are facts that provide evidence and support, and are an important aspect that give the reader assurance and the validity of the article. Further, the statistics used grabs the attention of the reader as they aim to fascinate the reader. For example, “of an estimated 300 languages spoken in the area of the present-day US when Columbus arrived in 1492, only 175 are spoken today.” The previous statistic depicted from the text shows the aim of the author which is to influence the reader by providing interesting facts.

A Strong Connection

How culture is connected to language and how one is dependent on the other?

The strongest aspect that defines one’s culture is his/her language. There are, with no doubt, other prominent aspects that also define culture but have nominal effect on culture compared to language. Culture is a broad category and language goes under that category and stands as a vital aspect of it. The language one speaks defines who he/she is in a society. As well, it shapes other peoples’ perspective towards that person. For instance, if a teenager of Kuwaiti descent is seen by elders, of Kuwaiti descent as well, speak in a language other than Arabic; they will immediately think that this teenager certainly has strong western influences and think of him/her as a bad image to pure Kuwaiti culture. It is extremely important in my point view for one to be proud of his/her culture and language. Nonetheless, language evolves and adds on “modern” phrases and slang that accommodate the new generation as this certain culture modernizes. Another case wherein the connection between culture and language kicks in is when an outsider is looked down on by the natives due to the fact that this person does not speak the language of this certain culture. Therefore, these examples clearly show that culture may not subsist without the existence of language and vice versa. In other words one cannot exist without the other due to the strong connection shared and the dependency built on one another.

With New Goals come Bigger Responsibilities!

It is easy to set goals for yourself but the hard part kicks in when it comes to achieving them. Every time I succeed in achieving a goal I gain confidence and hope. And whenever I try to achieve a goal but I fail to, I often lose hope yet I always keep in mind that everything is achievable if I try and try. Failure to me has profound meaning. Never have I felt ashamed of failing to achieve a goal, well not anymore at least. I learned that if I have failed to accomplish a goal I wouldn’t lose anything major, maybe a little bit of hope, but most importantly I will end up gaining the knowledge of what I have done wrong. Simply put, I get to learn from my mistakes.

Each year is not like the other, responsibilities grow as we opt to set new goals for ourselves. This year, hopefully, will conclude my life in high school and before I embark on my college life I would like to accomplish many things. I chose to make education my number one priority even if it will cause me to lose my social life. My number one goal for this year is to get accepted to one of my top 10 universities. This is crucially important to me as I wish that all the hard work that I have given throughout my high school years will pay off at the end when I get accepted to a prestigious university. My other important goal that I wish to achieve over the course of this year is to acquire a healthy body. I will achieve that by adjusting my diet completely from junk foods to healthy foods and continue doing my daily exercise routine. My health is of high priority to me, as well. By the end of this year I hope I can feel and look healthy for once in my life!

Another goal that I have set for myself for this year, probably onwards, is to learn to play the piano and also continue pursuing my hobbies that I have pursued but unfortunately gave myself a break due to work overload. I will give myself some time to learn new stuff and pursue my hobbies by managing my time correctly. Now that I have experienced work overload with school, I can manage my time and try to fit other activities that I can learn and pursue.
Last but definitely not least I would very much like to improve my relationship with distant friends and extended family members. I haven’t been in contact with any of my old friends or extended family members for over a year now! I've been too busy with “school” and other issues and so that made them distant. Starting from this year I will call them every once in a while or pay them a visit at least.

Reading over my list of goals, I realized that other than my number one goal I am able to achieve each and every goal in the long run, without a doubt!