Undergraduate /
"Being a 'quad-lingual'" - UC Prompt #2 [8]
Prompt #2: Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud, and how does it relate to the person you are?Born in Hong Kong, I was being educated in both Cantonese and Mandarin. Since Hong Kong was a British colony before, it required its citizens to learn English as well. When I was small, my biggest fear and least favorite subject was English because I never understood its sentence structure or grammar, which frustrated me a lot. Every time, when the foreign teacher tried to come up and talk to me, I always pretended I did not understand and walked away. This had worked all the way through my elementary school life, but never worked out when I immigrated to California.
The situation changed dramatically when I moved to United States. Since the official language in America is English, there was no way I could communicate with others without using English. Thus, at the beginning of my seventh grade year, I was struggling most of the time. Not only in English class did I have trouble, but also in math, science, music classes that were once my strongest subject. Also, besides my academic problems, the way I did not have any friends was also distressing me too. Being a very outgoing child when I was in Hong Kong, I didn't even have any problem in finding a topic to talk with someone that I don't know very well. However, because the lack of understanding of English, everyday I had to go to class, and eat my lunch all by myself. And sometimes, when I try to express myself, I would make a big joke because I misunderstood the meaning of the word. The feeling of being left out in a society really irritated me, and I realized the only way to fit in was to work hard on my English.
Starting from that time, I worked really hard on my English by reading different books or articles, talking to some of my classmates, and writing in a diary using some of the new vocabulary I learned from the dictionary. At the end, I was not only able to make friends and build up my social community again, but also quit my ESL class after one year and enroll in many different Advanced Placement classes throughout my high school career. I also decided to learn one more foreign language Japanese to expand my skills in language.
Being a "quad-lingual" makes me very proud because it didn't only mean I had challenged myself to become fluent in speaking four different languages, but I am also able to use my talent to help out the others. I helped out some children by teaching them how to read and write Chinese; I helped out a couple of new students, who were new in America, by assisting them to get familiar with American culture; I helped out some elders when I was volunteering in the library by translating their needs. Wishing to benefit more people, now I am ready for college to become a pharmacist. My language skills will allows me to instruct those newcomers to United States who suffer for diseases but were unable to ask for help due to the lack of understanding of English. Since I have been to those hopeless moments, I wish my knowledge and skills are going to help them through these arduous times and accustom them with American culture, so that they will be able to help out others just like me.
Can anyone please me correct my grammar, sentence structure, anything you think sounds werid?
Also, can you give me some comments on it, what should I add or delete?
You don't have to do all of the above, either one will help me a lot!
Thanks for your help! 