MARGARET BENSHOOF-HOLLER

The frustrations of learning English

SAN FRANCISCO February 3, 1994 --ENGLISH only? The controversy ebbs and flows as an immigrant-exclusion mentality continues to grow in these poor economic times.

The rules of English are no problem for most of us who have been learning the language since birth. But if English isn't your native language, proficiency can seem unobtainable. For adults, it's not so easy to learn a second language.

As a child, you learn your first language in a safe, supportive environment. For adult immigrants on the street or in the workplace, it's sink or swim. They are often made to feel like dunces.

I learned about the trials of learning a second language while I was trying to survive and make myself heard as an adult on the streets of Madrid. After feeling humiliated I don't remember how many times, I began to feel more relaxed with Spanish. It took three years for me to begin to feel fluent.

Learning a second language requires changing the mind from one established, culturally acceptable way of doing something to a new way. The amount of time depends on how adaptable one is to change. Total immersion is important.

For immigrant students in my English-as-a-Second Language classes at City College, speaking their new tongue is, without question, the most important thing they need to accomplish. It is also the hardest.

"Speaking English is difficult because in my native language there is no past tense," says a 28-year-old woman from China.

"English is difficult because in my native language pronunciation is the same as what you see in writing. In English, pronunciation may be very different from how something is spelled," says 22-year-old Nam Kim Tieu from Vietnam.

"It is hard for me to understand meanings of English words because there are a lot of colloquial expressions," says a 49-year-old Chinese student.

"English intonation is different from my native language. Understanding spoken English is hard because there are many contractions," says 25-year-old Cindy Lau from China.

"Because my pronunciation is bad, when I speak to an American in whole sentences, they don't understand me," says 37-year-old Chi-Mai Ta from Vietnam.

"Speaking English well is difficult because of my shyness," says 40-year-old Mai-Phuong Ta from Vietnam.

"Because I was born in China and spoke Chinese, to change my language now is very difficult," says a 73-year-old woman from Taian.

Most of the 35 students in one of my classes agree that a "good American" is someone who is "free, independent, concerned about rights and excited about life."

Attaining English fluency, they all agree, will mean they, too, can become a "good American."

Even though English is difficult for them, all support English as the official language here because, in the words of one student, "It helps strengthen the country."