Once I finished reading “Fuku” I began to think of the discourse communities that I belong too and I feel like I’m apart of the soccer and gaming community. Personally, I think the soccer community is where I’ve been the longest having a family that enjoys watching and playing the sport. Growing up, I would watch the games that aired, learning the soccer terms that were used such as “goal”, “free kick” and more. I would try playing with my family when they had games and once we were done, I’d watch the other team play to view and learn how different skills are used. When it came to learning the “language” I was always confused when they said things such as “corner” or some other term because I didn’t know what it meant. However, by asking my parents, cousins, and even friends that you make by playing this sport, I was able to understand. Through learning the language I was able to be more involved and have better conversations, ask for help on practicing how to play and much more. I feel as the soccer community with how huge it is and its language helped me meet new people that have become friends along the way and it has many people with the same goals.
The second discourse community would be gaming as it is similar to soccer in that it is big and opens up many interactions. I started understanding the language around this community through playing online with friends and asking them questions about specific terms. Some could include “ace”, “Res me” and other ones that kind of sound funny but everyone in this community understands it. Since at home there could be barely anything to do, I found that I was able to just distract myself through gaming and I was able to grow closer to some friends. Honestly, there are many terms that I still ask about because I don’t know all since I started taking this seriously recently. However, everyone helps here and you can have fun.
Either one of these would be great. A sport really does have a language all its own, doesn’t it? I remember trying to teach my college roommate about American football, something I’d grown up with. It was hard! Now, of course, I know it’s because that’s a specific discourse community. So whichever one of these you choose should be terrific — you already have a good start on content, in fact.