Evie Althkefati 

English O450

February 7 2022

Belonging to Communities

I am a member of different communities. One of these communities is my family, where I am one of the children. The other community is that of students, in which I am acquiring knowledge that will promote professionalism. The other community I belong to is that of youths, who are also referred to as young adults. Out of these communities, one that has shaped my understanding of language in a way I did not expect is that of young adults. In the community of family, the greater focus is on understanding rather than on the words being spoken. When it comes to the community of being a student, greater focus is on professionalism. However, as a young adult interacting with other young adults, the focus has been on fitting into the community and using a code of language that other young adults can also understand and relate with. 

I learned the different languages by being exposed to individuals who were in these communities. For a community like family, the language I learned took place without my knowledge, as it was progressive over the years and began when I was young. Therefore, it was difficult to take notice of how it happened. In education, the language learned was through listening to teachers and interacting with authors from the different books over the years. I still continue to learn more in this community as I progress. When it comes to the language I have learned due to being a youth, the learning process was from interacting with other youths who speak the same language and slowly learning about the meaning of the words. As Klass states, I have learned these languages to the point that they no longer sound strange in my ears (Klass, 1984). As a member of the youth, one of the words I have learned is dope, which means awesome. The other word I have learned is GOAT, which means greatest of all time. It is often used to describe individuals who have had influence on other people’s lives. Another word I have learned is sick, which means that a concept, idea, or activity is awesome.