Importance of Language

Importance of Language In the story, “From a Native Daughter”, by Haunani-Kay Trask talks about herself, and how the history of the people and their culture of Hawaii means to her. She has learned stories over time from her parents and ancestors of how things were before her, so she has a lot of knowledge about the history and culture of the people before her. She is very vocal in her voice and wants people who aren’t native from Hawaii to learn the truth about the history of the culture of Hawaii. If Black English isn’t a language, then tell me, what is? In James Baldwin article, Baldwin wants people to understand that all English is the same, it’s just different by the way we speak it. The argument has nothing to do with language itself, but with the role of language. The role of language is an important thing because it describes the way of how you may speak. When you begin to learn the language of your parents, you start to pick up some of the ways that your parent’s speak. Once you learn your parent’s ways of speaking, you start to learn your how the role of your language describes to others how you speak and the way you speak it. The way you learn to speak your language describes the role of the language in your society that you live in. As you read on, I will begin to compare Trask’s ideas about her language and culture, while including the thoughts of Baldwin’s language. Trask has a strong sense of language and knows how to use the language of her ancestors to apply it to today’s society. She says, ”I learned the first of these stories from speaking with my mother and father. I learned the second from books. By the time I left for college, the books had won out over my parents especially since I spent four long years in a missionary boarding school for Hawaiian children”. After reading this quote from Trask, you can see that she has been learning the language and culture of her ancestors. She uses the language of her ancestors by