Final Exam: Vocabulary Lessons by Tara Kennon

One of my favorite pieces of writing that we have read this year was Vocabulary Lessons by Tara Kennon. In this piece Kennon uproots herself and moves to Lija, Malta where she experiences a culture shock. This directly relates back to one of the three learning outcomes, demonstrate an awareness of how language and meaning are shaped by culture and context. In this article, before she leaves for Malta, Kennon was told that the Maltese speak good English due to their colonization by Britain. This soon proves to be false as stated in, "University Lesson Number One: Just because they speak English doesn't mean you can understand." One of the reasons the Maltese’s English is different is due to their different culture. Their English is a mix of British English and their own Maltese language. And even still, their language has also diverged from Modern Standard Arabic. So, not only does their own Maltese culture influence how they speak and how they use words, but Britain and Arabic also influence their cultural language. One of the words Kennon learns while in Malta is "Wahdi," which means alone. Kennon says that before she moved she never really felt alone in the true sense of the word. "In conversation, it implies an aloneness surrounded by others who are alike." Here in Malta, the word alone has a different context for her. Here the word “Wahdi,” for her, truly means, being, “different in a place where you are surrounded by people who are in so many surface ways identical to one another.” The context of the new environment changed not only the language but also the meaning of words for her. This article accurately showcases how important culture and context are to language and meaning.