本PS（Personal Statement，個人陳述）作者同時獲得了利茲大學、阿伯丁大學、埃塞克斯大學、倫敦大學亞非學院等四所英國優秀大學的錄取通知書。
Language and Linguistics Personal Statement
語言與語言學個人陳述（PS）
The famous linguistic philosopher, Benjamin Lee Whorf said ‘Language is the best show man puts on.’ It is what puts us ahead of other animals. I would not be typing this statement without the human ability to communicate fluently and one may go so far as to say that we would not have structured society at all. Such a major thing is taken for granted yet without it where would we be? So, in my opinion, language is possibly the most important facet intrinsic to humanity.
Since arriving at secondary school, I have studied four different languages, as well as looking at my own language in more detail. For seven years, I have learnt French and Latin, and for five years, learnt Italian as well. As a student of Latin and modern Romance languages, I am interested greatly in language change as well as semantics. It is exciting when I learn a new word in French and it is instantly traceable to a Latin cognate, or even better, I suddenly understand that a word I know in English has a root in another language I have studied. I find that most students of Latin are more interested in the literature, but I feel the language has so much to offer. I am fascinated by the case system, and how there can be a complete disregard for regular sentence structure but the meaning stays the same (a contrast to the other languages I have studied, which stick piously to the base syntax.)
Another learning experience which developed my interest in language was my studies of Mandarin Chinese. This was completely new for me, as it is not rooted in Latin, or indeed Greek. Because of this, it has a completely different set of linguistic rules. For example, there are no tenses, as we would define ‘tense’ in a Western language. I was shocked how much importance was placed in tonality, in comparison to French, Italian or English. I feel that it opened my eyes to a new world of language beyond my own which was just as exciting and even more complex.
Aside from learning foreign and classical languages I have also come across the joy of language through the other subjects I am taught. In philosophy I have enjoyed critiquing the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, both Nativist and Empiricist views on language acquisition and Ludwig Wittgenstein’s language games. By doing this, I have opened up to a more theoretical side of language, which is intriguing. As a student of English Literature, I have found the Shakespearean and Chaucerian works the most captivating. One can do an in depth study of how language is formed, how it has changed and how it sounds (and no doubt both Chaucer and Shakespeare are great examples for study of English) but these remind you of the power of language. In ‘Othello’, Iago dictates the lives of all around him with his mastery of words.
I plan to take a gap year, in order to further my linguistic interests. Last year I did some voluntary work as a French assistant tutor in a primary school. I found it extremely rewarding, but also a great new challenge, using the language skills which I have learnt in a practical situation by helping others. I intend to take a course in teaching English as a foreign language, with the aim of visiting a French-speaking country and becoming an English assistant.
Over the past few years, I have matured as a person. Outside my academic matters, I am involved with my local cricket team. I captained all the youth teams; an experience which has developed my leadership and critical decision making skills. Recently, I passed a Level 1 Cricket Coaching Course, and have been helping out with two different clubs’ youth sections. This has helped my confidence since I had to learn to cooperate with complete strangers and also, by planning training sessions, my organisational ability has improved.
I feel that studying Linguistics at university would be perfect for me. It would give me a chance to pursue my love of the complexity and diversity of language whilst giving me skills which will be useful in society.
