homework#2

For me to reach literacy has to acquire two abilities/features. First, one can read and write to express himself/herself clearly and fluently. Second, he/she must equip with enough basic background information and knowledge. For example, in China, one is considered literate when he/she uses well-known ancient poems to express herself correctly. Of course, literacy is also very relative. It depends on different times and region and many other factors to determine whether one is literate.

My literacy learning experience is quite long, and it's still hasn't ended yet. Because after I could acquire and use Chinese correctly in a higher level, the journey of getting to know English better begins. As a Chinese, it's obviously very easy to acquire Chinese unconsciously and recite many ancient poems and well-known historical stories with the help of many years of education. In other word, in my opinion I'm a literate people under my definition of literacy. However, when it comes to English, things are completely different. As a English learner, it is difficult to communicate with native English speakers in the first place, although as time goes by, my speaking is becoming better and better. Nevertheless, the background and knowledge of American culture is not that easy to get. Sometimes it is not funny to me when everybody is laughing for certain joke because I'm not familiar with the background information. In other words, I'm not literate when I'm in America under my definition.