Learn How Understanding Language Patterns Can Improve Your Communication and Your Grades

When I, Dr. Eugenia Krimmel, was an exchange student to Turkey from my small-town American upbringing in Pennsylvania, I began reading literature in a new language for the first time. As my Turkish language skills grew, I understood more stories and conversations, too. It was so strange to me that Turks said or wrote the same ideas over and over in different ways. As a concise linear English speaker, this language difference bothered me. 

Fast forward twenty-five years when my oldest child called me from college one day in total frustration. She complained about her project partner who continually said the same ideas over and over, then moved on to another thought and repeated that again and again. “Is this partner of Middle Eastern background?, I asked. “Yes, mom, she’s Jordanian. How did you know to ask that and why does that matter?” my daughter asked. By then I knew Turks and Arabs expressed themselves with what English speakers consider redundancies. Their language patterns value the use of multiple ways to phrase an idea. We English speakers are direct and linear in thought expression. Did you notice that?

To visualize these patterns of other languages, review this chart:

Recognize your own language pattern? These are not literary styles or genres, but deep-rooted cultural and linguistic patterns. Few professors know these patterns. They expect written assignments and oral presentations to be organized in an English pattern. Your words may be English, but the arrangement may have the verb at the end or topic sentence in the final paragraph – not typical writing according to American college professors.

The top strategy to overcome language pattern differences is to use graphic organizers designed for English writers and speakers. Assignment-specific organizers will provide the best results, but you will need practice using them at first.  

Here are a couple of links I like best: 

1. Assignment Specific Organizers

2. Effective Graphic Organizers