My second essay, “The Species of Language”, is an analytical on Perri Klass’s Learning the Language. In her piece, she describes her experience in the medical community, and the specific language associated with that environment. In my essay, I analyze the logic behind her argument, her credentials and how it affected her in that moment in time. I examine her motivation for writing this piece. As she enters the new discourse community of the medical profession, she brings along aspects of her previous community. I relate this transition like a Venn diagram, where the two groups overlap and how, for a short period, as a person is transitioning, they share qualities of both communities. I relate this to my experience within the Boy Scouts and the transition period, also the effect it had on me once I left the group. She has a vast medical background, which I establish as her credibility to her arguments and statement of ideas.
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Essay 2: The Species of Language
The Species of Language
ERH 101, Section 2
Date Due: June 11, 2015
Date Sub: June 10, 2015
Paper 2
Help Received: Peer-revision,
Professor conference,
Class paperwork and discussion
Learning the Language by Perri Klass reflects on her time as a medical student, and on her becoming a medical professional. She begins by stating that in the medical world, there is a certain language that comes along with it, including a specific lingo associated with being part of that society. She gives examples of acronyms used, like CTD or Circling the Drain for example, and states, that to her and her associates, the terms flow naturally. But to someone who has no medical background or who usually does not participate in a medical environment, they do not understand the references in that language spoken. She later goes on to state that there are euphemisms to ease the stress or hardships related to that environment. Towards the end she admits that as she has attained experience within the medical community, she has not only picked up on the specific language and terminology used, but also the attitudes connected with the vocabulary. She began by displaying her credentials as a medical professional, establishing her credibility and backing for her statements. Further on, she appeals to the emotions of a person who has every joined a community and felt alien or out of place.
Klass explains her experiences in the medical community. Her motivation for writing this piece, is to depict the association of learning not necessarily a new language, but the specific traits linked to environment in which it is used. She addresses the issue, of when an individual joins a new community and has to approach new habits and outlooks. She has reached a personal borderline much like that individual, who would possibly be considered an outsider, to a concrete member of that discourse community.
I relate her experience to a Venn diagram, where each situation overlaps and mixes characteristics close to where they share a social boundary. Around the area which they share a boarder are intertwined in a sense. For her, she has entered the medical community and is acquiring a new culture and mindset, but she also brings along her past experiences and opinions into this new setting.
She is inferring, that when someone enters into a certain profession or community there is a particular mindset linked to that setting. The longer this person is exposed to the nuances and characteristics the more they will become part of that society. She explains how, if a person who has joined a new profession or community wishes to become fluent in the specific language, they must also take on mentalities, attitudes and rationales. I relate this to when I joined the Boy Scouts of America.
Within this organization there are thousands of individual units called Troops and inside each of these Troops there are Patrols. Each Patrol consists of ten to twenty scouts who participate together and working as a team. During the course of the year scouts learn the Scout Oath, Motto and other outdoor skills. These troops contain leadership which have their own acronyms just like in the medical community. For example, an SPL is the Senior Patrol Leader, ASM is an Assistance Scout Master and a PLC is a Patrol Leader’s Council. While in the scouts, boys learn these acronyms, phrases and attitudes, just like those who would in the medical community. The longer these boys remain in scouts, the more prevalent thesis characteristics show.
When I first joined, I felt very much alienated from all of the other scouts. I was the only boy from my Cub Scout Pack who chose, voluntarily, to join this troop. Not knowing anyone, it was very difficult for me to try and fit in with the others, or understand what the older scouts were saying. Klass uses her personal experience to appeal to those who have had similar involvements. This is a very effective use of ethos, in using the reader’s emotions to assist them in understanding her point of view.
As she has become more involved in her new profession, she acknowledges the changes it is making to her. She states, “And there is the jargon that you don’t ever want to hear yourself using. You know that your training is changing you, but there are certain changes you think would be going a little too far” (Klass 50). She is a person who is attached emotionally to her loved ones, as many people are, and is coming from a background where she may be sensitive to terminal information. Klass does not want to see herself become a doctor who is disconnected emotionally from the patients. On the other hand however, she realizes that as she spends more time employed as a doctor, she will be required to separate herself.
In her argument, she explained, using personal experience, once a person became more in tune with the medical profession, “You move closer and closer to being a doctor instead of just talking like one” (Klass 50). As a person learns the language, they are changed in a way. The way in which some people think and form opinions about certain topics is transformed, due to the environment in which they are exposed to on a regular basis. She also explains how doctors try and separate themselves from the patients, by phrasing delicate subjects in such a manner that lessens the emotional pain and struggle. I believe the term used for this type of language is called “bedside manner”.
She, along with other medical professionals, attempt to discuss the problem at hand, without causing emotional discomfort to the patient. She explains it, in such a way, that a person who has no medical education or experience can easily understand the methods being used by their doctor. She states, “I suppose we are in some sense taking those pains and problems under our jurisdiction and also reduction their emotional impact” (Klass 51). Klass presents the views of both the doctor giving the information and the patient receiving the information. This explains some of the responsibility taken on by doctors, who, act as a filter for negative information. Generally, those who receive negative information about their health, react in a variety of ways. Doctors are able to phrase the sensitive material in such a way that offers pockets of hope within people. Although, for some people, this might not be what they want to hear.
Personally, I receive satisfaction from knowing all the possible outcomes of a certain situation. In the event that the worst possible result arises, I will have had known and will have prepared emotionally for it. Other cases however, some individuals care to only receive the best possible situation. Doctors have to know when and when not to offer some, if not all of the information.
Klass’s credentials include a MD from Harvard Medical School. She also possesses a collection of accepted literary works, including novels and short story collections, for example Love and Modern Medicine: Stories (2001), Other Women’s Children (1990) and I Am Having an Adventure (1986). She is a well-established medical professional who has displayed the necessary skills to support her point of view. Her credibility not only comes from her extensive medical experience, but also from the fact that, she was once an outsider to the medical profession like many other people. Her opinions and beliefs are not from someone who was exposed to the certain environment their whole lives. She learned and grew into that society, it is a process endured by everyone and experienced in any situation.
She describes the experiences of those just joining the medical environment. In one conversation with her mother, Klass mentioned an acronym which her mother did not understand: ‘“And can you believe I had to put down three NG tubes last night?’” (Klass 49). ‘“You’ll have to tell me what an NG tube is if you want me to sympathize properly” (Klass 49). Due to the fact that her mother was not adapted to her daughter’s medical environment, although Klass was speaking English, the context of an “NG tube” was unfamiliar. This is profound in our society and can cause misinterpretations by those who are alien to the context from which specific terms originate.
Over time, Klass has become one with her medical work place, she states “I found it exciting to discover that I’d finally cracked the code, that I could understand what doctors said and wrote” (Klass 50). She is now completely encompassed in the environment she entered. No longer is she in the transition stage in the Venn diagram, where there is overlap of both societies. After engaging readers with parallel upbringings, establishing a respectable standing and clarifying her thoughts towards her transition into a new community, the reader is intrigued and enlightened with the sensations of entering into a new discourse community and “Learning the Language”.
Work Cited
Klass, Perri. “Learning the Language.” Composing Knowledge: Readings for College Writers. Ed Rolf Norgaard. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2007. 48-51. Print.