You are a student of English as a second language.This means thatyou do not yet know English completely.But you do know another lan-guage.This is the language that you already speak.It is sometimes calledyour native language.You may speak French,or Arabic,or Japanese.You can do many things with your native language.You can read it andwrite it too.Linguistics is a field of study that is concerned with theseabilities that you have.It studies your ability to speak and understand alanguage—any language.Linguists are trying to understand your abilityto use a language. You are a student of English as a second language.This means that you do not yet know English completely.But you do know another lan-guage.This is the language that you already speak.It is sometimes called your native language.You may speak French ,or Arabic,or Japanese.You can do many things with your native language.You can read it andwrite it too.Linguistics is a field of study that is concerned with theseabilities that you have.It studies your ability to speak and understand alanguage— Any language.Linguists are trying to understand your abilityto use a language.