Speaking in any language «involves your own style». So you don’t have to imitate your teacher’s language. Once you achieve that level of comfort and whatever you are saying is perfectly right in your own head, you will be very confident. «Don’t think of it as a language outside yourself», but rather «make it your own».
∞ It was enlightening to hear about a linguistic adventure of someone living in a country where English has a different status than in mine. It is obvious that the way any language is used and treated in any given state can be subject to change, but what cannot be denied is that in general English learning and teaching experiences would be different in India and Russia.
Delving into Apoorva’s internal and external beauty as well as her beautiful English was an absolute pleasure. That was how I knew I was going to continue working on this interview project – even just for meeting such smart and truly articulate individuals as Apoorva. I couldn’t help but notice how eloquent she was and how her own individual style of putting her thoughts into words shone through during our talk. It is true indeed that a radiant personality cannot possibly be hidden – no matter what language one chooses or has to speak.
Whenever I got to meet Apoorva throughout my year in the U.S., I felt that special bond we had, which shows how coming from different countries might not matter as long as you have one language you share – even if the way you both speak it might differ in terms of pronunciation, syntax, vocabulary choices, etc.
As I felt I had gotten off to a good start with my project, I was more than ready to dive deeper into an intrinsic linguistic fabric of the Big Apple as well as my home state of New Jersey…
A humble and hard-working bilingual
(Masumi, Japan)
Languages spoken: Japanese, English, Chinese.
Field of study/career: Linguistics, Business (Baruch College, CUNY).
I met Masumi from Japan on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Coney Island, Brooklyn, around an hour’s subway ride from Downtown Manhattan. For the International Coastal Cleanup Day, One To World, an organization whose mission is to promote intercultural understanding, organized an event bringing together international students and scholars. It was a really interesting way of meeting new like-minded people, which is particularly essential during the first days of an extended stay abroad.
Getting together with a multilingual team for an environmental cause to pick up some trash along the coastline was a nice experience. At this point being in the US felt more like an extended vacation with everything being new – including the host university campus as well as the NJ and NY area. Being able to spend a day at a beach wasn’t something I believed I would do so casually and I’d never seriously thought being in NYC would allow me to do that.
Masumi must have been the first Japanese I’d ever met. She was what one would expect a typical citizen of this state in the northwestern Pacific to be: quiet, focused on the task at hand, disciplined. She didn’t participate much in any of the conversations around a dozen participants from different countries were having. But in a private conversation Masumi – which I have to admit I do as well – opened up a lot more and volunteered to be my second interviewee. As we were done with making our own humble contribution to keeping the Coney Island beach clean and enjoyed a burger at an iconic American fast food establishment Nathan’s Famous, we sat down on the beach to have a chat.
Back in Japan Masumi went to «an English immersive school» from Grade 1 to Grade 12 where all the subjects were taught both in Japanese and English. Masumi believes that was how she ended up picking up the language «naturally». At this private school most teachers were from English-speaking countries. Studying there definitely put Masumi in an advantageous position compared to her compatriots who normally start learning English during junior high/middle school through regular English classes focusing on grammar, vocabulary and making simple dialogues. Sadly as Masumi notes, as a result of such an education most ended up not being able to «produce» any English at all.
Detailing on the strengths of her language instruction back in her home country, Masumi remembers how listening was the easiest as she was exposed to English daily in her classroom. Then she gradually learned how to read and write. Unfortunately, speaking was really difficult and, in fact, she still finds herself struggling with it, which has her wondering why she «can listen but can’t produce English’. One of the reasons might have been that all her classmates were Japanese and even teachers who were foreigners could understand English so all interactions were in Masumi’s first language. Besides, she never used English outside school.
When it comes to the level of importance attached to learning English in Japan, it is not that high as a lot of companies use Japanese. But despite that being able to speak English would be «a strong point» for a job candidate as not so many Japanese people speak English well. But even without speaking it much one can work «normally».
Now that Masumi has been in the U.S. for a month, she has had more opportunities to use English as she is studying at Baruch College in NYC. Back in Japan whenever these limited opportunities to speak English occurred, Masumi used to be afraid to speak for fear of making mistakes. Being a foreigner here, she knows it’s ok for her to say something wrong.
Actually Masumi feels more confident speaking English compared to her native Japanese as in her first language she feels she cares about other people too much. As she says, in English she can be «selfish in a good way».
During this first month in the U.S. she has faced quite a lot of misunderstandings caused by her «mishearing» what people are saying. She is perfectly aware of answering some «weird» things when asked a question, but she has learned not to mind that too much.
Masumi is still too young for making a solid career choice, but she would love to use English in her future job. So, she might pursue translating or anything with «a connection to languages».
Currently she is learning Chinese, which she considers a quite important language to learn these days. On the surface, Chinese looks like Japanese, but grammar and vocabulary are totally different. Some parts of written «symbols» are a bit different, which makes it particularly confusing. At this point Masumi isn’t feeling confident enough to use any Chinese, but becoming a «good user» is part of her plan.
She believes that the most important thing in mastering a language is to actually use it. As for her own example, she feels that
her English is «showing some kind of improvement» as she uses it daily. Besides, the fact that there aren’t many Japanese people in NYC helps quite a lot.
∞ Not only was the ocean landscape against which we were sitting and talking soothing, but also so was Masumi’s manner of speaking. She seemed reserved yet totally relaxed speaking with me. What she said about rigorous language instruction back in Japan might be in line with what we believe an Asian education system to be – with a strong focus on achievement and discipline. That might in a way explain why people in Asia tend to generally feel uptight about using English for the same reason Masumi did – for fear of making mistakes… Some causes of certain linguistic barriers run so much deeper than a wrong teaching methodology indeed…
Unfortunately, we never crossed paths with Masumi again, but I would go back here to this exact spot in Coney Island quite a few times during the fall to contemplate these and many other things we talked about while enjoying my burger from Nathan’s. Even as a linguist, you sometimes feel like paying no attention to what languages are being spoken around you, but just want to listen to the sounds of the ocean waves instead…
A level-headed bilingual full of determination to succeed (Sharifullah, Afghanistan)
Languages