Cure For the Headache About Languages

by on Wednesday, 10 October 2012


When you first arrive at University and you are an International student, the question you hear the most is ‘Why is your English so good?’. 

Photo used under the creative commons license from Ian Lamont's photo stream
At first, you don’t mind telling people your life story about how it’s pretty much your first language. After a couple of days, you get a little annoyed as you feel like you have to repeat yourself all the time. After a few weeks, it gets to the point where you want to just put on a fake accent and say ‘what? I don’t understand you.’. Most international students have been there and most of them feel pretty much the exact same way.

However, it’s just really hard for us to comprehend that it is quite interesting that we know a different language fluently. It is pretty incredible that we lived somewhere else and it is really fascinating that we can pick up a phone and change the language we speak in, in about three seconds.

It’s not about trying to fit in, it really is just about knowing who you are.

So, after three weeks of being in Newcastle, when people ask me why is my English so good, I tell them: “Well, I am Russian who is really Chinese” and let more questions come my way. 

No comments yet.

Write a comment:

Powered by Blogger.