US Perceptions of Language Learning

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A question I’ve heard a lot in the US is “How long have you been here?” The answer currently stands at 2.5 years and counting, and the reaction has often been “But your English is so good!” The degree of amazement is usually inversely proportionate to the number heard. You may imagine what it was like when that number was in the months. A frequent follow-up question is “Did you know English before you came here?”

Far from insulting me, this line of thinking is very revealing of the Americans’ notions of language-learning. What I take from it is that people often assume that you learn a language by going to a country where it is spoken. This is consistent with how language-learning occurs for many Americans, and they seem to extrapolate that experience onto other people.

Unlike in many countries in Europe and my native Russia, Americans usually don’t start taking a foreign language until middle or high school. Those who decide (or have to) take it in college often opt for a study abroad experience as a way to immerse themselves in the language and culture and to improve their language skills rapidly. Many language majors don’t start taking “their” foreign language until college — as opposed to Russia, where you need to have a certain prior knowledge of the language to major in it.

How is it different from my experience (and I hope, this is somewhat representative of other people’s experience as well)? I started taking English in elementary school (fairly early even for Russia, where most children don’t start learning another language until the 5th grade or so). I was nowhere near fluency the first 3 to 5 years, but I had a lot of time to learn a lot of nuances of grammar and register — something an intensive-course student may not have the time to do.

So, to answer the original question, by the time I arrived in the US, I had had 16 years of English instruction (along with classes in other subjects taught in English — I was a Linguistics major) with a year-long US stint in between. While my experience may not be representative of everyone in Europe or even in Russia, I think it’s safe to assume that your average Russian will have had at least a few years of English instruction prior to arriving in the US and that this learning experience will be mostly classroom-based (as opposed to immersion or stay abroad), although this tendency is gradually changing.

Is this consistent with how people learn languages in your country? If you’re American, would you agree with how I described language-learning in the US?

Diversity in the US

image by R. Burgos S. – Costa Rica

You often hear that the US is a diverse nation and you can meet people from all over the world here. I would like to examine this notion of diversity.

First of all, there is no arguing that the US strives to end race and ethnicity-based discrimination (at least on the legal and official level). While there may still be some racism in the attitudes, unlike in my home country of Russia, it is unlikely to make its way into the mainstream discourse or policy. Diversity is proclaimed and welcomed in universities, in the workplace, and in the community. Far from trying to challenge this notion, I would like to examine what kind of diversity we are talking about.

One of the things you often hear from some Americans is how you can meet people from all sort of cultures and backgrounds in the US. This makes sense considering that in 2010 13 percent of US residents were born abroad. There is no arguing that people from all over the world have been coming to the US to work, study, live, or travel.

However, this interaction seems to be very one-sided. Foreign-born people are primarily viewed in terms of how they adapt to the US. Americans seem to be indifferent to these people’s cultural “baggage” and know little about the life in their home countries, their history and language. Thus,  the American notion of “diversity” pretty much reduces all international people — immigrants or not — to “Americans of X origin.”

While it is to be expected that guests and newcomers adapt to the rules of their host country, Americans don’t seem to meet them halfway. This is purely anecdotal, but I have met people who worked/served abroad for a few years but failed to pick up more than a few stereotypes about their host location. Having been the expat who fails to learn the local language, I am far from judging them, but isn’t it time we reconsidered the supposed diversity of the US?

Take the example of language as a vivid illustration of this trend. As reported in National Journal, “an analysis of 2010 census numbers shows that only 10 percent of the native-born reported speaking a second language. When immigrants were included, that percentage increased to 20.1 percent.” That means most US residents who can speak another language acquired it through speaking it from birth rather than mastering it through study.

Language is but one example but the list can be expanded. Education, business, entertainment — the diversity seems to consist in people flowing to the US and learning about it and not the other way around. “Well, everything is better in the US,” you may say. But how do you know that before you explore other cultures? Do you know as much about the culture of your foreign partner as they do about yours?

Communicating with Americans — Speaking on Equal Terms

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I have had a few breakdowns in communication with my American friends and host family that could perhaps be explained by peculiarities of the American communication style. Feel free to correct me if I am overgeneralizing here.

Example one. During my year as an exchange student in Pennsylvania, I had a good friend — the daughter of my host mother’s tenant. We spent quite a lot of time together until I moved to my second host family. In any case, we naturally grew apart over the 8 years I spent away from the US.

However, once I moved back to the US, I thought we could reconnect. So I started sending my friend detailed personal emails, asking what she was up to and telling her about where I was in life and what got me there. I used email and Facebook some 3 to 5 times — no answer.

I had pretty much given up on our friendship, but then I was going to fly to Florida via Pittsburgh, the city where I knew my friend now lived. So without much hope, I skipped the personal touch and posted a very impersonal and almost rudely straightforward message on her Facebook wall (something I don’t normally do) that ran “Can I stay with you in Pittsburgh on such and such dates?”

Need I tell you I got an answer this time? My friend checked with her roommates, and I stayed with her on my way to Florida. She explained that she had not answered my messages because she was at a point in her life when she didn’t feel like she had anything to share about her life.

Another example. Not once did my second host family, who I stayed with after the move, call me after I left the US at the end of my exchange year. I was always the one calling, asking how everyone was, and hoping to come back to visit. I had witnessed their previous exchange student come and visit while I was there, so kept thinking to myself, “What am I not doing right?”

After I came back to the US for grad school, I kept calling the family and kept getting the same polite but disinterested replies. My emails with updates largely went unanswered. I would only get a Christmas card with a picture of the family that otherwise never initiated communication with me.

I suppose you know where I am going with this. The moment I wrote a “dry,” factual email to my host dad, letting him know my new mailing address and not once asking how the family was I received a much more detailed response where he even said he might visit me when in the area.

Again, I am not trying to make broad generalizations — certainly not on the basis of a less-than-statistically-significant sample. However, it may well be that these isolated examples do illustrate a real trait of intrapersonal communication in the US. You are not supposed to approach anyone as an asker. People who may want something from others make many Americans uncomfortable (and I don’t blame them!). Therefore, to be talked to, you often need to approach others as an equal, even if it means acting more “callous” or disinterested than your native culture warrants.
International readers and people who have traveled abroad, would you agree?

Small-Town American Community

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A couple of days ago I spoke about Russia at a local organization called the Kent-Dudince Sister Cities Association. Most members of this organization are elderly members of the community who have ties to or interest in Eastern European countries and cultures. This event reminded me of how much I admire American small town communities, which I first realized during my first stay in the US.

The amount of local organizations and causes is pretty large in the US. It was endearing to see the local members of the community, who were here before some of the current student were born and will probably be here after they graduate and move away. I feel like your typical exchange/international student doesn’t usually get to experience the local community (unless they stay with a host family). International visitors tend to associate with locals of their own age, who are often also newcomers to the area. Meeting the older folks gives you a whole new level of involvement in the community.

They are usually the ones who run the local charities, take international students shopping, and do other things for the well-being of their town. I am definitely looking forward to meeting more people who aren’t in my town for the university.

Why “Where Are You From?” May Be a Bad Ice-Breaker

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So, you start talking to this person you’ve just met and try to come up with some topic for conversation. Oh yeah, what’s that curious accent all about? So you drop the question. “Where are you from?” is a great way of getting a person to start a mutually enriching cultural exchange, right? Wrong. Let me tell you why.

Granted, exchange students, immigrants, and other people who may, for whatever reason, have come to your country don’t expect to be taken for locals. They are, most likely, well aware of their accent, different appearance or whatever else may distinguish them from the natives. Perhaps, they even cherish your interest in their culture and the chance to share it with you. Still, “Where are you from?” could make your international buddy feel not engaged, but alienated.

Personally, I can’t help cringing at the inevitable question. While I do recognize and appreciate the person’s friendliness and interest, I can’t help thinking, “Is that the first thing people notice about me?” It is not without hesitation that I take this, genuinely well-meant, opportunity to start a cultural exchange. While I’m aware of my “foreignness,” I’d like to think there’s more to me than coming from a different country, however intriguing that aspect may look.

Not to mention the fact that, more often than not, the “cultural exchange” stops at “Oh, that’s cool” because my buddy doesn’t really know what to say. Or, even better, they give me the well-meant, but indefinitely vague question “So what’s it like?”

I’m not trying to advise anyone against asking where an apparently non-local person is from. But perhaps it shouldn’t be the first question that comes out of your mouth. Try something less personal instead.

Being an Expatriate in Europe

Clock Tower in Bern, Switzerland

 

As some of you may know, I spent this past summer as an intern with an international organization in Geneva, Switzerland. I had stayed abroad for extended periods of time before, either as an immigrant or as an exchange student, and thought I had a fairly accurate idea of what “living abroad” would be like. Yet my expatriate experience was quite different from my other stays abroad.

An external observer might have described me as a typical expatriate – one who is brought to a country because of their job or other similar circumstances, never bothers to learn the language, and sticks within their own expatriate circle. Let me explain. I found out I would be going to Geneva on a very short notice. I had never taken French before. I was to work in an international organization.

As a result, I ended up speaking English at work, and, while I did go out and meet people, I mostly found them through expatriate networks. Needless to say, the people were fellow expatriates who spoke English. The whole experience gave me a different perspective on expatriate communities. I had, too, been quick to judge them as self-contained and unwilling to embrace the host society.

However, my summer in Geneva shed some light on why expatriates tend to be isolated from the mainstream society. First and foremost, working in an office with 1 (one) Swiss co-worker and thirty times so many foreigners, I had very few chances of even meeting locals. In a place like Geneva, with so many foreigners working in the city, it’s natural that the expatriate scene is quite vibrant, with thriving fully-English social network websites and events.

Language is usually another big accusation directed against expatriates. Why was I not much better at French after 3 months in Switzerland? While I do commend those who manage to learn a language on their own, I must say working full-time is not really conducive for it. With many language schools closed for the summer or offering classes in the afternoon while I was at work, I found my only French resources were the two self-study books I had brought with me. Again, I do believe it is possible to learn a language on your own, but I think it’s safe to say a lot people need some sort of formal learning framework to make progress, if only to receive guidance from a language professional.

So, here I am, having been the ugly, scowled, unadjusted foreigner abroad. What I took out of my time in Europe, which was by no means lonely or miserable, is that “backstage” of expatriate living. I remember my own disapproval of some foreigners I would encounter in Russia. Perhaps you’ve experienced similar feelings? Stop and think, though, what opportunities are their for expatriates to mingle with the locals? Are there any language classes full-time workers can take?

Why I’m not on Facebook (anymore)

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Some co-workers told me they found my blog while trying to find me on Facebook. Well, it is official: I am not on Facebook. Any namesake you find is a different person.

Just to clarify: it’s not a “going-against-the flow” attitude or some sort of statement. I had a Facebook profile for 3 years and am still on a Russian and a Swiss expatriate social network. I agree with those of you will say Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with far-away friends and share news and photos easily. The reason I left Facebook is personal, and I’ll try to explain it in this post.

In a nutshell, I want to have the luxury of being contacted exclusively by people who care enough to make an effort to get in touch. In other words, would you remember my birthday if the website calendar hadn’t reminded you, would you ask me how I was if you hadn’t read my latest update and would you make a point of sharing your news/pictures with me if they didn’t show up on everyone’s wall at a click of the mouse? Too demanding, you say? Perhaps. That’s why I call friends of this quality a luxury.

If you’ve as much as written an email, a text or an instant message to me, you know that I am always frequently online and am fairly good at answering incoming correspondence. Which means there are effective ways of getting in touch with me, besides social networking… if you want to.

Once again, I am not trying to condemn social networking in general or Facebook in particular. It’s just that at this point in my life, it’s not something I feel I need. But, yes, I am officially alive and accessible via all sorts of media, so if you landed on this page while looking for my Facebook page, feel free to drop me a line.