Does Speaking Another Language Make You “Special” ?

The "special" and the struggle of being an international student

By GeCao

The word “special” for me can be positive, but also can be negative. As international students, the language barrier is a common problem for us. We need to spend twice or triple the time on the same work.

Taking myself as an example: in my current psychology class, we were assigned a New York Times podcast that was more than an hour long. For local students, I imagine podcasts can be a reward, probably using them as soundtracks on a warm morning, lying on a cozy couch, sipping coffee. It seems pretty chill and joyous. But for me, it is the exact opposite. It’s time-consuming, because the podcast speed is really fast and uses verbiage that's very specific and colloquial. I have to slow down and listen word by word, carefully and slowly. I burn out every time I hear it.

Language barriers make me feel like I lose my sense of belonging, making me feel less confident and lonely in an academic setting and further away from home. But, in a positive way, I do feel special. It's like a video game and I am the heroic main character in this journey. I overcame all difficulties and came to America alone. There is a funny saying that International students are acting as father and mother, as well as students and kids. They take care of themselves—cooking and cleaning for themselves like moms, fixing things that are broken in the house like dads, and going to school every day as students.

Also, learning a new language means learning the culture behind it. It’s funny to see that sometimes people have somewhat different personalities when they switch to another language they share. When I speak English, I feel like a Wall Street elite, always talking about tens-of-millions-of-dollars projects, so confident and charismatic! I enjoy the mingling and clashing of cultures too, like the Chinese towns in America and Chinese New Year in college. Every time I get compliments from people saying:“Wow! Your English is really good, like a native speaker.” I feel proud, especially when I introduce my country's culture and history in other languages like English.