Yesterday the supervisor we work with at ASIA inc. was explaining issues the refugee youth deal with when they're placed in their new American high school. Refugees are people who have been forced to leave their homeland due to reasons out of their control. The ages completely vary, but we were focusing on the students yesterday. Suddenly they're immersed into our culture wide-eyed and terrified. They slowly begin to pick up our language and are expected to be able to complete their school work to a satisfactory point within a few months. ASIA works with a program that helps these students become more accustomed.
Part of the reason I love being a sociology major is because we study people of all cultures, of all socioeconomic backgrounds. It's a constant reality check of where we stand in the world. I studied abroad in Australia because it was the furthest away from Erie, and I wanted to see the other side of the world. Not to mention they spoke English so I knew I would have a way to communicate my basic needs. I cannot even begin to imagine being forced to leave my home, being stuck in a camp with thousand upon thousands of other people in extremely poor living conditions, small rations of food, and simply waiting. The estimated amount of refugees in the world is 43 million people. The average wait in these camps is 17 years before you're given permission to enter another country (not knowing their culture or language) to attempt to build a new life for you and your family. Terrifying.
I envy those who know more than one language. I used to think I was good at Spanish, then I went to Mexico and was personally convinced that language was not the one I spent 50 minutes every other day learning. Being fluent in a language is not the same as knowing words on flashcards. If I was fluent in a language other than English, I would most certainly talk it in America. Hopefully I was friends with people who spoke the other language too so I wouldn't have to just talk out loud to myself like a weirdo all the time (I'd still do that). I think it's terribly ignorant when people hear others speaking in a language other than English in America and say it's rude and they're in America, speak English. I've heard this happen far too many times and my brain always has the same response.
Really? Are you afraid they're talking about you? Please. Pretty sure people talk shit on you whether they're speaking your language or not.Watch this YouTube video (the link is below). It's crazy. And pretty short. We watched it in class yesterday. It's an idea of what English sounds like to non-English speakers. And how you can still get the gist of things through context, and many people are forced to use more than words to understand when immersed into a foreign culture. Something I think everyone should experience at some point in life.
What Non-English Speakers Think We Sound Like
We don't sound nearly as pretty as the French. Boo.
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