Almost a decade has passed and yet, the daunting feeling of stepping off the plane, into the unknown remained. Thoughts rushed through my naïve mind, as the brisk breeze brushed my face.Where am I?Why am I here? Racing through the airport, I was overwhelmed as people paced past me, my mind filled with curiosity and my heart beating louder than a drum. Everything was new, the silence, the purity, the beauty.This new country seemed unrealistic to me, it felt like I was in a dream as I was introduced tonew things. Aspects I couldn’t understand as a little girl were all thrown at me in an instant, skin colours that I didn’t think existed, a new culture, and a new language which sounded like drivel. I slowly began to realize that this wasn’t a dream, …show more content…
Hopelessly lost at first, my journey began to feel like an exciting new adventure. Settling in a new country has many negative effectsas one adapts to the new culture, people and starting a life from step one.Drastic cultural differences became an obstacle for my parents as it was difficult to adapt to this society with new morals, roots, and lifestyle. Immigrants must make the decision if they want to blend in and follow the foreign culture or continue to stick to their own culture. Making a decision was not an option in my family, it was clear that it’s our duty to carry on our culture and traditions regardless of where we end up around the world. However, it’s important to find a balance between staying true to one’s roots and being able toevolve with the new environment and assimilate to the society, otherwise, one may become isolated.I remember observing my mom, quietly sufferingin loneliness as she left everyone she knew, her family and friends, to a country where she had no one.However, with time, she found ways to stay in touch with her friends and family and made new friends in Canada as well.One of the most significant outcomes that moving countries has on immigrants, including myself, is language barriers as it has remained to be a prevalent challenge for many immigrants, particularly during the initial stages of settlement. A study conducted by the Canadian government showed that 32% of job seekers experienced language barriers as an issue (Statistics Canada, 2005). I remember going to school for the first time in Canada and being extremely terrified to interact with other people who spoke a language I hardly knew. I had forgotten my lunch and wasn’t able to communicate this to anyone so I busted into tears as I struggled to convey such a simple message. Moving countries can be a risky decision to make as you have to leave everything behind, in hopesthat you
For more than 300 years, immigrants from every corner of the globe have settled in America, creating the most diverse and heterogeneous nation on Earth. Though immigrants have given much to the country, their process of changing from their homeland to the new land has never been easy. To immigrate does not only mean to come and live in a country after leaving your own country, but it also means to deal with many new and unfamiliar situations, social backgrounds, cultures, and mainly with the acquisition and master of a new language. This often causes mixed emotions, frustration, awkward feelings, and other conflicts. In Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, the author
Transitions are never an easy thing to conquer. It is often hard and stressful to cope with changes to one’s surrounding, but in the cases in which one manages to conquer this obstacle, elevation of knowledge and experience are great results gained from this achievement. I originally came from Africa and recently moved to the United States to join my mother and my step father. This great change in the things I had become accustomed to in my daily life was not easy, furthermore taking into account the fact that I had never experienced a transition so little as shifting from one residence to another.
I walked around unsteadily all day like a lost baby, far away from its pack. Surrounded by unfamiliar territory and uncomfortable weather, I tried to search for any signs of similarities with my previous country. I roamed around from place to place and moved along with the day, wanting to just get away and go back home. This was my first day in the United States of America.
I flew from Las Vegas to an airport close to the Caribbean rainforest, this was my first time on a plane, I never would have imagined it would be to start my dream job and go to an exotic place. I mean, who could ever get so lucky on their first assignment. I was expecting to get sent to the middle of a hot desert or a humid rain forest infested with flying and biting bugs. I knew it was time to start my adventure when I got off that plane, but it was also time to start my adult life as well. The plane ride was full of me asking myself questions about this trip that I really could not answer. I kept asking myself what would I encounter when I reached the tribe, would they be accepting of me, would things be hostile or friendly, will I be able to adapt well enough to their style of living to be able to complete my assignment. I could not stop thinking of all the ways this trip could play
Leaving one's own country and moving to another is one of the most difficult journeys anyone can make. In one's home country, he or she has a place, an identity that is
Every individual, no matter who they are, will all face challenges that result from their backgrounds and cultures. Born in Calcutta, India and later moving to the United States, Amin Ahmad was an individual who discovered this harsh truth first-hand. In his essay, “I Belong Here,” Ahmad reflects on his experience of being treated differently from those around him based off his cultural background. He analyzes the emotional barrier that forms between the journey of immigration and the continuous feeling of inferiority based solely on the desire to belong. The article is written to provide a different point of view; one focused on introducing to the world the challenges and emotions immigrants face after starting the journey towards a new life.
Stepping out of my first plane ride, I experience an epiphany of new culture, which seems to me as a whole new world. Buzzing around my ears are conversations in an unfamiliar language that intrigues me. It then struck me that after twenty hours of a seemingly perpetual plane ride that I finally arrived in The United States of America, a country full of new opportunities. It was this moment that I realized how diverse and big this world is. This is the story of my new life in America.
fatigue, aware of his family’s struggle for success if he did not work hard. Forming the
The changing environments throughout the ages have caused the movement of thousands of families out of their homelands. Whether forced to make such decisions or doing so by their own desires, all immigrants have had to survive the physical and psychological challenges encountered along the way. To speak about the experiences of all these different people using the same ideas and examples would be quite inaccurate. They all, however, had to live through similar situations and deal with similar problems. Many of them succeeded and found the better future they were looking for. Many others found only hardship and experienced the destruction of their hopes and dreams. All of them were transformed.
Unconsciously, we all speak different languages; we categorize the way we speak by the environment and people at which we are speaking too. Whenever a character enters an unfamiliar environment, they experiment with language to find themselves and understand reality. For immigrants, language is a means to retain one’s identity; however, as they become more assimilated in their new communities their language no longer reflects that of their identity but of their new cultural surroundings. When an immigrant, immigrates to a new country they become marginalized, they’re alienated from common cultural practices, social ritual, and scripted behavior. It’s not without intercultural communication and negotiation
Canada is referred to as a ‘land of immigrants’ since a large number of newcomers have settled here and helped to enhance and preserve its ethnicity and diversity. Every country has its own norms and principles in accommodating new immigrants and assisting them to settle down. However, not all the immigrants are fortunate enough to sustain the uncertain circumstances that they had foreseen before migrating to a new country. While in the process of adjusting to a new society, these settlers are often reminded of the fact that they are not in their own country. Such circumstances put them in a tight spot of returning back to their homeland. Thus, taking instances from the writings of Mehri Yalfani, Isabel Vincent and Himani Benerji, the facts that new immigrants have to come across various complications throughout their journey of settlement to a new country, are being raised in the subsequent part of this journal. Moreover, the issues related to racism in Canada and the assurance of equality and freedom from racial discrimination to the Canadians are also reflected below.
In sixteen years of life, I have received an opportunity to experience different cultures, learning styles, and languages. To start of, I am an American since I was born here, but the reality is that I was raised in India. My parents’ main motivation for moving back to India was because they wanted us to embrace our traditions, and most importantly, value our family relationships. We relocated back to the US at the start of 9th grade. This transition was a huge factor for transforming me as a person. I am cognizant of the two systems, cherish both, and realize that these multicultural experiences have encouraged me to grow and mature beyond my years. Relocating from a place is not as easy as one can imagine. When compared to the US, India
It was a beautiful, sunny day in South Florida. I was six years old, playing by the pool with my new puppy. I loved swimming in the pool almost every day after school. I also enjoyed going out on our boat after school or crossing the street and going to the beach. My father came home one evening with some interesting news. Now, I do not remember exactly how I felt about the news at that time, but it seemed like I did not mind that much. He had announced that we were going to move back to my birth country, Belgium. I had been living in Florida for five years and it was basically all I had known so I did not know what to expect. I had to live with my mom at first, and then my sister would join us after she graduated high school and my father
When immigrants first step into Canadas borders the most obvious challenge they have to face is the barrier that is set immediately due to language differences. Canadas official languages include both English and French these languages arguably are the most difficult languages to learn. In many ways, for immigrants the first step to both economic and societal immigration is learning English. Without learning English and proper English literacy skills there is little chance of getting a well-paying job, making connections with people in Canadian society and overall, without English immigrants are unable to communicate with others around them in society during everyday life. Language and Literacy training also relate to immigrant's employability. In a study showing
Language is a crucial tool that connects individuals of diverse geographical differences, enables understanding of one’s culture and belief, and facilitates comprehension of one’s own needs especially with regards to healthcare. So how does one adopt to a country not her own and a language she less likely speak her entirely life, with pronunciation of words she couldn’t even utter correctly or couldn’t speak it at all? Let’s take a peak of the different scenarios, experiences and perspective of people who encounters dilemmas in language as a barrier.