How The Chinese College Expansion Plan affects me

My mom always said: “If I could have entered the university, we would have a different life right now.” In the past years, entering a university was an unreachable dream for most Chinese people because it was too hard. However, more and more people wanted to receive a higher education. Meanwhile, the Chinese government wanted to improve the quality of the population. Therefore in 1999, the educational department made a new policy called The College Expansion Plan. It said that colleges and universities would expand their enrollment to most high school graduates. My mom was very happy when she learned about this because that meant I could have more chances to go into the university. This policy had important influences on my life.

The first effect was obvious; I got the chance to enter the university. According to this policy, most of the universities would lower their requirements of application to ensure that more students could be enrolled. I had to fill out the university application form according to my score when I passed my exit exam. I checked the university guide book and found that I had at least twenty universities I could apply to. I picked three of them and my favorite major with my parents. I was so excited, because I didn’t image that I would have many choices for my university. If the policy hadn’t changed, I would have gotten to some training schools and learned a kind of skill to find a low wage job. In short, I enjoyed my university life and received a better education from it

The second effect was the cost of my university. I had to spend a lot of money for my university, for the cost increased when this policy was declared. With the increase of students, the university had to employ more teachers and got more educational resources to satisfy the increase. The cost increase was inevitable. When I received the admission to my university, my parents prepared a certain amount of money for my four years university. That was almost equal to five years of their salary. I think it was not easy for some poor families. For instance, I have a high school classmate who was accepted by a good university, but he quit finally because his family didn’t have enough money to provide his tuition fee. While this policy enabled some high school students to enter university, it also closed the door of university to some excellent but poor students in the meantime.

The last effect was that finding a job became harder. I always expected that I could find a wonderful job after graduation. However the truth was entirely opposite. I found out that eight out of ten people had the same diploma as mine and wanted to apply to the same position as me. Then I was aware that the extended enrollment made more university students to go into the society; therefore finding a job became more competitive. My degree became worthless, and I had to get more skills to outshine others.

The situations that occurred to me also brought similar problems to many graduates. Recently, these problems happened in the education system have gotten some serious concerns from educators and governors. They are trying to adjust the policy to figure out the problems. For example, the government encouraged universities to accept some excellent students without the tuition and supplied a large number of scholarships; they gave good benefits to people who found a job in hard or poor area. In sum, I hope the College Expansion Plan will bring more positive effects to students than negative. It can really work on the improvement of the quality life of the Chinese population and the development of the country.

A Sack of Beans

After twenty-nine years of pretending to be a Republic, in 1989 Brazil democratically elected their first president, Fernando Collor de Mello. The people went out on the street asking to vote for their own president instead of simply accepting what the military wanted. That year, the country went through a serious economic crisis with hyperinflation around 84% per month. Every day, you needed to bring an extra-money to go shopping because the prices of products had increased. Collor took a drastic measure to reduce that huge inflation by making an economic plan. It meant all accounts over $1000.00 were ‘frozen’ at the bank for eighteen months. Stores, industries, medical clinics, and each person who had money to manage his own economy during the year could not use his capital to survive. As a result, several places had their doors closed, and the company where my father worked failed. My father lost his job, and it brought several consequences to my family.

At that time, my father was forty-two years old, which meant that he was too old to start a new career again, and he probably would not find a new job. He sent his résumé all over the country. However, there was a huge number of people looking for jobs, even young people with more skills than my father. He heard about industries in Australia that were taking men under the age forty-five years old, and it seemed like his big opportunity. On the contrary, my mother didn’t agree with him because she wouldn’t like to leave all her family in Brazil to risk a new life on the other side of the world. The last possibility for my father was to open a car repair shop to survive and to support our family. He was a mechanic, but he didn’t have money to afford his own business. The problem was no one had money to lend him. He had to borrow small amounts of money from each person he knew, and my house became his garage until he could get a small place to work.

It was a time that we had money for nothing. My father bought a two hundred pound sack of beans to be sure we would have something to eat in the next months, and meat became a specialty food reserved for Sundays. For my part, I started applying for math competitions to win scholarships, which gave me the possibility of having a good education. In addition, I stopped going to birthday parties because I couldn’t afford to buy gifts for my friends. My parents were afraid for my future thinking that they couldn’t pay for my college. Therefore, years later when I was fourteen years old, I left high school, got a job during the day, and moved to a technical course with evening classes. All these things happened because our president didn’t evaluate what having a jobless parent meant.

Moving to a technical school compelled me to grow fast. At my new school, almost all my classmates were older than me, and they could do things that I still didn’t have permission to do. However, as a normal teenager, I couldn’t avoid participating in what was happening around me. As a result, I had to convince my father that I was big enough to hang out with friends, to drink, and to have a boyfriend. I left behind good values and good friends to look like an adult that I was not. Having evening classes let me get a job during the day, so I could to give my contribution to my family’s economy. I had been swimming since I was five years old, so I was able to get a position as an assistant coach at the park near my house. My father stayed at home, and I went to work.

After two years of drastic changes and several corruption accusations, Fernando Collor de Mello was forced to leave the presidency. The National Union of Students mobilized students from all over the country to have a big demonstration on the streets asking for the president’s impeachment, and the National Court took away Collor’s political rights for eight years. Nevertheless, Brazilian people seem to have a very short memory because fourteen years later they elected Collor as senator of Alagoas state. Even if the country had gone through serious economic problems, my father was able to pay his taxes during that period. Besides, he got his retirement working all those years in his tiny garage. Also, I worked hard to get my diploma as a pharmacist, getting numerous scholarships and spending many nights awake. The economic readjustment in my country also changed my personal life. However, the difficulties that we passed through in those years helped us to be stronger and more united as a family, and I understood that our love is more important than having extra money in our "frozen" account.

Lost in Translation

Lost in Translation

I remember that I had a best friend who was Kevin. When he moved to London, he lost everything he had in Taiwan. One day, he saw some of the family had a family day in the park front of him. They made him miss his family in his hometown. And one day in evening, he tried to ask his friends to watch movie, but he didn't know who he could ask. The reason was he didn't have any close friends. He felt lonely and homesick after that. However, he had another person experiences and a new life experiences in London. Every immigrant has his own experience of being lost in translation. However, to see on what way they had transformed in the new place, most people only lose their idea or personality. Even they lost those things, they may have another good life to see in a new area. As a result, I know how easy that people lose their families, friends, and time when they move to new place.

First, families are the most of important part to lose in new country. Without family that means you can’t do everything, or you don’t have a wonderful life. Families support you and make you comfortable, so you don’t feel alone in new country. You may miss them or fly back to your hometown to visit them. For example, I live with my parents and young brother in America. We have been here for seven years. My parents go back to China visits their own parents, brother, and sisters almost every year. They lose their own family in this country, but I don't have to lose my families because I live with my family. Therefore, I say family is very important for every immigrant because it can make you feel comfortable.

Second, time is one of the important parts for people live in different place. Everyone from different country has difference feeling about freedom. For example, when my family was in China, we had lots of family time. However, we could take some short times to travel, shop, and eat out. Besides, they can plant some vegetables in their own garden. Consequently, everyone has lots of free time to do their favorite things. Moreover, if you don't have time to study with your family, then you will lose your relationships. However, time is the different story in a new place. I know lots of people only work all the time, but they forget their families. As a result, they even have lots of money although they had lost their relationship. I will advise you have to know how to spend more time with your families or friends because time is improve your relationship.

Finally, friends are another important part of people who just move to a new place. Everyone knows that friends are another half of life for themselves, besides your family. Friends you have in China, they may know who are their good neighbors or classmates. In this case, you don’t have to be afraid that you don’t have any friends because you are speaking the same language. Therefore, you have a lot of conversations, go out, or have fun in your free time. Yet, in America, you don’t have too much time to chat or go out with friends. There are two reasons why. First, you have to have lots of time because lots of people they only want to work and receive money. However, they don’t have interesting life time to live in new city or country. Second, you have to know their language, culture, and food. Otherwise, it’s hard to get in touch with your friends.

In conclusion, I am that person who cares very about my family, friends and time. Those three events are especially important for new immigrations or everyone in the world. I think I do well enough on those things. However, I still have to continue those three points. I know I have friend who hasn’t lost their families and friends in new place, but she loses her time. She doesn't know how to allocate her time with families or friends.

Lost in Translation

The Difference of CultureThese days, in the place that people live together, the various cultures exist. Before a long time ago, there was just one culture each and every country but now, we exist together with culture of different kinds because of development of transportation, communication and many kinds of multimedia. I have lived in United States for one year. I was surprised that there were many kinds of people because I thought before just white and black people live in America. However, culture of Korea and United States are different despite the fact that there are so many different culture in the United States. First of all, the greeting, people's way of thinking about man and womanand manner are different.First, the way of greeting in the United States is different with in Korea. When I came to U.S.A at first, I made so many mistakes because of a difference of greeting. I always bow my head and saying “bye-bye, hi or thank you” when my classes are started and finished, when I came out of any store and I met someone. Actually at that time nobody react to me so, I thougth many people don’t like me and surely it is racial discrimination. Because in Korea, usually people bow when they meet someone or are thankful. However, it was just a difference of culture.Moreover, the america people's way of thinking is different with Korean.The american think that women and men are equal but Korean think that woman should be careful her behavior in front of man. When I lived in Korea before moving to America, one day I was smoke on the street. Some man approached and told me that you are a woman so if you really want to smoke you must go under the roof. I was distressed because he was smoking too but now in the united states, nobody cares that. Usually Korea women follow the men’s suggestion because that is a part of the Korean courtesy. American guys maybe cannot understand that.
Finally, there is some different manner. I can’t understand first during three month. The american always smile and talk with strangers but korean always smile on just familiar faces. I also did before but it was changed. When I visited some restaurant, shops and go inside an elevator, the american always say something and hello. First time, in the elevator, someone said something to me so I was really surprised so I could not say anything because I really could not understand about these behavior also I could not speak English. He was probably also embarrassed because of my attitude. I thought that the manner of Korea is different with the United States obviously.
In the conclusion, I still cannot understand everything, but if I will live in America for a long time, I will understand about american culture.I had hard experiences before because of the difference of greeting , people's wayof thinking of man and woman and the manner but there are still many kinds ofdifferent culture like as food culture, thinking about an animal and anothercourtesy but if we understand each other , naturally, the difference of culture willnot be problem.

My Essay!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lost in Translation

Language is the marvelous implement of communication in the world. People can present their thought by the language. Also, they can accord others’ language to know others’ thought. Different places have their own different language. Although they are in the same country, they will have many kinds of language. If people want to understand the words of other people who speak the other language, they must translate the other language into their own language. Translation is good for the people to communicate with the other people, and it can transmit the important information or literature to the whole world. However, you will find something lost when you translate the language into the other language.

The first thing will be lost is the internal meaning of the words. Lots of the translation will enshroud some internal meaning of the original words. Once, I watched the TV show in the Korean channel. I could not understand Korean, so I only could read the Chinese caption at the bottom. When I read a strange sentence, I felt confused and funny. The Chinese caption’s meaning was the woman seemed the boiling red bean soup. Originally, its meaning was the woman was very angry. Therefore, you cannot just read the translation. You must comprehend the internal meaning, so you can understand what the original language is talking about.

When you were talking the joke in the other language, you would find the joke was not fun anymore. Consequently, the second lost thing is delight of the language. For example, I liked to talk the joke or guess the riddles when I handed out with my Chinese friends. And then, I translated the riddles into English, and I told to my American friends. Nobody cloud know the answer of the riddles because they could not find the hint in the riddles. When I wanted to share the funny Chinese words or sentences to my American friends, I felt difficult and bored. After I translated them, my American friends would not laugh like my Chinese friends.

Dialect is a kind of important traditional culture, but it will be lost after it is translated. Dialect uses some short words to present the long meaning. It can be use in the conversation easy and simply. However, when you want to look up the Chinese dialect in the English dictionary, you will not find them. I send the message to my American friend when I am very busy. I want to use the dialect in the message, but my friend cannot understand. Finally, I have to use the long sentences that present my thought in my message. That is not a convenient way that I cannot use dialect in English.

Translation can make people know more information from the whole world, and it holds together the people that come from the different place. On the other hand, translation still loses something important and it cause to happen some misunderstand in the communication. However, translation will be improved with the world’s advancement. In the future, people will read the translation without any misunderstand and question.

Home

Home is definitely a lot more than just four walls, a roof or chimney. Home for me is a sweet place, but yet the most important part are people who create a unique and specific atmosphere. Home is the place that I feel the most comfortable. It is where my good memories and feelings arise. I left my home and birthplace many years ago. I chose the U.S. for my second homeland. However I don't remember even one day living in Chicago when I haven't thought and missed people who are close to my heart.

The most important part of my life which I left behind are my parents and siblings. When I arrived in Chicago I felt so alone and homesick. My family members and close friends were living in Poland. I have missed Sunday afternoons when sometimes almost thirty people had been sitting around the dinner table. My home was always crowded and full of life. In Chicago my life is much calmness. On occasion, I have prepared dinner for four, but usually my Sundays here are very quiet. I have remembered taste of homemade foods, goodies with those special flavors which I can only experience in my parent's house. In Poland I left my four siblings. Since I'm the oldest,I used to had some responsibility to them. For instance my vacation I had baby sitter for my youngest siblings. At that time I hated my free time after school, but these days I have missed past years and memories. Even though they are far away, my parents and siblings are always close to my mind and heart. I will never forget the first time when I was back home after five years to not seeing my family. We were overwhelmed with joy to seen each other.

The most influential person in my early childhood was my grandma. She had a fragile figure and gray hair, but she also had a strong opinions and very open mind. Nobody could be better to me. She always kept her eyes on her grandchildren, but especially on me. I always felt very comfortable in her presence. I remembered her sadness when I have lived for my journey to the America. I never had chance to cuddle with her again, she passed away a year after I left Poland. I have missed my grandma, who was special woman and who had been like an angle to me. She had been with me when I was child and I know she is watching after me now.

Another important person in my live who I have lost is my girlfriend Beata who is living in Poland. My live sometimes feels empty without her. We were always together and spend hours talked about everything..The most important is tat we understand each other perfectly until today. Only she knows all my secrets, fears and concerns. This friendship has let me believe in people and understand the word best friend. I have met many people here and with some I have good contact. Some of them I call friends, but Beata is only true friend. I'm pretty happy that the time and ocean have never set us a part. I miss her advises and sense of humor. Because of today's technology, we can talk often, but it is never the same.

As a result, what I have lost in the activity of translating from Poland to the U.S.? The answer is people who are close to my heart. I never fought that my journey to the U.S. have been going until today. But after all these years, I'm still here and I tie my future to this land. Chicago has the second largest Polish population after our capital city Warsaw. Therefore I have easy access to Polish culture. I can talk with people in my native language, I can read Polish papers and listen Polish radio. In one word, Chicago has everything to keep my Polish heritage alive. However in the same time people that give me comfort, calmness and happiness live far away. I miss my family and friends and my heart is broken when I thing about them.

Elzbieta Jira-Gaca

Lost In Translation

How do you feel when someone looks at you like an alien because you did something not known in their culture? What would you do if someone tried to shake your hand, to push his buttons with no reason, or to eat a food that you have never imagined? Asking these questions for myself, I was thinking about my customs. These specific customs have been hard to explain and always get lost in the translation.

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The first aspect of my culture that is hard to explain is hand shaking, sounds simple right? However, it contains deep meaning. In my country, Mongolia, if we touch other person’s feet by our feet we have to shake hands even if we did not mean to do it. Touching another person’s feet by our feet means that in the future we will fight for something or we will quarrel. Shaking hands is asking forgiveness from another person which can avoid the fighting thing that I mentioned before. Consider that I touched your feet with mine and give my hand to you to shake. What would you think? Or what would you do? Every time, after I shake a hand whom I hit his or her feet, I have to explain why. For the first time it was fun for me because I thought that I introduced one part of my culture to another person. Few times after, it made me feel very annoying. Therefore, when this happen to me, I just prefer to ignore it.

Food is the second aspect that is really hard to explain. Food is the most important aspect in their country, which can show you the real face of the country. The food, you have never imagined to eat. Every country has its own food but unlike the other countries, we have some special foods. Do not think that we are cannibal or something like this because it is descended by our ancestor. In the winter, we eat a lot of meat which is a meat of lamb and cow including its part of an abdomen. In the summer, we eat some vegetarian food to relax our stomach because of the winter’s meal, but it is not a vegetable. It is all made by milk including curds, yogurt, and dried milk. These foods are very nutritious and tasty. I really love my national food. My body craves these foods. Unfortunately, it is hard to find Mongolian can not give guarantee, but you will be like it. Once you come to my country, you can not avoid the food, what we eat, whether you are foreigner or not. For you, it will be like participating in the show “Fear Factor".

The last but not least aspect that is hard to explain is cat. Mongolians hate cats from their blood, but I do not know why? If you go to Mongolia, you can see it easily. Mostly people have dog or fish for pets, and few people have cats. Maybe it is because they think that cats bring them bad luck or cats are not auspicious to their owners. If they see a cat, they push some of their buttons of clothes. It means that they shoo their bud luck but it does not make sense for me. I do not believe it. Cat is just a pet like any other animals for me.

When I first came to United States of America, I met new people, and began new life, new culture. Everything was new for me, even greetings. Unlike my beautiful country Mongolia, we have to greet each other politely even though we do not know each other. Unlike America, we have some aspects such as hand shaking, pushing buttons, and eating strange foods. It will be really hard to understand unless you are not Mongolian. As a foreigner, I have to adapt America’s custom, but I can not influence the person to adapt our custom, who is never been in my country. Every time I explained all these aspects, I saw blank face as it says “What she is talking about” or “Are she lying”. Every time I met these faces, I felt as I lost in translation.

What I Lost

What I Lost

As I know, some Chinese people have an “America Dream”. They believe that America is the wonderful place to change their life; and that they can find a completely different and easier life here. Thus, I came to the U.S with my parents’ America Dream. Although they didn’t know what the actual life is here, they expected that I would find a better life here than in China after I graduated from the university. It is certain that I have obtained some good experiences here that wouldn’t have gotten if I lived in China, but sometimes I still feel lost in my new life.

Language was the first challenge when I came to this new country, but I hope it wasn’t my first loss. All I know about English is how to say “hi” to other people and some common nouns. I wasn’t a good student in my English class because I didn’t think I would use it some day in my job or daily life. However, if you don’t know how to speak the native language, you might get a harder life here. Therefore, I soaked myself into the new language, listening, speaking and reading. Gradually, I found more and more Chinese people who used a lot of English words instead of their native language when they talk to their own people here. One day, my Chinese co-worker asked me:” where is the file she copied yesterday?” I answered: “Wo Shan Chu Le.” That means I deleted it. She looked at me with a blank face, like a rabbit sees a bone in her bowl. I got what happened to her immediately, so I said: “Wo deleted Le.” Then she just understood what I meant. But I felt uncomfortable about it. They are even not immigrant offspring, but they already forgot some parts of their native language. I cannot image what we will lose in the real second generation.

Relationship to your family and friends are a big loss for most people who immigrated to America by themselves. My mother always sighed that if I was in China, I would come home three times every year at least because of some week-long holiday in China. She also could visit me anytime she wanted, and yet we only can talk to each other on the phone. I only have visited her once since I came here. I have missed some important things that happened in my family in the past nineteen months, even my grandfather’s passing. Before I went to the airport, I went to his house and promised him that I would come back to see him in one year. But I never expect that it would be the last meeting with my grandfather. It is an irreparable regret in my life. There is the same situation in my friendships. When they talked to me about their job which they found after graduation, I couldn’t get the points from the situation they mentioned, how their interpersonal relationships are going to be in their office, what they did everyday, or what they complained about. Actually, I would have gotten same experiences and shared my comments with them. But now, we are trying hard in the different way for our future. It is truth that when you decide to move to another country and get a different life, you will lose some parts of the relationships in your past life absolutely.

Daily life also brought a lot of problems to me, and it was out of control in the beginning. When I arrived at America, I felt like a newborn baby. I had to start on A B C, the most basic point. I had lived in Indianapolis for couple months when I came here. I didn’t have a car at the time and there were only a few of bus routes, so I had to wait for other people who could take me out. There was no small food store close to your house, so you have to drive fifteen minutes away to go to the market. And American foods have different tastes than Chinese food and go with many kinds of sauces. I had to remember the street name to find my house. Because I only had to remember the building name or place name in China, and then other people would know where I wanted to go. Moreover, I never hear what the social security number is in my country. I had to take my passport with me everywhere when I didn’t have my ID; In addition, I didn’t know what I have to provide to open a bank account, or to get in school. All of these situations almost drove me crazy in the first couple months; I had to learn all of the living skills over here as a new immigrant.

In sum, the loss is inevitable and necessary when you transfer into another culture. You lose some parts in your past life, and someone even gets a completely different life. I have been improved during the immigration, for my parents’ “America Dream”. However, I have paid same as what I gained. It is a hard time for the most of immigrants and new arrivals, but you have to adjust yourself into the new life in America as soon as possible. You will enjoy your new life here and obtain some useful things, not just the loss when you blend into this country.

The Second World

I can listen, but I am a dumb person; I can sing, but I am a deaf person; I can walk, but I cannot go anywhere! Nothing was worse than staying in this situation. However, I did. Since I immigrated to the U.S., I have lost myself. When the plane was landing in the U.S., I was holding a pen, looking at the entrance form in a language which came from another world. I couldn’t breathe for a while because I had only filled in my name. I knew I had become a dumb person at that moment. I gave up filling in that interesting form. However, when I was in the entrance, I found out I became a deaf person, too. I couldn’t understand what the immigration officer was asking me until my aunt translated it into Chinese me. Moreover, when we were going back home, I saw all the road signs were changed to the same language that I saw in the entrance form. I knew I was able to register a disability certificate. In the face of different schooling style, misunderstood language, and, no friends, I decided to melt into this country as soon as I could.


The first week when I arrived to the U.S., some immigrants asked me an interesting question: “Have you cried a lot since you arrived here?” And then they told me they all cried because they felt uncomfortable since they arrived in the U.S. However, I decided to start my schooling life here instead of keeping crying at home. I enjoyed the schooling life in China, sitting with the same people for the full four calendar years, waiting for different teachers to come to our classroom following the same schedule, and leaving all exercise books in our own drawer. When a new semester began, all text books were ordered in school, and also we could write them and kept them. It was totally different in the U.S. Before the classes began, we had to spend extra amount of money on all the text books. Even though you were able to get second hand books from somewhere else, you still couldn’t just desert them in your locker or used your ink pens to take notes on it. They were all resalable after the course finish. All students follow their major to take courses, choose their favorite daily schedule and professor, and go to the different classroom to attend courses. I almost lost myself when my first semester began.


Going through all the language problem was the key to starting my new life successfully, and it was also the basic requirement to melt into the U.S. society. My major was Business English when I was in China and I have learned it over three years. I have learned a lot of vocabulary from my major course when I was in school. However, I could say I have learned nothing. I returned all the knowledge I have learned after graduated. The reason that I didn’t learn English well because Chinese students didn’t have much chance to practice English. It was easy to forget what you have learnt if you didn’t practice English frequently. At the same time when I arrived into the U.S., I was turned into the “English Channel”. The courses I have taken, the text books I have bought, and almost every classmate I have met in the school was using English. It was hard to change all the things by using second language suddenly; however, I have learned much English in the U.S. than I was in China.


The other important step to melt into the U.S. society was making friends for myself. Friends were very important to me. They were even more important than my family because we stayed with each other almost six days a week. I remembered the years when we still lived in the dorm; we always sat around with each other, talking about every topic in the world, and we went everywhere as pairs. Regretfully, I lost contact with my Chinese friends since I immigrated to the U.S. because we have a big timing gap. There was thirteen hours and fourteen hours difference between China and the U.S. I have found and tried my best to keep in touch with them, but when I called, they were either taking course or sleeping. It was really difficult to find the balance in the timing gap, so I have lost communication with them. Every time when I felt unhappy, I didn’t have any friend who was as close as my Chinese friends to share my emotions. My friends here mostly come from other countries; sometimes we couldn’t get closer with each other because our language was different. I always told myself, it probably was a good way to practice my speech when we talk with each other.



As the old Chinese saying:” How many things you earned, how many things you lost.” The equal value of immigrating to the U.S. is starting every thing from zero. All new immigrants are new born babies since they arrive in the U.S. Even though it is hard to make transition from one society to another, we have choices for our life. You can either choose to play a deaf, or a person who can speak fluently English with others. I have chosen to be a part of American. I was not good in English; I felt difficult when I talked to my friends who came from different counties; I tried. I tried to do my best to learn more English from school and from the U.S. society. Which role do you want to play? Just start moving your step and explore your second language right now!

Dominika Szmyd
09.30.07
ESL.100
Third Draft

LOST IN TRANSLATION

The day my family and I decided to move to the U.S.A was about two and a half years ago. I can remember it as if it was yesterday. I was really happy because I had never been in foreign country before, but at that time I didn’t know how it would look. I can also remember how big my excitement was. I wasn’t thinking any longer about my school and my graduation which was coming soon. I even wanted to quit school because I thought it will be useless in the U.S.A fortunately I didn’t do it. My happiness lasted until the day of leaving came. I got up early because I wanted to finish packing my stuff and suddenly I realized that I have to leave behind everything I had and everything I loved. I had to leave my grandparents, my friends, my cat and finally my country. I think at that moment I realized what I was losing. I realized how wonderful it was to live in my own country and what I will lose forever by moving to the U.S.A.

Of course there is an endless list of things which are common in Poland and hard to understand for people hear in America, but thinking about the most important three come to mind. The first thing that causes many problems and actually creates the huge barrier is the language. I am not talking only about the ability of communicating with others but about understanding the meaning of words in this language. Even though I can speak English now pretty good I still don’t feel comfortable speaking about everything. Sometimes I feel that I want to say something to someone , to tell my story or to explain my problems, but in some way I can’t do it. I feel like words which I want to say and words I am saying are completely different. I feel that I can’t express myself in English even if I could spoke perfect. What I mean is that even though Polish and English words have the same or similar meaning, they are completely different for me. It’s easier to explain this by using an example with swearing. When I was in high school in one of my English classes, there were half Polish students and half Mexican. Every time students sweares, teacher punished them. Of course I am not the kind of person who likes to swear but even if I could said a bad word in English I wouldn’t feel that it’s significance. Bad words in English don’t mean anything for me just like every other word in this language. The same problem is with humour, I am not able to understand specific English humour and I can’t even talk about Polish humour in the U.S.A . Polish people like every other foreign people have their own wisecracks and proverbs that only native speakers can understand. I really miss that part of Polish culture. I miss also the time I used to spend with my friends or my family. Even though I have my family in the U.S.A with me, everyone is busy with his life.

The second thing I will talk about is that food is a really important part in my life. Food or even the way of thinking about it. By looking at American people, I feel that they think of food as something that fills theirs stomach and keeps them alive. I can’t understand how the idea about food can be so meaningless and joyless. In Poland, the most important thing is that we prepared meals at home , not buy them ready in the store. There is nothing more wonderful than dinner made by my mother. Everything is so fresh and tasty. Even though I don’t look like a person who likes to eat so much, I can say that it is very important for me to fill my stomach with something special. Also the other important thing about food is to eat this with the whole family. I don’t actually agree with the idea about not talking while eating dinner. I can’t think of something more pleasant than talking and laughing on dinner table. The situation is similar with preparing meals for Christmas. I can’t imagine myself eating something that I bought before at the store on Christmas. Fortunately, I can say that I have a piece of Poland hear because since I moved to U.S.A I haven’t ate anything which was prepared by someone else than my mother or me. We are trying to keep that habit even though we are living right now in the U.S.A, and I hope it won’t change.

Finally, the last but the most important thing for me is spending time with friends. I left all my the most wonderful friends in Poland. Even though I met couple in the U.S.A, I feel that the real ones stayed in Poland. People here are completely different than people I know from Poland, even though sometimes they are Polish too. I can’t find a real friend among them. I miss also the way I was meeting with my friends. We didn’t meet at the clubs like many people in Chicago, but usually we went on a little trips. Mostly, we used to take walk in the mountains. During the day we walked in small group and we spent nights in a tent. I also loved moments when we all ghatered in one place to make a big fire place and to eat grilled sausages while laughing and talking all night. I remember it as the most wonderful moments in my life. I hate the idea that I can’t do some crazy and funny things anymore with the people I love so much. I feel that people in the U.S.A have a completely different, idea than my of spending free time. I really miss that part of my life.The truth is that people usually appreciate what they had after they lose it. Unfortunately, I can’t say that I am different. When I was living in Poland I always complained about something like that in Poland is too cold or that the life is too hard or that my everyday life is boring.The truth is that it was all my fault, not my country’s fault. Now I miss the fresh air , beautiful views and crazy things I did with my friends. I am a very sentimental person, that why it’s really hard for me to adapt here and maby I never will be able to do it. I still feel like I left part of me in Poland. I know for sure that America or any other foreign country won’t be my home because I have only one home in Poland. During these two years, I have been in the U.S.A I have a lot of time to think about what I have lost forever. I realized that these three things I come up with are only a little drop in the ocean of many others.

Lost In Translation

Living in a totally different place takes time to get used to. Ever since I came to this country, the United States of America, my whole life started to change dramatically. I highly doubt that any of those immigrants or people who came from other countries will still live the same kind of life that they had in their native countries. I came from Malaysia, a small country in the south west Asia. After I had arrived the United States of America, I encountered some difficulties that I had to deal with.

The first issue that I had faced was the language. People here do not speak the same language as I do in Malaysia. They speak English, and everything they do is in English. It was difficult for me because I hardly spoke English in my country except in my English classes. And then I also had this issue that is also connected to the language – friends. The first high school that I attended was in California. People there were nice and caring, but since we didn’t speak the same language, we weren’t that close to each other. The method of education in high school here is different to Malaysia. Each student at Malaysia will have his or her own class with a schedule that determines what classes they will be having throughout the whole year. Teachers come into the classes instead of students rushing to their classes like here in the United States of America.

The second issue is the culture. In Malaysia, we celebrate a lot of festivals which don’t even exist here in the United States of America. The festival that I like the most is the Chinese New Year festival. This is the day when all of our relatives would come back and we would have dinner together. I have an uncle, auntie and two cousins who live in Germany and they would only come back once a year which is during the Chinese New Year. Now, we hardly celebrate festivals anymore like we did for years in Malaysia. The only way for us to stay connected and to keep in touch is through a long distance phone call. I feel somewhat lonely in this country because the only people I have are my parents and my sister. It was pretty tough for us at the beginning, but once we got used to it, it turned out to be fine.

The last issue is the environment and weather. Malaysia is located on the equator which means there are no seasons, and it feels like summer for whole year long. But here in Chicago, we have seasons from winter to summer. I remember at the first time seeing snow falling from the sky, I was really excited because I had never seen snows in my whole life. But, after three years now, I’ve started to lose the excitement like I had before. In addition, the houses and buildings here also look different from my country. The highest building we have at Malaysia is the Petronas Twin Towers, which were the world’s tallest towers from 1998-2004. The chimneys look different too, and we usually have gates surrounding every individual house. These are all pretty new to me and it took me a while to get used to them.

Living here in the United States of America is life-challenging and always full of surprises. It is like starting a new life and in a new place to me because I’m meeting new friends, living in a new environment and learning new different cultures and languages. I believe that I am not the only person who is facing all of these difficulties.

Lost in Translation

Dreaming my trip to the USA will be successful that I will be involve in life here fluently has changed since I arrived here six month ago. Growing up in a village was such a nice place for me to enjoy life with my family, friends and follow tradition rites and we value these things in our life. However, here in USA, I am experiencing a hard time adjusting to life. I’m always complaining for the lost of my life. Sometimes it feels like I am dying.

First, living in USA, without my family is a loss which affected me. The upbringing my family gave me through my childhood was so important that I never thought to live far from them. As I was growing up my parent taught me what it means to have a good family who cares for it household. The value of family is important to us because family helped each other in time of trouble like sickness to pay medical bills or give food to family member who were starving. My parents also explained to me that in some families violence is their daily life because both parents will beat or abuse their children. The parents don’t care for their children and won’t pay for their schooling. Community life is something I used to live in Togo with my family and we relied on each other for whenever we needed help. It is a loss for me to live in USA, because the lifestyle here is totally different from mine. It seems like that none care for me beside my wife since I left my family.

Friendship is something I loss since I was in USA. In my home country, I have friendship few friends. My friend and I always had good time playing soccer after school every afternoon. Some nights, we meet together to study and once a week each person would tell folk stories to the group. In culture I am allowed to visit my friends any time I wanted and even share meals with them. My friends had contributed to my life with advices and help in many other ways, so that I always think of them now that I am far from them now. It is hard for me to make friend in USA because people here value time more than friendship. People here like to have privacy and do work rather than interact with strangers.

Finally, following the Adja tradition was another thing I loss since I was in USA. In my culture ancestor worship ceremony is part of our lives because we believed that our ancestors spirits follow us in our lives. My family continues the practice every year and each person in my family will give a rooster to be slaughtered to their ancestors. It is a big event in my family and we always enjoy that particularly moment every year to show our attachment to the tradition. The ceremony required that each member of the family participate in it, so that ancestor will be with them and bless them with good health, good harvest and give them many kids. Since I am USA, I can not practice my tradition this year with my family, which means that my ancestor spirit won’t follow me because I don’t honor them with my sacrifice. I wonder how this will affect my life.

In US, my dream to be active in life is facing challenges so much that I still don’t know if I will ever be fluent. I am lost completely in my life here since I cannot have a happy life with my family, friends and continue the tradition rites. My wife always encouraged me to be patient. She remind me that moment will pass soon that I will be active in this country but I still don’t believe it. I’ m looking forward to go back to Togo to enjoy a life that I’m accustomed to.

lost in translation

Lost in Translation
Many people are moving around the world every day. After they have moved to the other country their experiences have a lot of change. I moved to the United States about two years ago. At the first year, I was feeling bored. Yes, that was why I had a big problem in the United States before. In fact, I really needed conversation, friends and a simple lifestyle, because I was lost in translation.
Conversation was the most important thing in my life when I first moved to Chicago. I was always thinking if I could have a conversation with someone, I would have a wonderful day in the United States. I still remember my first months here. I stayed at home almost two months without talking. My mom went out to work, my cousins went to school, and my grandma took care of my aunt’s baby. No one else was at home except me. Sometimes, I took a walk at night. I walked to the park to look around the street. There was no one speaking Chinese. At that time, I thought, if I heard someone was speaking Chinese at the corner of the park, I promise, I would run to him or her to say “ne ho” (hello). But there was no one who looked Asian, so I gave up and walked back home.
Friendship was the second thing I thought was very important to me when I first arrived in Chicago. And a friend could help me to pass the tedious life. In china, I had a lot of friends. We were always together. But here I only had my family and they were always at work or at school. In fact, humans need friends to survive. They share things of each other and they eat meals together. My life in china was very prefect to with these things, but when I arrived to the United States, I lost them. I was not sure it is a life beginning or ending because I was alone. I had tried to call my friends several times to see how they were doing, but I got no answer. In addition, I tried to meet some new friends here. As well, I failed because I couldn’t speak their language. I really needed a friend to pass the time and let me feel more comfortable.
The final piece that I needed was the comfortable and convenient living that in my life before, that’s it. My life was casual in china, but in the United States I couldn’t find them. Before, I couldn’t speak English very well, so I couldn’t go shopping, I couldn’t go dating and I couldn’t go anywhere. If I wanted to go somewhere, I needed someone to go with me who would speak English. So I used to call my aunt. She helped my family a lot. In some cases, I didn’t want my aunt to have any troubles because of us. My aunt had her family and her four children, and they all needed her. I didn’t want her to waste time looking after us and leaving her children alone. I felt really sorry for those things. I just wanted a simple life and to help my own family.
Anyway, after these two years I have seen a lot of things in Chicago. I have met some friends in school and in church. Surely, I have really grown up due to some of these experiences. They gave me power to get something back that I lost before. I know these experiences are not enough for me to get out this “translation”, but I know I won’t let myself get lost again.

A Hidden Box

Last weekend I met a Brazilian priest who came for an informal meeting with other friends of mine. It was the first contact with him, but when I said: “Hi, I’m from Brazil”, he opened a big smile and gave me a hug. My other friends were surprised with our familiarity. After some years far away from my country, that hug seemed strange coming from a priest. However, I remembered hug was a quite normal greeting among my people, especially when you want to make friends. Living in the U.S., I’m discovering that many things are different in my culture as compared to American lifestyle. As a foreigner, I’m having a hard time to communicate because my native language is so different from English.

One difficult thing for me in English conversation is when I want to use Portuguese expressions or common gestures from my culture. Some of them can be misunderstood in America, for they have an especial meaning in the Brazilian social context. For example, if a woman gives a hug or a kiss to a man, it can be just a sign of friendship in Brazil. On the contrary, in USA or in Asian cultures this act could mean they are engaged or even married. Besides, some Portuguese idioms like “He who treads softly goes far”, or “Do not count your chickens before they hatched” can sound a kind of funny in English, but in Brazil these proverbs are part of a popular wisdom. I have to pay double attention to my words and gestures if I don’t want to get in trouble when I’m talking to an American person.

Another problem I encounter when I’m speaking in English is putting my feelings into words. Sometimes I want to explain a social or political situation in Brazil, but I’m not able to give the entire meaning of my thought. I think it happens because who is talking to me doesn’t have complete information to figure it out, or he has never found himself in a similar situation. For instance, one of my American friends who usually throws food away, cannot understand why her atitude makes me upset. More than once I tried to tell her about children in Brazil or Africa who live on the streets, having to get their meal from garbage, or to kill rats for food. Although my dramatic stories, she never changed her nonchalant attitude.

A further subject in conversation that I’m having some problem is because I really don’t know the listener’s background. In Brazil, I know I can talk about religion without even think if I’m offending my collegue because almost everybody is Christian. Or I can make any comment about other countries because 90% of the Brazilian people were born in Brazil. On the contrary, in this country, people come from different countries and have different upbringings. For example, the other day I was talking to a friend about the huge Mexican immigration in America, but I didn’t know her mother was from Mexico. I felt embarrassed because it seemed like I was judging her mother. Before starting a new dialog, I have to remind that who is in front of me is not from my same country, and can have another point of view about identical things.

Since I’m learning a new language, I feel like I’m breaking my brain in thousands of pieces, and then putting them together in another way to be able to express my thoughts. The prasal structures, patterns of organization, forms of communications, and a thousand other language skills that I still didn’t get, give me an uneasy feeling when I get in a new conversation. When I lived in Brazil, I never thought communication as a problem, but now I’m a foreigner trying to avoid hard discussions. Almost fifty percent of my ideas I keep in a hidden box into my mind, only because I don’t know how to express them. A box with my Portuguese thoughts that get lost in translation.

Lost in Translation

Lost in Translation

Some people think when they move to a new country, it’s very hard for them to live in a new environment. They believe they will lose lovers, family, friendships, relatives, education, culture, business and freedom. They also trust all of them while they lose these, they cannot find it anymore. However, when I lost my Chinese
environment, language and food, I can gain many new things from the culture of Chicago right now. Moreover, I feel I am very lucky and I am a happy person in the world.

Firstly, a good environment makes me full of confidence to study hard. When I was an elementary school student in China, I went to school to do my homework that was very hard for me. At school there were no computers, no library, no bright lights or quiet environment. Our classroom was near the street, and it only had a broken chair, a dark desk and blackboard. I really didn’t want to study at that school, so I gave up. Here, I am not only having these study tools, but also having tutors at school to help me with my English. Not only do I have tutors, but I also have a good learning environment. Not only do I have a good learning environment in school, but also I can make all kind of friends from different countries to help me. I believe this environment is a good way for me to study, and it will change my life.

Secondly, language gives me courage. In China, I felt I was a perfect person because I could express myself exactly. For example, I could use fluent Cantonese and Mandarin to talk with people and tell them what I think, what I want and what I need. I really like those feelings they gave me because it was very easy to talk or explain my ideas to people. Here, although I speak Cantonese, I feel I am a blind, deaf and dumb person. Meanwhile, when I see some English information, I don’t know what means is. When people talk to me, I have no idea what they are talking about, and when I am trying to say something, I don’t know how to use my basic English to express myself to people. As a result, I need to speak English with my friends, teachers, and especially when I go shopping. My English is very poor, and it’s not enough for me to do everything. I remember the last time I went shopping and wanted to buy something, but I didn’t know how to speak English to the worker and have no idea what I was trying to say. I have been feeling great shame since I moved here. From those times on, I promise myself I must study hard and get more knowledge to improve myself. Even though right now my English is poor, I feel full of courage to study because I don’t want those things that are I don’t understand what people talking about happen to me again.

Finally, I can taste all kind of delicious foods in Chicago. In China, I ate fresh vegetables, meat, fish and fruit come from supermarket. At the same time, I also picked some fresh vegetables from the field. I believe they were very fresh, healthy, and have a home feeling for me. However, in China, I had a small choice. In Chicago, I can eat all kind of food like American, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, Indian, French, Mexican and Philippine. Eating these foods in Chicago, are not only delicious for me, but also their prices are cheaper than in China. Not only are they cheaper, but also I can taste them and know a little bit about another country’s foods and cultures. I feel I am very happy that I can taste ethnic foods in Chicago that I never tasted in China.

Moving to a new country gives me a lot of things to think about. For instance, I need to think about my friends, family, culture, holidays, benefits and characters. Furthermore, in my life, I feel the most important things I need to think about is where I live or study to improve my life, what I want to say or how to explain my opinions to people exactly and how to taste those delicious food. Especially, I need to think about I do really learn or get some new things from them.

My essay " Lost in Translation

There are so many immigrant people live in USA, and also some of them have become USA citizenship. But they all have different culture, language and religion. When they communicate to each other, they speak one language which is English. So they are losing their own language and adapting new language and other important things. I was born in Mongolia. Al thought I came here, I haven’t forgotten where I came from. But since my family came to USA, we have experienced culture and saw many unusual things that we didn’t see before. Because America is a more develop country which is different from my country. Some of the differences are language, food and traditional holidays. I understand that how big and important is my heritage, but as time goes by I feel like I’m losing my heritage and language.
First, the very important and special part of my culture is that I’m losing my own language. My first language is Mongolian, so we speak all the time Mongolian at home and to each other. When my family came here we spoke in English all the time and communicate to other people. Sometimes I have been speak Mongolian, but since I came to USA I didn’t write a lot in Mongolian, so my writing skills got worse and sometimes translate words to in English to Mongolian to my parents I couldn’t find a exact word explain to them. I think because of I speak and write in English all the time. Therefore, if I live here longer, I will lose my own language.
Second, food is an important traditional dish that we use almost every single day. We have many traditional dishes in out country. For example: “buuz”, it is very popular and every holiday we make this dish. But this traditional has changed since we came to USA. Our family usually made traditional food at home, but as the time goes by it’s more like rare. We all are having a different schedule, so we don’t have a time to eat together. My mom usually trying to come home early to prepare the dinner and we try to sit together eat our traditional food. But this event happens often, not always. Most of the time we usually go eat someplace or just buy a junk food. So we are losing our traditional way of eating.
Third and probably the most important thing that I’m losing is my traditional holiday which is named “Tsagaan Sar”, but if you translate into English it means “White Moon.” We celebrate this holiday in the month of February. That day, we used wear our traditional custom, eat out traditional food and enjoy the holiday. But since we came here, we haven’t celebrated that much this holiday. Even more likely, we enjoy the American holiday which are “Thanksgiving, Christmas and Labor day.
These three parts: “language, food, heritage” have been slowly disappearing. We should proud of our culture and heritage and passed to the next generation. But when you are living in different country, you will probably lose your language and some other things that describe you where you came from and who you are!

Kim-Chi and Pizza

Kim-Chi is a Korean traditional food, and Pizza is an American food.

A famous Korean speaker said, “Open your mind and look at the world.” It signifies we make steady progress toward our goal. Most young people have their goal, and they study for their goal. It is a very important to them. However, when they go somewhere to achieve their goal, they get lost their translation. And then it makes them sad. This happen to me, too. Three years ago, I came to Chicago to reach my goal, but I lost some valuables. I really miss my friends, family and my real language, and these things make me melancholy.

I have lost my best friends. They live in Korea, and they seem like my soul mates. When I lived in Korea, I spent a lot of time with my friends. Actually we had fun. For example, one day my best friend Young Mi called me, and she said, “Jung, I watched a movie called Breakfast at Tiffany’s. ‘It is a really wonderful movie, and I have a good idea.’ Will you meet at Lotte?” Lotte is a very famous department store in Korea. I asked, “What kind of ideas do you have? Young Mi did not answer my question. Actually, she just hung up the phone. Anyway, I went to the Lotte to meet Young Mi. When I met her, she wore a very fancy dress. She looked like Audrey Hepburn. Truly her dress reminded me of Audrey Hepburn of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I was a little bit surprised by it because her nickname was copy girl. It means she always tried to copy someone or fashion. Anyway when I met her, she gave me a mask. And then she said, “Put on the mask, and today we will steal something.” That day I was very sad because my mother and I argued, so I wanted to cause a little problem. I decided to steal something. We entered a small body care shop, and we stole some small soap. After that the department of police caught us. I already knew that would happen because this was not a movie. However, when we went to the police department, Young Mi said, “I just wanted to be like Audrey Hepburn” The best surprise was that the police understood her, so we just enjoyed seeing a detention house. It was one of my best memories of top 10. At that time I had a lot of fun with Young Mi. However, I am not able to have fun anymore since I moved in Chicago. International students are really busy, and they also have their old friends. When we meet international students at the class, we do not connect with each other. It means we just say, “We are friends”, but we are not real friends.” We just look like friends. For example, last semester I met a Korean friend I will call “SY”. I talked about a lot of things to SY, but she made me embarrassed. One day, my other friend G and I had a misunderstanding which was he already had a girlfriend, and I did not have a boyfriend. Sometimes I just make jokes. When he said, “Jung, I have a girl friend, I said, “Oh! G, you are a betrayer.” I just wanted to joke around. However, when SY heard this story, she made gossiped about me. SY told about me she liked a G, but I was not. After that my Korean school friends talked in whispers about me.

I have lost my family because they live in Korea. I really want to see them. When I was a middle school student, my nickname was “Seven eleven.” It is the same as the store name because my grandparents, my parents, my six siblings and me. The total is eleven, but my siblings and I are seven, so my nickname was seven eleven. When we all got together, my house got noisy. If I wanted to say something, I would raise my hand. After that I could say something because we are big family. For example, Korea has two New Year celebrations, and that day my family gathered together. At that time I could not say anything because too many people wanted to speak about their life and tell a funny story, and a big family also has a lot of happenings. For example, thirteen years ago my father called us, and he said, “Oldest Haw Lee you have to take care of your younger sisters and brothers, and second Duck Lee you have to clean the house, third Young Lee you have to wash the dishes and Fourth Jung Lee you are an errand girl. Okay?” Actually, I did not know what happened to us. However, the next day we knew what happened to us, my mother got pregnant. My father just wanted to make things easier for his wife. It was just happening because at that time my mother’s age was 43. She was old, and she thought she was in menopause. Before my parents went to the hospital, my father’s face was smiling, but my mother face was tearful. When my parents came back home, their faces got switched. After that we laughed till we cried. We said, “How many children does he want?” However, when I started to live in Chicago, I could not connect with them. Actually Korea time and Chicago time has a time gap. It is really different. So, I cannot call them, we cannot share anymore about my family’s outrageous happenings. It seems like a practical talking. Sometimes my parents called me for shopping or sending money. I am international student, and I do not work. My parents support me, so they send money. When I need some money, I just call them. And then I said, “Father, I do not have money, so could you send money for me?” After that they send some money for me. Sometimes my mother calls me when they need something. For example, last week my mother called me, and she said, “Daughter, your younger brother Min is going to get merry, so could you buy a pair of shoes for him? I said, “Yes, mother.” After that I rang off the phone. When my parents or I need something, we call each other.

I have lost my translation about Korean. I am forgetting my own language. When I lived in Korea, my language was Korean. Then I could speak very well, but now I cannot speak Korean and English very well. I have lost much Korean. I think, I am an alien because of that I am somewhere between English and Korean. It seems like a pizza or Kim-chi. My school has many Koreans, and sometimes I talk with them. When I speak Korean, I am not comfortable. However, I am also uncomfortable to talk with American friends. It is really weird. For example, my classmate Da yond is Korean. One day I was talking with her about the school system. While we were speaking Korean, some parts of Korean words I could not remember. The words were on the tip of my tongue, but I could not remember them. Last winter I went to Korea, and I met an American visitor. His name is Peter. When I met him, he asked directions for Kyoung Bok Kung which is a famous Palace of Korea. However, I could not explain very well. He said, “How long have you been in America?” I said, “Almost three years.” After that he said, “Your English is really poor.” I was shocked.

As you can see, I have lost my friends, family and my language. When I realize the lost these things, it makes me melancholy. After all this time, I cannot make fun like a joker, I cannot enjoy my family’s outrageous happenings, and I cannot speak Korean very well. Some people say challenge is beautiful, but the challenged can get lose a lot in translation. However, we should challenge for goal. A famous Korean speaker said, “By losing something, and you can get something.” It means if you lost something for your goal, you can also get something through your loss.