Shining My Light on Bilingualism and Fulbright

Jelena started learning Russian at elementary school. It was only later on that she started learning English. For her generation (those in their 40s) it was all about theory (grammar) and there was no practice of English in «daily situations» (stores, cinema, etc.), which Jelena sees as an absolutely bad approach. This is why she is so happy having made use of her English actively here in the U.S. for almost 3 months. She has to use English professionally – mainly for writing research articles and attending international conferences.

She is aware of how the American variety she has been picking up here (along with some professional slang) might sound a bit strange when she comes back to Europe where she does most of her work.

Back home she mostly practiced speaking with her son who is now in Grade 5. Here in the U.S. she is sharing a house with an American family and meets a lot of new people. «All my life is in English», says Jelena. Sometimes she feels it is «weird» to hear herself speaking English so much.

She has even started thinking in English and she feels it solidly entering her brain.

Even though there are still a lot of Russians living on the Montenegrian coast and Russian, which her generation mostly learned back at school, is in demand, younger people prefer English instead. There is also some Italian used as the Italian border is close by as well as some Turkish used by the Muslim minority. As a specialist in Marketing,

Jelena points out how in her country there are economic reasons to learn Chinese as there is an ongoing cooperation with China through investment.

English was a «crucial» reason for Jelena to decide to come to the U.S. Besides, one of her students had been on the UGRAD program here at MSU.

There have been some emotional trade-offs for Jelena as she had to leave her son behind for a year in order to come here.

She realizes that is the price to pay for this «big» chance to start speaking English fluently.

Jelena feels her personality changes when she speaks English, which she again describes as a «weird» but definitely a positive change.

She believes that

in order to survive and thrive in this increasingly competitive world, as she keeps saying to her students back in Montenegro, one has to be flexible rather than simply smart.

 Even considering herself not gifted for languages, Jelena knows she has no way rather than master English to advance her teaching and research career. As a side note, she questions she has no talent as in fact, apart from her native language, she speaks Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian which are all similar but still are separate languages.

In the future Jelena might consider learning German and probably Spanish. Even though she recognizes the global importance of Chinese, she says it is not for her.

For someone still feeling nervous speaking a foreign language just as she used to before coming to the U.S., Jelena suggests «going with the flow» and always looking for ways to listen to the target language in order to «center your ears» on it. That was how she overcame her «stage freight» particularly when asked questions in work settings.

∞ I can’t even imagine how much identity struggle is involved in learning English and experiencing all the ups and downs, which are inherently part of this journey, for someone who has a solid teaching career back home. Transitioning from a figure of authority to someone taking in new experiences almost as a kid while also being a parent must have been daunting.

As a Russian, I might have had mixed feelings about some kind of reluctance of the countries that used to make up the former Soviet Union to continue learning Russian, but as Jelena pointed out from her professional perspective, there are obviously economic reasons for that. It is still comforting to know that all the four languages she speaks would be somewhat intelligible to me. Actually, in the same year we had our talk (2017) in the attempt to counteract nationalism the Declaration on the Common Language was issued establishing that Bosniaks, Croats, Montenegrins and Serbs have a common standard language.

We were all separated from our families and sometimes it felt so hard to stay on the same page on some matters being thousands of miles away. Being in the U.S., a country that a lot of Russians have strong feelings about – which obviously goes all the way back to the Cold War – didn’t make it easy. Jelena was able to see I was feeling somewhat down on the day of our interview and said, «Your eyes look sad». That was so moving to have her point out something that I chose not to communicate with words. As much as we love our families, we have to make sacrifices to achieve what we want for ourselves even if that might cause us to have major arguments with those we love so much… Sometimes it is not only bilingualism that enables and enhances understanding as eyes can definitely be informative than words we say.

A smart and polite bilingual gentleman

(Naseer, Afghanistan)

Languages spoken:

Pashto, Dari, English, Hindi, Arabic.

Field of study/career:

Public Health, Montclair State University.

Naseer was the second fellow Fulbrighter from Afghanistan I met at MSU. Probably due to being somewhat older than Sharif that I interviewed previously, he seemed a lot more reserved and didn’t initially talk too much. Yet again, I was excited to get another person’s perspective on English learning in this country and was happy to have Naseer agree to meet for a chat on campus.

Before starting learning English, Naseer used to think mastering the alphabet would suffice.

It took him a month and to his sheer surprise, he still «knew nothing»! After that he took a two-year course. Sometime later he started teaching this same course, which he found was the best way to practise and consolidate his knowledge. In the meantime, he was reading any newspapers (e.g.,

New York Times

) he could get his hands on. Naseer had to borrow a dictionary to translate new words.

 Another secret he had was speaking English with himself.

 Teaching English proved to be the most efficient way to learn and that was how he gained a tremendous amount of knowledge.

The way general English courses are designed in Afghanistan is not satisfying.

Taking extra courses is costly and that is not something average Afghans can afford. Despite that, Naseer persevered and knowing that speaking English well would put him in a more privileged position in the society was what kept him going.

Apart from reading, Naseer started watching Hollywood films. He thinks that for the younger generation learning is somewhat easier, which is due to the big influence of the U.S. in the country.

There are economic incentives to learn as good English is a prerequisite for a higher salary, but it works the other way around as well as qualified professionals with no sufficient English knowledge might find themselves having limited career prospects.

All the research that Naseer has been conducting in Public Health has been in English. On top of the country’s two national languages (Pashto and Dari), Naseer speaks Hindi, which is «the blessing of Bollywood films» and understands Arabic.

Naseer believes that the world is a «global village» and languages are there to enable us to understand and exchange cultures. He recounts running into an Arab-speaking person while visiting Jordan and not being able to have a full-blown conversation as his spoken Arabic wasn’t up to the mark. Looking back, Naseer wishes he had been able to speak better Arabic so that he wouldn’t have missed out on the opportunity to make a new friend.

Naseer feels more formal and polite while speaking English. In his two native languages he feels more friendly, while in Hindi he sounds more romantic.

Surprisingly, here in the U.S., despite his physical looks which

he thinks might suggest he isn’t originally from here, there have been no misunderstandings or biases. Being a student again feels like

an amazing break from his office activities back home. Contrary

to the popular stereotype, he found Americans not being arrogant at all. In fact, all of the people he’s met so far have been incredibly welcoming.

His main tip for learners is to try to listen to people and fine-tune your communication patterns accordingly. In this way, interactions will go smoothly even despite some language mishaps.

∞ Even during these initial stages of getting to know Naseer, I was already absolutely amazed by his wisdom which came through even when he seemed to be searching for the right word to say. We spent time together in the group of the other Montclair Fulbrighters and would meet for one-on-one chats as well. I was aware of how uptight Naseer must have felt about being surrounded by females here in the U.S., which he made a point of saying would be strictly forbidden back home. Despite these inhibitions, Naseer would always come up with very poetic and metaphoric ways of using English. We have been in touch ever since and all his comments and reactions on social media are always so flattering even though Naseer is sure his English words of admiration do not suffice to express his emotions fully. I wouldn’t agree with that…

Following the Taliban takeover, Naseer had to move to an English-speaking country after having held a few ministerial and embassy jobs in his home country. I am sure his resilience (this is what he and Sharif definitely share) and linguistic brilliance would help him build up a new life in a new country.

A fellow linguist on a thorny journey to English

(Julia, Hungary)

Languages spoken:

Hungarian, English, German.

Field of study/career:

Theoretical Linguistics and Syntax, Visiting PhD student, UMass Amhurst.

Over my first couple of days in the U.S. during the Gateway Orientation in Miami, Julia was my first roommate (or «roomie» as we have been calling each other ever since). All of us were matched with other Fulbrighters based on shared backgrounds. I was the first one to check in at the hotel and they wouldn’t tell us who our roommates would be beforehand. I remember hearing someone knocking the door a few hours after I had taken enough photos of the American flag, palm trees and high-rises of the Downtown Miami.

Me and Julia, a Fulbright Visiting PhD student in Generative Linguistics, instantly hit it off. I had visited her home country of Hungary a year before. We bonded over talks of the amazing Hungarian wine Tokaji which at that point was the best one I had ever had. Waking up on my first morning in the U.S. and saying «Good morning!» to Julia felt so authentic!

We stayed in touch and in December as Julia was just a couple of weeks away from leaving the U.S., she came down from Massachusetts to visit me in New Jersey. At that point this state already felt like home and having a friend over to host reinforced that. I showed Julia around the iconic spots of NYC. We had lots of conversations about patriotism, politics, national identities, etc. and simply laughs about some superficial stuff as well. I interviewed her at a Russian restaurant in Fulton Street, just a few blocks away from One World Trade Center.

It wasn’t until high school that Julia started learning English. Before that she would join her younger siblings who had private classes in a nearby village. Once the teacher gave all three of them a book in English as a present. Julia got one by Shakespeare and felt it was a beginning of her love for the language and literature. It was

«quite a bit of a story»

, but at her new school she had to take beginner’s again as otherwise she would have had to start right with pre-intermediate English. As it was «a heavily language-oriented school», they had from 7 to 9 language classes a week. She was still doing both English and German, but now the focus was on the former. Julia didn’t quite like her first English teacher, but the second one was very inspiring. When she left on a maternity leave, Julia continued taking class with her privately.

After she got her English certificate at the end of high school, Julia started exploring her career options. She aspired to be a doctor, but her Mum disapproved and she had to think of something else. Some information on English major caught her attention as Julia was skimming through a website. She had already developed love for Literature, but she had no idea what linguistics was. However, she enjoyed Grammar (especially, rules and tables, i.e., «organizing stuff»). Julia decided choosing that career path could propel her into a translating job which could be potentially well-paid. So she started preparing for entrance exams which in Hungary back then involved a serious exam in Literature, History. Later it turned out Julia was no

t «a literary person» and not «a PhD material for Literature»

. So she decided to get into Linguistics instead.

Julia specializes in Generative linguistics which was developed by the famous American linguist Noam Chomsky. This branch of linguistics relies on the idea that all languages have a similar structure and they are biological or genetic things in our head which we master just as well as we do seeing, hearing, recognizing color, etc. The key term here is

«universal grammar»

, which means that human brain has an innate mechanism allowing it to master grammatical categories and relations of a language that are universally understood by all of its speakers. As Julia points out, English is very well-studied in this respect as all the pioneering scholars in the field were English-speaking. Investigating more languages could shed light on this «universal grammar» and make the structures more «fine-tuned».

In tune with the fundamental ideas of generative linguistics, Julia believes that the way we learn languages is universal.

For example if a child grows up surrounded by two parents who don’t share the same first language, he or she will end up being bilingual. That would be the case of the so-called

balanced bilingualism

 when one is equally good at two or more languages. She knows a few examples of such individuals. This acquisition has to happen before the

critical age

, which is considered to be 12. That is why sending a kid under 12 to a language school and creating this sort of an artificial language enviroment might help a lot.

In Hungary these days everyone understands the importance of learning English.

Julia assumes her 15 year-old brother knows more English than her 25-year-old one.

Following the reevaluation of language programs in Hungary around 10 years ago in bigger cities Italian and French as well as Japanese are offered. Due to the growing economic connections, Russian is also becoming more popular.

Julia never experienced changes in her personality while switching between languages.

 It would be «schizophrenic» to her. In that regard she recounted a funny story about her university teacher that everyone thought was gay based on how high-pitched his voice was in Hungarian. But once he taught his first class in their group which he started in English, this impression totally changed as his voice sounded so low.

Again, Julia does not feel like a different person in the languages other than her native Hungarian, but what she does find is that

she is capable of expressing her feelings better in English, which she acknowledges is a «weird» feeling.

Besides, she is more aware of a variety of subtly different meanings English synonyms are used for.

For everyone having to master a foreign language after the critical period she recommends that they should not be afraid of speaking – regardless of how bad they think their pronunciation is. At the end of the day, it is not about perfection, but getting your message through, which due to the universal grammar, non-natives are capable of doing even in communication with natives, which most learners find particularly intimidating.

∞ Julia and I were definitely very appropriately and happily matched back in Miami. Of course, the way she looks at languages is more theoretical than the one I have to adopt in my language classroom. But the field of linguistics is so broad and we all have to work together towards the common goal of understanding and mastering human languages better.

Even though Hungary was part of the USSR and some older Hungarians speak Russian, our languages are not mutually intelligible at all. We just wanted to get a feel of that as we both listened to each other’s conversations with our Mums in Hungarian and Russian respectively. No wonder that neither of us was able to anything except the word «New York»! As we discussed later, we did seem like different people to each other as we switched to our native languages. There must be something that contributes to that such as e.g., the tone of the voice as Julia mentions in her talk.

I will remember the raw emotions of those intimate conversations we had back at my place over some American beer (there was no Hungarian wine in the neighboring liquor stores). We indeed both felt at home talking in English about the issues we’d been having with our research as well as with things well beyond academia. Meticulous language learning involving detailed examination of how different nuances of emotion are expressed must have come in handy for both of us…

Sophistication, intelligence, and style

(Dania, Jordan)

Languages spoken:

Arabic, English, French, Spanish, learning Chinese.

Field of study/career:

Landscape Architecture, UMass Amhurst, a Fulbrighter.

I also met Dania in Miami during the Gateway Orientation. She arrived in the U.S. to do her Masters in Landscape Architecture. I have also been working as a translator for a scientific journal in Architecture for a few years so there was some (albeit small) connection between our jobs. She and Julia (my previous interviewee) ended up at the same university and became particularly close. A few weeks after Julia had visited, Dania came to visit as well. It felt great to go back to my project after the winter break when I got to go to the West Coast and contemplate all the information I had gotten so far. Dania was such a delicate and sensitive speaker as well as a listener during this couple of days we spent together reuniting with a few more Fulbrighters from the Miami group in NYC. She literally kept me on my «linguistic toes» as I was looking for more refined and subtle ways of expressing myself as we, just like we did with Julia, poured our hearts out to each other over long emotional conversations.

Dania started learning English as a second language at primary school – 2nd language. It was a modern American school and

English «was just there»

. It was a very strict and rigorous program. It was always natural for Dania to use English being born around people from different countries.

She never liked Grammar and just wanted to understand the language without spending too much time learning how different structures came about.

Dania believes that every learner’s struggle is «personal» as we balance between a first language and a new one in our own unique way.

Dania’s classes back in Jordan offered an equal concentration on Literature, History, etc. People of Jordan are grateful to King Hussein who implemented this demand to have English as a 2

nd

language

for everyone, which Dania is sure helps «keep up with the progress of the world».

English was always the second language which she and her siblings even practised at home with each other every once in a while.

English definitely opened so many doors and taught Dania to express herself more eloquently in essay writings

 as well as allowed her access to books in English which are «omnipresent» these days. Before starting speaking extensively, Dania would spend awhile listening and accumulating knowledge and practising at home before feeling confident enough to speak at school. As for the accent she imitated, there was a mix of girls with a British, Scottish or American accents. Dania personally preferred the latter and it just «stuck».

Apart from English, Dania can speak French and Spanish. There are wide opportunities to practise the latter here in the U.S., but not so many for French – at least in her university community. Having a lot of Chinese people at UMass Amhurst inspired Dania to take up Chinese, which she has been enjoying so far.

Dania admits she feels sorry for people who can only speak English as a foreign language.

 Learning five or six languages (rather than twenty) is going to enrich one’s life immensely. For example, knowing Arabic opens doors for Hebrew, which also facilitates learning Turkish, etc.

Dania feels different in any language she speaks and that even affects the way she dresses.

When she is in a romantic mood, she unconsciously dresses in the way that makes people go, «You look so French today!».

Her experience here in the U.S., which has been her longest stay abroad so far, has been rewarding in many different ways. She feels absolutely positive about learning a new language here at the age of 27. She encourages everyone to learn languages at any age as

once you realize how many gigabytes of information our brain is capable of storing, there is no stopping you.

 Besides, it is widely known that learning a new language prevents the risk of developing Alzheimer’s at an older age.

∞ I felt somewhat ashamed of myself for having fewer languages in my linguistic repertoire than Dania who wasn’t even a linguist. But she inspired me to carry on with my humble efforts with other languages that I had been making in the U.S. She is a stellar example of how someone can seamlessly incorporate languages into their live just as landscape architects know exactly how to arrange space and make it work to create that «wow» effect.

After completing her studies Dania went on to get a job in Europe where I am sue she is working on expanding her language repertoire.

Navigating the multilingual New Jersey

(Alejandra, Colombia)

Languages spoken:

Spanish, English, some Hebrew.

Field of study/career:

Foreign Language Teaching.

I met Alejandra from Colombia in Union City, New Jersey. She was in a class of one of the professors of Linguistics I’d met at a Christmas gathering here in NJ as well. This professor has taught Russian and French and her husband is Russian-speaking, so bilingualism is one of the topics she is hugely passionate about. She kindly invited me to give a talk about my project in one of her classes. Alejandra was the first ones to have volunteered to participate and it was a pleasure to hear her story. Union City, which is just about 20 minutes’ ride from Midtown New York, is a linguistically and culturally vibrant area where walking along these narrow streets with Catholic churches and statues as well as cafés selling all sorts of Latin American specialties, one can mostly hear Spanish rather than English being spoken.

Alejandra is doing her Master’s degree in Education at New Jersey City University. She is also a teacher of her native language – Spanish. Alejandra started learning English at school, but it was not until she was around 20 or 21 that she applied for a job that required English. That was how she was able to improve her skills. Back at school she remembers struggling with understanding simple structures or even writing a simple word. As a result, she grew to hate the subject and had no idea why she couldn’t succeed.

At some point, she started seeing this language as a challenge that she was determined to overcome.

 That was a native speaker that she once met who helped her understand some simple grammar rules and that discovery was a turning point. As for speaking, there weren’t many activities offered to improve it. She wasn’t still very confident about her English after she had got that job, but it involved talking and helping others and by taking risks, she eventually started making a more significant progress.

Nowadays in Colombia people are making an effort to learn English. Schools are trying to offer more than what used to be purely grammar classes as in order to land good jobs, people have to prove they are actually capable of speaking the language. In terms of continuing working on improving her English,

living here in New Jersey is a bit challenging for Alejandra as a lot of Spanish is spoken and she has to find ways to practise her English. Living with American families and teaching people Spanish has been a great opportunity for her to speak English while sharing her culture with them.

No matter whichever language Alejandra is speaking, she always tries to be herself and others perceive her in the same way as well.

Overall, being here and teaching Americans Spanish has been an amazing experience.

Alejandra finds it incredible how people here are ready to embrace the culture and let go of some stereotypes.

There are a lot of schools in New Jersey where people can learn Spanish.

There are economic incentives for it as well as a lot of people in business speak Spanish as their first language.

Being one of the most frequently spoken languages in the world, Spanish has a lot of local varieties and according to Alejandra,

Americans are enthusiastic about learning the Colombian Spanish as they think the accent is easier to grasp.

 She doesn’t believe there are too many differences – except some vocabulary – as Spanish speakers from different countries can pretty much understand each other.

Alejandra has also had some experience of living in Israel and learned to read some Hebrew there. She was able to read the Bible and for her that was a mesmerizing experience. Even though she didn’t continue to study the language, she is still happy whenever she hears some familiar words in Hebrew. In the future she would like to take up Chinese as she finds it really astounding how many people speak it.

Finally, she believes that finding a good teacher to guide you through the basics is essential if you want to succeed in learning a new language.

This is what she thinks you should do before you invest into actually going to a country where your target language is spoken. «Make mistakes, be confident, take risks, then buy your ticket!», says Alejandra.

∞ I was really amazed by Alejandra’s enthusiasm for teaching and sharing her language as she offered me her help with Spanish, which was the latest language I’d tried to learn before my brief trip to Spain back in 2016 following my attempts at Italian and French. Being a foreign language teacher myself, I found it inspiring to hear how much faith and trust is put into us in our effort to make a difference in our students’ lives.

A routine life in Spanish and English

(Samantha, USA)

Languages spoken:

English, Spanish.

Field of study/career:

Linguistics.

I also met Samantha through the same professor I did Alejandra, my previous interviewee. That was my first online interview (if only we had known it would become «a thing» just a couple of years later!). Samantha is a first-generation immigrant as both her parents come from El Salvador (a country in Central America). She was also the first person I’d had in this project who had had this type of experience.

Samantha works at New Jersey City University. She grew up here in New Jersey in a Spanish-speaking family, but had had an opportunity to pick up some English before she started learning it at nursery school at about the age of 3.

Her father, who was born in El Salvador and moved to the U.S. in his twenties, spoke to her mostly in Spanish.

Her mother used English more and Samantha would use Spanish with her grandparents as well as other relatives.

She doesn’t remember having any difficulties growing up with two languages, it was just «a routine».

 Picking up English and using it on a daily basis was very easy as she would use it all the time with her teachers and classmates at the public school she attended. The only difficulty she remembers having early on in her studies was with some letters.

Overall she can’t say she was learning English as a foreign language.

Now she calls it her primary language and doesn’t feel that she has any foreign accent at all even though she’s met some people who say she does.

According to Samantha, she sometimes feels she has a foreign accent when she uses Spanish. As for her nationality and identity, s

he prefers to call herself Hispanic

, but the problem is that this nationality is often not listed so she chooses «white» instead.

Spanish is still part of her life as she would still sometimes uses it at home and sometimes has difficulty remembering English words for some things, e.g., vegetables.

 Her Mum watches a lot of soap operas in Spanish and Samantha finds it amazing how she can switch between the two languages and understand them without even realizing it. In her job Samantha uses Spanish with some international students.

Generally, she doesn’t feel discriminated against based on her ethnicity as in this part of the country in particular, there are a lot of people who were born and raised here but have another linguistic and cultural origin that they identify themselves with.

Therefore Samantha finds being able to speak two languages advantageous as she believes bilingualism is regarded as something valuable despite the current political reforms in regards of immigration.

Overall she thinks that

Hispanics are having an easier time adjusting to the U.S. culture these days than they used to

. Her advice to anyone trying to make a living in the U.S. is to «push on through» remembering about the long-term benefits they are going to have. Using the example of her own father, she argues it might be hard to start feeling fully integrated here in the U.S. especially after coming here at an older age. As grateful as he is for all the benefits he has enjoyed after moving here, he hopes to be able to spend more time in his home country of El Salvador during the retirement.

∞ In her talk Samantha outlines some issues facing first-generation immigrants and their parents which include those pertaining to adaptation and certain identity struggles associated with it. The U.S. is known to be a nation of immigrants, but obviously full accommodation to living here is a long journey that not everyone is resilient enough to