Kateryna Poradiuk
Communicator

Learning a new language may sound like an entertaining task but it requires determination and hard work. I remember two years ago when I faced the toughest obstacle I ever had: coming to a country with a language I didn't know.

In Ukraine, I went to a school and studied English. Our English teacher had never been abroad, and I don't know if she had a chance to meet any foreigner to practice her English. In the class, she never made sense, and she couldn't even teach us how to create an English sentence. But listening to English music or watching movies in English were popular activities among Ukrainian youth. I remember listening to English songs such as Whitney Houston's, Alicia Keys', Mariah Carey's and just guessing what these could mean and learning the language from these songs.

When I came to America on May 29, 2006, two days before my birthday, people spoke to me in English, and they didn't make any sense. I hoped that they wouldn't start a conversation with me because I knew no English.

My first several weeks in America, I lived as if I were in Ukraine. I read Ukrainian books and listened to Ukrainian songs, but it could continue no longer. I was unhappy. People have to adjust to the new culture, and learning its language is the first step. Communication is the most important factor to blend with the culture. Through speaking, we can understand an ideology, its beliefs and beyond. When you don't know the language, everything looks unfamiliar around you. It seems as everybody goes in one direction, and you go in another.

English was never part of my life, and now I wake up listening to English songs on the radio and go to bed reading English books. Two years ago, I was sitting in my room depressed and feeling lonely because I couldn't communicate with the people around me. These people seemed like creatures from a different planet. I wanted to be their friend and to feel relaxed in a new surrounding. No matter how hard it was, my first goal was to learn English as well as I could. Even though I couldn't speak properly, people still were nice to me. They gave me strength and took fear away from me. I have never felt that native English speakers made fun of my English or treated me differently because of the language problem. Even though I knew I was a bad speaker, they told me the opposite.

A new language opens a fresh page in our lives. Every language has a different structure. You could study English for years in Ukraine, but after you step into the United States, language will still be an obstacle to communicate. Because the language is not only some words gathered together, it is the clash of civilizations. We articulate differently speaking in a new language, and in this way we change our personality and lifestyle. In my twenties, I opened a new me. Sometimes I think I have become a different person when I speak in a second language. I usually think more before I want to say something than I speak in my mother tongue.

Learning and knowing several languages is fun, but changing language and living a life in a new environment is even more fun. People say it is difficult to turn yourself upside down and start to live differently. But at the same time, it is a gift that not just anybody can experience.

You can contact the writer at staffwriter@spokanefalls.edu