Learning English in the United States: start by ordering coffee

Many people will talk to me about the language problem, and it is almost difficult for the first generation of immigrants to overcome the language barrier completely. This is also what I experience the longer I live in the United States. We don't have the native American upbringing environment, and many of us have the feeling of swaying in two kinds of life.

A "How do you like your coffee?" It also makes you feel baffled. It turns out that this is to answer whether the coffee should be made with milk sugar. And many people in New York may say, "One sugar, one cream!"

Many people will talk to me about the language problem and tell me that it is almost difficult for the first generation of immigrants to overcome the language barrier completely. This is also what I experience the longer I live in the United States. We do not have the native American upbringing environment, so it is almost difficult to completely overcome the language barrier, many people have the feeling of swaying in two kinds of life.

Many people have the same fantasy that as long as they come to the United States for two years, their English will become better before they know it. When many foreign students step into the classroom or enter the life of that moment, in fact, they have already begun to understand. It's really just a legend. After living in the United States for less than two years, I have found that language determines your quality of life, your state of mind, and all aspects of you. And most people desperately hope to achieve an ideal, completely barrier-free state of communication, and finally basically give up this desire, but control a more rational state. There are many levels of human communication, and there is never a shortcut or an end to language learning. The learning of every word finally becomes a kind of spiritual practice. We are still on our way.

Start by ordering a cup of coffee

One cannot walk into the same river. But we repeat the same story. I got a good score in the TOEFL exam and was admitted to a famous school. I even got an undergraduate degree from a good school majoring in English. When you walk into the real language environment, you can't help but panic. Having communicated with many people with the same experience, the impact of that language is tantamount to a tsunami in life. Wash away what you used to have, and you need the courage and determination to rebuild the disaster area.

"is it difficult to order a cup of coffee?" It's true. Many friends who have just arrived in the United States can cope with basic learning and paper writing, only to find that the challenges of daily life also need to be overcome bit by bit. It's not that we can't say the word coffee, but that we don't know the habit of coffee. A "How do you like your coffee?" It also makes you feel baffled. It turns out that this is to answer whether the coffee should be made with milk sugar. And many people in New York may say, "One sugar, one cream!"

Why use quantitative language to answer, nothing, just custom. The sugar bag is a small bag, and the milk is a small box. Therefore, many people are used to answering with the concept of quantification. Not the "a little" we think of. The journey of learning English began so lonely. Writing down the customs silently, we began to survive courageously in the real environment.

Absorb information like radar

It's always absorbing information like radar. This is my feeling and advice to many friends. In a real environment, only non-stop to absorb, to ask questions. In order to quickly accumulate the knowledge we need. When talking between classmates, don't think that it has nothing to do with yourself, every moment is extremely precious. During my first semester at Columbia University, several American classmates and I were waiting for the train on the subway. Sarah and Anna from the foreign department exchanged phone numbers. Sarah asked, what's your last name? After Anna answered, Sarah said, "Are you in the tribe?" Anna replied, "Yes!" This conversation makes me very messy, because tribe means tribe in English. I don't know what they mean here anyway. I immediately asked the question and got an explanation. Sarah found out that Anna's last name might be Jewish, so she asked Anna, "are you Jewish, too?" This casual conversation contains a great deal of knowledge.

Yes, I remember that in the first semester, I almost returned to my childhood and became a book of one hundred thousand whys. What is Black Panther movement? What is the Panther Movement in the United States? What is gentrification? (make the region aristocratic), What iszoning rules? (what are zoning rules) What is the food bank? What is a food bank? What is black history month? What is Black History month? I hardly give up every chance to ask a question. Because I know that all this knowledge is the key to real communication. Slowly, I found that behind these problems is not only the language, but the profound culture. Maybe after each question, you need to read several books. Understanding these cultures is an important step to the next level of communication.

The courage to participate and ask questions may seem simple, but it is by no means an easy step.

Are American TV dramas useful or not?

Like many people, I learned English by watching American TV dramas before I came to the United States, and in the summer when I got the offer, I reviewed Friends at least three or four times. I firmly believe that this is the best way to learn a language in that environment. But after coming to the United States, American education did give me a great shock.

In addition to oral history courses let me deeply feel my lack of knowledge of history, I feel the lack of knowledge in any other course of choice. In the course of the first Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the president of Columbia University, American students are familiar with the names of previous justices. In class, we often discuss the relationship between the news media and freedom of speech, as well as the boundary of individual free speech.

In the course "Global urbanization", we discuss the current situation of slums in various countries and the impact of urbanization on individuals. In sociology classes, we read to discuss the sociological factors of the decisions we make in life, the ratio of personal loss to value. In the human rights practice course, the professor teaches why there are 193 countries in the world and why only the United States and Somalia have not adopted the United Nations Child Protection Convention.

To be honest, these courses have greatly broadened my horizons. Worryingly, why Chinese students don't speak much in class is because we have little access to this knowledge before, let alone the ability to think independently about these things. Under such circumstances, American education makes Chinese students suddenly realize that we are too used to looking at things in the Chinese context. And we are actually a born baby to the world. So I urgently hope to be able to stand in the world context to communicate with others, rather than talking to myself. To achieve this goal, systematic reading and learning is the only way.

Finally, I finally understand that American TV series are only the bottom of the pyramid in English learning, and that kind of learning ultimately grasps only fragmented information, which is far from enough to be called English learning. In English learning, reading and life experience are always the most important, and American TV series are only a beautiful supplement in the end.

Communicate in the same context

With the growth of my time in the United States, watching TV news has become my habit. I try to watch American TV news every day. Sometimes it's ABC NEWS, sometimes it's Nightline, sometimes it's Good MorningAmerica. If I miss the TV, I usually find a time to catch up on the news of the day on the Internet. When I take the subway, I never want to waste my time. Instead, I pick up a copy of the free New York tabloid "am NewYork" in the newspaper box and learn about the new developments in New York. I subscribed to time magazine at home. I can't read every article, but I flip through the cover article when I have time.

Living in China all the year round, we do not understand how American society works, nor do we understand what is happening in this context. So through watching the news over a long period of time, we learn about the real events in American society, and thus understand the values and way of thinking of Americans. We don't have to fully comply with these values, but if we understand what's going on in American society, we'll show it in the conversation, and others know that we're at least in the same context as them.

During the American election, I often visit Obama's campaign center and talk to the volunteers there. I want to know how grass-roots elections work in the quadrennial American election. I even paid $25 and a bus to visit door-to-door lobbying. To experience the whole operation of grass-roots democracy. I talked to Democrats, and they talked about Obama with tears in their eyes and said they needed health insurance. I talked to Republicans, and they hated Obama, saying he was the worst president in history.

At school, my friends were both staunch Jews, supporters of Zionism and descendants of fugitives from Palestine who were totally against Israel. In school, the most precious moment is to talk to students from both sides, who talk about their real life and enhance your understanding of the world.

This is part of the life experience, and it is also the best material from life for English learning. Only when you understand what Americans think can you really communicate with Americans.

Life in between

Graduation thesis. I wrote the dictation of Chinese Americans. The title is called Life in Between. Many people will talk to me about the language problem and tell me that it is almost difficult for the first generation of immigrants to overcome the language barrier completely. This is also what I experience the longer I live in the United States. We do not have the native American upbringing environment, so it is almost difficult to completely overcome the language barrier, many people have the feeling of swaying in two kinds of life.

I've had this feeling before, but I don't think it's negative. I used to talk about the question of whether an individual can achieve the integration of China and the West. At first, I didn't think so. Because the two cultures are so different that it is difficult to integrate perfectly into one individual. Now I have come to understand that many people are trying to make a balanced choice based on a deep understanding of the two cultures. Introducing China to the United States and introducing the United States to China is a very difficult effort, but the attempt to bridge the gap is still worth it.

Learning language is more like a kind of spiritual practice. Because in the end, language is no longer a language, but is deeply integrated with the whole world behind the language. This is a lifetime thing.