Today I met for the first time with my conversation partner, Jessie. We had agreed to meet at Market Square for lunch at 1 p.m. We both ended up getting confused as to where we were meeting because of the impossibility to describe which entrance one is going to enter in the BLUU.
When I first met Jessie, she had just texted me using an array of abbreviations and emoticons. I was a little taken aback. What did I expect, for her to be completely formal in a text message? It was nice to know that she was up to learning our culture so quickly. As we started to talk over our fake chinese and salad I began to realize just how much I was going to take away from this.
She was very open and engaging. Her English is easy to understand and she's not afraid to ask you how to say something. While we talked I noticed how hard she worked at making sure she made sense. I'm not going to lie, I was worried I might do something to offend her at first. The cross-over of cultures makes it seem like it's bound to happen. The longer we talked the more I realized she was more interested in learning English and her education than being polite.
When I asked about her background she mentioned how she didn't have any siblings. While I knew that China had policies against multiple children, one doesn't necessarily realize that this actually happens. The rules took on a whole new meaning when you meet someone who has to live with them.
We talked about my family for a while. About how my sister is a nurse in Africa and how she works as a nurse there. Jessie found this amazing, calling her an angel, and then saying "Blass you." Blass you? While I tried to figure out what she meant, she spelled it out for me. I found that she meant to say "bless" rather than "blass." It was then she told me that she had originally learned British English. She talked about how frustrating it was to know some English only to find that it was close to useless because it wasn't the right dialect. I'm determined that she will be able to speak American English beyond expectation by the end of semester because of her positive attitude and willingness to learn.
Pronunciation wasn't the only surprising factor. Since my name isn't gender specific, Jessie explained to me how she thought I was going to be a boy. She was happy to find that I was a girl and we laughed about how confusing it must have been to realize I wasn't a boy.
Overall, I found this experience was one of the best I've had at TCU. I feel like this is something I'm going to look forward to for the rest of the semester. The bridge has been built, now let's see how far it'll stretch!
Hi Bailey, Thanks for your wonderful post. I am so happy that you had a good first meeting and that a "bridge has been built." Thanks much, dw
ReplyDeleteYour description of your experience is getting me excited to start talking with my own partner! I found the part about British English vs. American English very interesting. In my speech class, I just read an article about a man who came from India and his frustrations with knowing "Indian English" and not being understood by Americans. It's amazing how two people can be technically speaking the same language and still have no idea what each other is saying.
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