Bijay Bista                                                                                                           bista1

English 1100

02/11/2015

 

                                            Challenge

        It is not always an easy job to learn in two different languages and be proficient in both. Born in a Nepalese family, whose parents learned everything in the native tongue, I started learning things in my native language; Nepali. Even though, my parents had also learned some Basic English, I was raised mostly by my grandparents who did not know English at all. Until I was four years old, everything I learned was in my native tongue. Even though, the nation has its own language, students are taught everything in English except Nepali in schools except in some government school, where they teach everything in Nepali language. Comparatively, the education system is better in private schools than in the schools run by the government that are not regulated and monitored properly. Furthermore, people also have the concept their children are going to benefit in future if they go to private schools and learn everything in English. I learned some Basic English in a private school.

     I was able to write and read in English and also talk to some extent after few years of English education. But every time, I would write something in English, I would have to first think in Nepali and then translate it into English. It always took me a lot to share and express my knowledge and leanings in English. English learning was only limited to school. Other than school, elsewhere, I would freely and happily communicate, talk, joke around in Nepali. Schools were the only place where we would learn and improve English. Students would rarely use their English language knowledge outside of the school premises. Therefore, the English language knowledge was not practically applied. 

      After coming to the United States of America on February of 2010, I continued my further education joining a High School. As a new student it was a challenge for me to adopt in a new learning environment with all new faces. In the beginning days, I had hard times to understand the things that my new teachers and friends were saying. The tones and the pronunciations were completely different comparing to what I had learned in my home country.

     Moreover, I had to really struggle to express myself through English language regardless of 10 years of English learning. I would get stuck every time I would try to say something and making it worse, I had forgotten many things that I had learned. It took me some months to get familiar with the new tones and pronunciations after the frequent chatting and talking with my new teachers and friends. Also my happiness and excitement grew more and more after being able to express myself to them. After coming to the United States of America I realized that the learning of English language would not make much different if I cannot use it in a practical manner.

     On the other side, even though we would only learn Nepali in only one Nepali class, my knowledge in Nepali was even more than that as I would learn different words and pronunciations from my living environment, from my friends, family, teachers and people that walked in the streets.  Now my new American living environment teaches me more and more English, whereas, my Nepali language learning is limited at house and with my Nepali community that have better knowledge in Nepali.

      But still sometime I think I am lucky that I have lot more knowledge in Nepali language than the other Nepalese friends and youngsters that came in their very early ages in the United States. For them, it’s a challenge to learn Nepali language that their families speak and it’s an awkward situation where the children cannot communicate properly with their parents. On the other hand, it’s a sad thing that some children do not have any knowledge about their native language since they were born here or came into United States in their very early ages. But the reason also lies in the family. Some parents teach native language to their children at home in order to let their children know about their language culture and traditions while some do not and do not care.

     But, in my case, I should say that I am lucky enough that my parents teach me more and more about my native language at home knowing that I am being surrounded all over by English speaking people everywhere when I go outside. Therefore, I as a Nepali origin am able to represent my native language proudly. But the challenge lies also for me. I should also be able to teach the future generation about Nepali language. It is the responsibility of every Nepalese to share and teach the next generation about Nepali language. Being responsible persons, I with many other friends have created a small youth organization and initiated a program to teach Nepali language, culture and traditions to the youngsters.