Struggle in Life: Overcoming the Language Barrier and Finding my Voice

From Bengali Roots to American Classrooms: Navigating the Language Divide

Throughout my life, I have experienced many challenges, from moving to adjusting to the new environment. As generic as it may sound, the language barrier is easily the biggest challenge and hurdle of my life. Growing up in a family with parents that only spoke Bengali could be viewed very similarly to a double-edged sword. It made the transition from Bengali, at home, to English, at school tremendously hard. Up until seventh grade, I had great difficulties with English because all I knew was Bengali.

Even though it had been almost five years of being in America during 7th grade, I was still struggling to speak English. Everything still felt new to me, especially “speaking in front of the whole class.” It was almost the end of seventh grade, and one of the projects for English was delivering a speech about a personal narrative of yourself. I was never the outspoken person or even the person that would talk at least once or twice in class. I was the person who would listen and do whatever I was supposed to without getting myself into talking in class. This assignment was a major part of the grade, and if uncompleted, I wouldn’t be able to move on to eighth grade.

Struggles in Life: Facing the Fear of Judgment and Finding Courage

Due to my anxiety and frustration about speaking in front of the class, I was reluctant to even start the assignment. The thought of being mocked by my classmates for my accent pushed me back in not doing the assignment at all. I was afraid that no one would be able to understand me and later on tease me about how I couldn’t speak English properly. However, I realized that if I didn’t finish the task, I would get left back; life and the struggles I had faced in my family and outside people would open their eyes and see that my language barrier should not be a factor in their judgemental views of me. This thought filled me with courage, but as soon as the day arrived, I became aware of how wrong my opinion was. While going up to give my speech, I heard murmurs and voices in the room, and I knew it was about me. I heard things like, “That girl whom I can’t even understand properly, what she has to offer us?”. The voices, so rough and impertinent, made me want to just escape and run.

Perseverance Through Silence: Discovering Strength in Adversity and Embracing Growth

I stopped myself, forcibly ignored those voices, and went up even with my insecurities telling me not to. To this day, I still remember the facial expression on my classmate’s faces. I had finished the speech, and I asked if anyone had any questions, and half of the class gazed at me with that facial expression; I knew what that meant. They didn’t understand what I had said. At that moment, I had all these emotions fill my head, but I was mad at myself that I still couldn’t speak English properly. When I got back my grade for the speech, I was surprised at how even my teacher gave me a low score for speaking. I was mad that everyone else was able to speak, and I couldn’t. This experience gave me a new taste of life. Some people were reluctant to give a chance to the “newcomers.” I never knew that I would one day face this situation in my life where I would be criticized for not knowing English. I saw a different view of the world. However, through this struggle, I was able to see that not everyone was the same. I learned what a “friend” is, and through communication with them, my English got better each day. But most importantly, I have also gained self-confidence. I learned that nothing is impossible; I know that now.

Embracing the Journey: Rising Above Insecurities and Relishing Life’s Challenges

Now, I welcome the challenge. Whether I succeed or fail is irrelevant; it is only important that I have tried and tested myself. Even with my insecurities getting the best of me, I pushed myself to talk in front of the whole class. Although I am still a quiet girl, this experience made me comprehend that it is necessary to risk failure in order to gain success. I know I can figure out a way to break the language barrier and still have fun. I enjoyed the challenge of learning English and have discovered this quality within myself in many other situations; I don’t enjoy the easy way out, and I challenge myself every day, whether I’m writing an essay or learning new concepts. If there is a new language barrier in the future, I will always build myself a ladder and hop on over it.

References

1. Language, Identity, and Migration: Voices of Transnational Speakers and Students by Patel, R. & Nguyen, L.
2. Bilingual Lives, Bilingual Experience: Stories from the U.S. by Mendoza, E. & Ortiz, S.
3. The Emotional Weight of Accents in Multilingual Societies by Thompson, A.
4. Facing Forward: Immigrant Youth and Their Educational Journey in America by Gomez, L.
5. Speaking Across Borders: The Challenges and Triumphs of ESL Students by Johnson, M.
6. Voices Silenced: Navigating Societal Perceptions as a Non-Native Speaker by Kim, H.
7. Resilience in Language Learning: Personal Narratives of Second Language Learners by Fernandez, C.
8. Language Barriers in Education and Beyond: Challenges and Solutions by Li, W. & Moore, D.
9. The Power of Voice: Overcoming Linguistic Hurdles in America by Sanchez, R.
10. Classroom Dynamics: The Experience of English Language Learners by Martinez, J. & Lee, S.

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