Didn’t we all “idealize” our home country early on after first arriving to the US? It felt like back home “everything made sense,” or at least, for sure, was much easier. Many of us still may long to visit back home and fantasize about it. Once we do visit, however, reality often meets us differently than our memories or our fantasies, and we experience a “reverse culture shock.”
Many of us come to the U.S. after years of studying English in school, and if we were admitted to an American university, only after passing English proficiency tests (e.g., TOEFL). However, language in social settings goes beyond using good vocabulary and proper grammar. School-learned English does not guarantee understanding English that used in a cultural context, which we quickly find out is critical to effective communication.
Many of us come to the U.S. after years of studying English in school, and if we were admitted to an American university, only after passing English proficiency tests (e.g., TOEFL). However, language in social settings goes beyond using good vocabulary and proper grammar. School-learned English does not guarantee understanding English that used in a cultural context, which we quickly find out is critical to effective communication.
You wear your accent on your sleeve as an “identity tag.” No matter how much you’ve tried to blend in, to pass as an American, if you weren’t successful in eradicating your foreign accent (like most of us), your identity as a foreigner stands out, and you might be treated differently. Legal experts have raised concerns about this and coined the term “accent discrimination” (“…unjustified discrimination against employees who speak English with an accent”). My personal experience, thankfully, has never been that extreme; however, I do have uncomfortable memories from my early years in the U.S., when my English was still clunky, and my accent was thicker.
I have been working as a Clinical Psychologist in San Diego, California over the past 20 years, specializing in therapy for immigrants and foreigners. However, this was not the profession that I had when I arrived in the U.S. almost 30 years ago. Back then, I was a recent PhD graduate from a prestigious science research program in my home country. I had come to the U.S. with much anticipation and excitement about pursuing a research-focused post-doctoral fellowship and landed in the middle of the middle of the country, somewhere in the Midwest, of all of places. I had some apprehension about my new adventure, but also felt intrigued and “ready” -- I was used to feeling competent and prepared to master any new task, given my past academic accomplishments. Little did I know how unprepared I was…