Tianyi Xu

Contributing Writer

tmx5027@psu.edu

As an international student, whose English is not my first language, it is my second year in Penn State Behrend. From these two years of experience, I feel many native speakers in the college aren’t sure of my exact English level, which might cause potential communication problems. Sometimes, I can feel the environment treats me as a native speaker, but sometimes, I feel like an outsider in the English environment. So, in this article, I want to talk about my English learning experiences and using English experiences. Hopefully, native-speaker readers can gather some facts about how to communicate with non-native-speaker students like me.

I consider myself a completely non-native English speaker because I grew up in China, where people don’t use English to communicate. I also hadn’t lived in other countries for long periods. So, in my childhood, learning English’s main purpose was to complete the school’s task instead of a tool commonly used for communication.

From my English learning experience, I believe in China, the purpose of English education is to focus on completing some specific tasks instead of informal communication. When I was in mid-school and high school, it was the time my English had the largest improvement because I was in Chinese international schools. International schools in China are focusing on making non-native English speakers fit English speaking college environments, which should have the best English education in China. In my mid-school and high school, the English curriculums focused on academic writing, formal English text reading and interpreting, formal discussions, and public speaking. 

With that kind of English education, I usually don’t find difficulties in understanding professors’ talking in the lecture. I also don’t feel challenging in using English to complete assignments and tests. However, when communicating with other college students, especially in informal discussions, I sometimes can’t understand what they are talking about because my English education didn’t covers American culture, informal sayings and informal conversations. 

The lack of education on informal conversation could cause some miscommunication problems. For example, I heard some native speakers saying “you are a lucky dog” for benedictions, but in Chinese culture, calling others a dog is offensive. Moreover, some native speakers would describe a person who dislikes social as “anti-social.” Still, some non-native speakers like me might interpret “anti-social” as a trait of anti-social personality patients have and view it as a phrase for offense to others. Luckily, I hadn’t experienced that kind of miscommunication problem, but I believe this kind of miscommunication is problematic.

Besides the issue of English learning, I also have another problem with using English. I will use a simile to explain that phenomenon:

For non-native English speakers like me, using English is like opening a Windows OS software on a Macbook. 

Basically, English is useable for me, but there are a lot of suitability issues, because using English is not a natural behavior in my mind, just like a MacBook isn’t designed for opening software on Windows computers. This issue makes my English level look unstable. In America, I sometimes feel native speakers around me could understand what I am expressing, but sometimes I feel my expression might look confusing. 

To explain the simile clearer, I will try to explain my mind when using English. When using English, my brain needs extra focus on using languages to ensure my interpreting and expression of language works well. Just like computers, if a computer opens a software with a lack of suitability, the computer usually requires more calculations to make the software operate well. So, when I am in a highly stressful situation, like when computers are operating big software, it’s possible for my English expression and interpreting system to break down at first. The break down makes me couldn’t use English as well as common time. In extremely exhausting situations, it’s possible for me to speak or write something unreadable English texts.

At last, I am not saying all non-native English speakers have problems using English because I am just sharing my personal experience, and other non-native speaker students could have different learning experiences. It’s possible for a Windows software could operate fluently on Mac OS, such as Microsoft Word. Similarly, it’s possible to see a non-native speaker student speak English, as well as native speakers. Now, it’s my second year at Penn State; I feel my suitability for English has increased and other non-native speakers might feel the same. But I wish native speakers could understand the possible English problems non-native speakers have, find possible ways to form high-quality communication with non-native speakers and help non-native speakers learn to use English well.