lost in translation

Rinat Gofman
Level 6
February 18, 2008

Lost in Translation
According to Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, published by the Department of Homeland Security, 1,266,264 immigrants arrived to the USA in 2006. For the vast majority of t immigrants, moving to another country involves many new experiences. Some of the experiences are pleasant to remember after accommodation in the new place, but some make you miss things that you left behind. My first difficulties in immigration were the ability to explain myself in new language, find time to celebrate holidays and ways to communicate with the people in the new place.
It can seem funny, but when I came to the US I had a hard time to find skim milk. It is funny because the general opinion is that in the US there is no such food that you can’t find, which is true. The problem is how long you need to look for it. One of my first days here I decided to make a dish with skim milk. In translation from Hebrew, skim milk is sweet sour cream. I arrived to the store, searched around the shelves in the dairy section looking after the sweet sour cream several times, but I couldn’t find it. Then I decided to look in the freezers in the store with hope that maybe I will find it there, and again I got disappointed. My last chance was to ask the lady who was working in the store. The lady didn’t understand what I wanted, and only after explaining to her what I wanted to cook, she brought me the skim milk. Nowadays, I recall this situation and laugh, but back then I spent more than an hour looking for the skim milk.
When people move to a new country with a different culture and demographic composition, it becomes a challenge to keep the old rituals and to celebrate the holidays. In Israel, most of the holidays have religious meaning. Mostly all holidays prohibit studying, driving a car or performing any kind of work. For example, Yom Kippur is the day when you need to fast and ask forgiveness from people and G-d. While in the US at the same day people work as usual, all the restaurants are open and it makes the celebration very difficult. Moreover, there are holidays that require purchase of a special food that is available in the stores only in the north part of Chicago. For example, during Passover we eat Mazzah which is a type of bread without yeast. In Sukkot, we are supposed to build a Sukkah which is like a small tent with an open ceiling so that the stars are open to the eyes. These traditions are easy to follow in Israel because all the materials are available in the stores and people know about them. In US, keeping those traditions would require and explanation and you can’t avoid strange gazes.

Finally, I believe that miscommunication with the people in US can be a serious obstacle for newcomers. Specifically, it was strange for me when people that I don’t know said “Hello” to me, and asked me ”How are you?” while they were keep going without waiting for my answer. In cases when people are waiting for the answer, you are supposed to say back “I am fine, and how are you?” even if it was the worst day of your life. I can’t tell whether the US is a melting pot or a salad bowl, but in any case I believe one should maximize the efforts to establish a good communication with the people leave here. The ability to express yourself and to understand the others is a necessary condition for the successful accommodation in the new place. I was lucky to have an American friend who is very patient to explain me the small nuances of the English language as well the dark corners of the American culture.
Today, after living in this country for almost two years, many of the things that were hard or strange to comprehend are slowly becoming part of me. Like many natives I am familiar with names of the products in the stores. I try to keep Israeli holidays and Jewish traditions. Finally, like all Americans I start my conversation with “How are you?”