Lost In Translation

Lost in Translation

Many people travel around the world looking for a better quality of life. For some of them the new country will be their new home and for others their temporary home. However, the key of being successful in a foreign land is to learn about the new culture, and adapt to it. This hard process could be good because it helps us to fit into the new society, but at the same time, we begin disconnecting ourselves from our roots which is our own culture. The fact that we are far from home and living into a completely different culture make us vulnerable to lose our identity and become part of a melting pot. The price of living in a new country and learning about its culture could make us feel disconnected from our own culture, and the results are to be unable to use our native language correctly, to be out-of-date with the things which are happening in our native and new country, and to be far from family and friends.

Learning and using a new language could make it hard to remember some words of our native language. In my case, I’m experiencing some of that because I don’t use my language as often as before. It is easy for me to get the news in English than Spanish. At the place I work, we speak English and some Spanish. I’m studying English, so the most of my writing is in English. All these facts are the cause for me to forget some words of my native language. When I’m talking to my family, I take extra time finding some words, and sometimes I tell them some expressions in English. With my friends and family here in the US, it is very common to use both languages at the same time in a conversation because they understand and it’s easy to say in English the things which are hard to translate. However, living far from my home country has given me the opportunity to learn a new language, but meanwhile I am forgetting my own.

Having a conversation with people either from my country or the US has become a hard task, and the reason is because I’m out-of-touch. I don’t know exactly what’s happening in my home country because I’m far, and I don’t know what’s exactly happening in the U.S. because I don’t understand the system or the language very well. When I’m talking with someone in the US about news, music or politics, I got confused because I hardly have an idea, and if I do, I don’t know how to answer. When people from a different country ask me about my country the same thing happens. I don’t know what to say or if I do I don’t find the right words to explain them. That is why I focus more on what I’m doing because it is hard for me to figure out my atmosphere and the things inside of it.

I miss my family and friends very much, and being far from them makes me feel that life has changed, and it is different than it was before in my home country. I feel that most of the days for me without my family are just a day full of dreams, and the word family is the only thing I have from them. I really feel lost and sad when a family holiday comes because most of my friends are planning something to do or somewhere to go with their family, and for me not being with my family makes me feel that it is simply another day . Time helps me to understand it better, and my reasons to be here empower me to keep going and make my dreams to become true.

In a few words, adapting to a new culture could remove from us the things we are no longer in touch with and be replaced by new things which we are currently using. If we constantly have contact with both cultures, we could get along with both even though it takes more time. The key to attain perfection is the practice and constancy, and the things we left behind could easily disappear. Lost in translation for me is not understanding myself, my culture or my environment; in other words, it is a “Lost of Identity”.