Bonjour. Hola. Zdrastyeh. Annyong ha shimnikka. Given the number of students who speak English as a second language, hearing one of these international greetings on campus may not be such an uncommon occurrence.
In recalling her first arrival on campus, sophomore Caroline Morrison says she experienced "culture shock." Morrison, who was educated entirely in French at a French-American school in San Francisco, realized that she would have to start making greater use of her second language now that she had left the home of her French mother and half-French father. So, Morrison began to rely primarily on English, and is one of the hundreds of bilingual students on campus.
"[My parents] wanted me to be bilingual," Morrison said. "I'm very happy that they did that."
Indeed, Morrison's parents are not the only ones to see value in preserving their native language. For many families, the preservation of language serves a variety of purposes, from preserving the lines of communication with monolingual relatives to maintaining a sense of cultural identity and combating total assimilation.
"It's definitely an important part of my identity," Morrison said, adding that she considers herself both bilingual and bicultural. "I definitely find a difference between me and many of my friends around here."
According to Morrison, disengaging herself from French has, to an extent, caused her to lose some of the language in which she was educated.
"Whenever I speak to my family it's in French," she said. "But I've definitely lost a little bit."
Senior Maria Staroselsky also values her ability to speak two languages. Staroselsky is fluent in English and Russian. Born in Russia, Staroselsky moved to the US when she was ten. She promptly learned English, which she feels more comfortable speaking today. According to Staroselsky, without her knowledge of Russian, certain aspects of her life would be a little bit lonelier. Russian is the only means of communication between Staroselsky and her grandparents, and knowing Russian helps her to reflect on her childhood.
"It's definitely nice to talk to someone and be able to share the same experience," she said. "It's fun because we can share things like movies and cartoons that we used to love when we were kids."
But Staroselsky added that despite Tufts' global community, there have been some challenges to finding her way as a Russian speaker on campus.
"It's kind of hard to find a [language] class where I belong [because] I have a hard time writing it," she said, adding that Russian is an extremely challenging language that many English speakers have difficulty acquiring.
Morrison has experienced a similar challenge. Though she was educated entirely in French, Tufts has not given her the course credits that she feels she deserves. Morrison is currently pursuing a French and International Relations double major.
"The school has trouble understanding the diploma I received in high school," she said. Morrison added that she was placed in French 22 as a freshman, and has since taken a number of advanced French classes. According to Morrison, she consistently excels in the class, and has much greater proficiency than the other students, very few of whom are native French speakers.
Unlike Morrison and Staroselsky, sophomore Haejoon Chang speaks a language that is not studied at all on the Tufts campus - Korean. Still, Chang finds merit in maintaining her language, though she says that she hasn't been very involved in campus culture groups since freshman year.
Chang was born in Korea, but moved to the US when she was four. At age seven she moved back to Korea, returning to New York City for high school. Chang speaks Korean with family and some friends, but generally uses English on campus.
"To me, it's pretty natural," she said. "Korean is my first language."
Though she speaks with ease, Chang admits that the perception that Asian languages, including Korean, are difficult for English speakers to master, is true.
"The sentence structure is totally different and the grammar is obviously different," she said. "It's rather similar to Japanese."
According to Chang, being bilingual has its perks, which for Chang go back as far as childhood.
"As a kid, my friends didn't know how to speak English," she said. "I felt a little cooler."
And Chang continues to acquire new languages. She is currently studying Japanese.
"Knowing as many languages as possible is important," she said.
Freshman Anndell Quintero feels lucky and proud to be a native speaker of both Spanish and English. The Miami resident has had the unique opportunity to speak both languages on a constant basis, as Spanish is often the language of choice for both the home and community.
"As far as coming here, I've noticed that I've used Spanish less and less," she said. Quintero added that in pursuing an International Relations major, she has chosen to study Latin America, and has taken one Spanish class so far. Quintero lamented the lack of upper-level Spanish classes currently being offered. She added that she has benefited from being a Spanish speaker in her class on revolution and counterrevolution in Latin America, since it helped her explore the histories and politics of these nations more deeply.
Quintero continues to be proud of what she refers to as a "global community" at Tufts.
"It's great to see that a school like ours is encouraging people to go out and learn other languages," she said. "That's what I think is so great about Tufts."
