What’s an interesting fact about you?
A question that I am no stranger to at this point—thanks to all of the icebreaker activities I have been subjected to throughout my undergrad, I answer with a canned response:
I’m bilingual: I speak Polish fluently.
What usually follows when I mention that I’m bilingual? For the most part, it’s intrigue—for better or worse. Sometimes it’s met with naive questions about my birthplace and citizenship or probing requests for me to teach the individual obscenities in a language that connects me with family and friends on the other side of the world. But other times, it’s met with kindness and an attempt to understand what comes with being able to speak two languages. People ask me how I learned the language, what it’s like to live in a Polish household, and about my connection with Poland and its rich culture.
Questions like these made me realize, over the years, that there was more to my answers and self than just being able to speak two languages. I do possess a bicultural identity, complexly crafted and shaped through travel, family get-togethers, and even seemingly mundane, day-to-day interactions. People with bicultural identities possess a combination of two distinct cultures within oneself. This is something that is developed over time as an individual simultaneously navigates through various cultural norms, beliefs, and expectations.
Having a Bicultural Identity brings about both Positive and Negative Effects.
In my own experience, being bicultural has provided me the tools to help me approach English learning at The UCWbL as a collaborative venture instead of something that I am “teaching;” it allowed for me to have an informed and empathetic perspective when speaking with someone that is learning English as an additive or supplemental language. While it has been a positive force within my academic and professional career, it has proven to be an obstacle when it comes to navigating certain social situations.
Primarily, being bicultural has made me feel as if I were in no-man’s-land no matter where I went: Poland or America, I never fit into the customs. In Poland, I come off as rude and inconsiderate because I wouldn’t say “hello” or use the proper tense when addressing someone older than myself. Here, I come off as pretentious and strange because of my love for European history and red borscht. No matter which side of the Atlantic Ocean, I was a stranger; a foreigner in two cultures that I thought were home. Being Polish-American, to some degree, embarrassed me; it made me feel that I had to suppress the other and denounce it in order to “fit in.”
Regaining Confidence in My Identity
However, working with CMWR this past quarter has helped me regain the positive outlook I used to possess for my bicultural identity. Throughout my time with the team, my eyes and heart have been opened to many cultures. As I met with more students that came to DePaul from far and distant countries, it helped me realize that I’m not alone in this. Conversation and Culture revealed that many participants were grappling with finding balance between two cultural identities. Through our discussions and activities, I found myself joining others sharing their struggle fitting in by citing my own first-hand experiences being Polish-American.
These interactions led to a lot of fantastic insights and discussions about our unique cultures, allowing us to connect through mutual feelings of being in cultural limbo. For the most part, we shared stories and anecdotes that ended with laughter and awe. It was comforting to know we’re all in this together. Through these genuine and unabashed interactions, I realized being bilingual and bicultural are not two mutually exclusive concepts, but rather something that “comes with the territory,” and that—most importantly—it’s not something to be embarrassed by. Throughout my work with CMWR, I’ve regained an appreciation for my own bicultural identity, allowing me to integrate my experiences and knowledge as a Polish-American into both my work and my day-to-day life.