Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Speaking the lingo

Foreign tongues at GW are about as common as Greek-letter paraphernalia at large state schools.

The foreign accents and words buzzing around campus represent students living an American life while holding onto their own cultures, which are preserved in part through using their native language.

Junior Maya Dhanani said she is one of many students who tries to preserve her culture. While has lived in the United States her entire life, she speaks Gujarati, the naitonal language of the state of Gujarat in India.

Dhanani said it was important that she spoke Gujarati as a child in order to communicate with her grandparents.

She said her parents love their culture, and, through speaking Gujarati with her, they encouraged her to cherish her heritage and one day pass the culture on to her own children.

“I do not necessarily contribute anything to the George Washington community by speaking Gujarati, but I am proud to be able to bring my culture here and introduce it to my peers,” she said.

Dhanani said she is also an active member of the Indian community at GW as part of the Indian Student Association. She said she speaks English with other Indian students and friends but she would never speak it with her elders.

“I am giving (students) a new perspective, the perspective of a culture that is quite different than their own,” she said.

Junior Arina Lekht said being able to speak her native language, Russian, helps her career aspirations.

“I am an international affairs major and knowing more than one language is basically a must,” she said.

Lekht came to the United States from the Ukraine when she was 10 years old. She did not speak a word of English, and neither did her parents.

Lekht said learning English was not very difficult. She was young and was immediately put in school where she was immersed in the language. After about three years, she said she was fluent in English.

Lekht said she feels that now she can better express herself in English, but she speaks Russian to her parents and family at home.

She said that it was a different story for her parents to learn English. As adults, they struggled to learn the language, and today they are still far more comfortable speaking in Russian, she said.

When she graduates, Lekht said she plans to work in an organization that focuses on developing economies.

“Many of these organizations work in Russia and the Ukraine, and as a native speaker of Russian, I am at a great advantage in this field because not only do I speak the language but I understand the culture,” she said.

Lekht said that there is a big difference between knowing a language and understanding a culture.

“In order to effectively communicate with people who speak another language, one must be aware of cultural divides, rules and customs,” she said.

At the age of five, junior Consuelo Benassi moved from Italy to the United States. When she first entered kindergarten, Benassi said she did not know any English and was outcast by her peers.

She said she could understand English but had a difficult time articulating what was on her mind. Benassi said she now speaks English well and feels that she can better express herself in English, especially with friends.

But speaking Italian with her parents and in family situations is a must, she said.

Benassi is grateful for her upbringing and feels that as a member of the GW community she can bring a bit of diversity and a new perspective to culture and language.

“I can appreciate the good things about the United States and the good things about Europe as well as understand the less wonderful things about each,” she said.

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