I feel the same being a Hispanic born in the US. I feel awkward speaking in Spanish with my friends that came from Puerto Rico to study or are more fluent than me ╥﹏╥
same for me!!! Depsite being able to speak russian all my life I feel awkward speaking in Russian to friends bc most of the time they're more fluent than me and same with parents and grandparents. I partially blame this on my schools bc J was always told off for speaking russian and was even put in an ESL program even though my English was fluent just because I spoke Russian ┗( T﹏T )┛
yesss, the fking ESL program!! I remember using the term for armpit in my language instead of "armpit", since I would get the languages mixed up at times when I was kid, and they put me in ESL! thank god they took me out of the program after the realised how fluent my English is. the only good thing that came out of it was that I got ezpz awards and my teacher was nice ┑(￣Д ￣)┍
Haha I was actually stuck in ESL for like a year and my teachers knew my English was good too?? like they made me go around and help the other ESL students with their work. At least I got extra time for all my important exams for the rest of the time I was in that school because of that which made them less stressful because I knew I had the extra time even if I didnt need it
oof, as someone who grew up/was born in a western country coming from Asian heritage, I can definitely relate. I can't speak my second language that well so I've always somewhat distanced myself from people of the same nationality, since you do end up feeling like the odd one out, since you can't fully understand/speak fluently. even though, I know my language fairly well and can understand most things, I always found myself insecure with speaking to people around my age/outside of family since I knew I wasn't as fluent. honestly, it rly be the kids who come from abroad and are always conversing in your second language, that intimidate the shit outta you. bc it always feels like they're talking smack.
luckily, I was never in a situation where I was bullied like taehee. but damn, this chapter was relatable. it was nice to see the author cover a relatable and not as common topic.