By Jack Wheeler
There’s no denying the ever-changing slang of the English language. As an international student, it’s hard to prepare for such things.
“’Wicked?’ What the hell is that?” Carlos Cruz, Physics major, said laughingly. Cruz is in no way the only one who misunderstands the local lingo of Boston.
Bandar Almohsen, computer science major, still struggles with the differences of speaking with professors than to his peers.
“I feel like professors treat you differently if you can’t speak the language as well,” he said.
“Students actually try to understand you more,” said Almohsen.
Raised in Saudi Arabia, Almohsen grew up hearing about the tales of freedom and opportunity in the United States. When he became an adult, these childhood fantasies became a reality when he arrived at Suffolk.
When Almohsen was in first grade, he had a nanny that would speak to him in English. Watching American cartoons and movies allowed him to quickly pick up on the slang, as well.
In 2012, Almohsen enrolled in Education First (EF), a Suffolk partner-program in Brighton, to study English.
Cruz first visited America from Guayaquil, Ecuador when he was 15. Then, in preparation to study at a U.S. university, he began his traditional English studies in 2012.
He says that because of his traditional education, it is much easier to speak with professors because you use the language you are actually taught.
“When you talk to other students you have to be cool,” he said. “Which is completely different language than what I learned.”
“They were kind of free to do what they wanted,” Almohsen says about his EF professors. “We would learn about drugs and even analyze rap music.”
Almohsen’s English education was much different from Cruz’s, however.
“Talking to students was definitely easier. You have to learn how to talk to professors,” he said.
Almohsen explained that in Arabic, it’s more about getting your idea out there rather than perfect sentence structure or grammar.
This aspect of language plays into his difficulty with school.
“You guys care so much about how the sentence looks and sounds,” he said. “You can write an essay with really bad ideas but as long as it sounds good then you will probably get a good grade.”
Almohsen said that assignment instructions will often seem vague and he won’t know exactly what its asking.
“Sometimes professors understand what I’m trying to say but still say it’s wrong.” said Almohsen.
Cruz, however, often finds himself mixing his native language with English in the classroom or with friends. In literature class, he’s thinking in English, but in a math or science class he’s thinking in Spanish.
“Not only that,” he said, “but it also gets confusing talking to people sometimes, because I’m thinking about things in Spanish but I’m talking in English.”
New England slang can be difficult to learn; they both agree, however; their English has improved tremendously since they moved here. Living in the dorms and being surrounded by English speaking people really makes an impact.
“When I lived in 150 [Tremont], I was actually thinking in English at one point,” said Cruz.
Almohsen agrees that it was definitely difficult getting used to the environment and the language for the first year. An entirely new culture and language can be nearly impossible to adapt to and can really take a toll on someone.
As different as their teachings of English were, they do, however, agree on their feelings of one thing- the word “wicked.”
“Wicked is just weird. I always thought it meant something bad- No, I never say wicked,” said Almohsen.
