International Students Say They don’t connect with Americans

By Cathy Oun

Most international students say they don’t really have chance to talk with American students that even though they are classmates, and it’s difficult to make friends with American students. International students have accent which makes their English sounds really different from American English. Because of their accents, they are afraid of talking to American students. And they said they can’t understand what American students are saying. How do International students feel when they are talking to American students? How do International students think of American students?

Jason Chuang, a student who comes from Taiwan, said “To me, American students love to ask and also love to answer. They look like have lots of energy and really enthusiastic about helping people. However, some American students don’t really want to talk to us. I think that is because we are not American, and to them, talking to some people who can’t speak English is not interesting. “If American students were studying in Taiwan, I would talk to them and be their friends for sure.”

An international student who comes from France, Thien Tran said, “I don’t like American students, but I still have American friends. My American friends are funny and nice, so I think most of American students are same as my friends. Actually, it depends on people. Some of them are really nice, but not all of them. There are still some American students who despise International students because of their race. I don’t think we need to worry about it because we could tell the nice people or mean people from their faces and their attitudes.”

But other foreign students have different thought. A college student who comes from Japan, Miwako Takezawa, said “I really love to make friends with American students. Luckily, I met some nice American classmates. When I have some problems in class, they always help me and explain it.” Miwako continued, “But some American students don’t really want to talk to International students. It made me feel stress to talk to them, and I’m always thinking ‘Do they really understand me?’ or ‘Do I use the correct grammar?’ It made me speak really slowly like a child“

International students like to make friends with American students, and they want to know more American culture by making friends with American students. Gee Li, a Korean girl, said “when I was studying in ESL program, I couldn’t meet any American friends in the class. Now I am studying in the college, I still couldn’t make friends with them easily. Although I have lots of American classmates, they still talk to the people who are American.”

Most of International students come to America to study; of course they want to improve their English. Nevertheless, there is a wall between International students and American students.If International students want to get close to American students, they must break down the wall.

There is a Chinese American girl, Tracy Sonne, said “Actually, Americans are really like to make friends with any people. It’s not like people think that difficult. American doesn’t care about which country you come from and what kinds of race you are. If you want to get close to them, try to do something, like talking to them. I know it is not easy when you are not good at speaking English, but American won’t care your English are good or bad. If there are any International students want to make friends with American students, I would recommend them ‘just go ahead to do it’”

International students always are afraid of American students. They are worried about American students don’t want to talk to them. Sometimes if they said so, it would become so true. Apparently, International students give themselves too much stress. Once International students think “American students won’t talk to me because I am poor at speaking English” but it is not true at all. International students in American really feel stress to make friends with American.