How is writing in English different from writing in your first language?
Ân Vòng
I started learning English in 2011 at a VUS Center, a place that primarily focuses on teaching Vietnamese students English. Aside from this, my parents also enrolled me in another English class that was taught by a local tutor. During this time period, I would spend four hours on the weekend at VUS and six hours during the weekdays learning English from a local tutor.
Upon immigrating to Massachusetts in 2013 and starting school, I learned that grammar was not my strongest suit. I performed well in the classes, but when it came to writing essays, I had some difficulties with grammars. I continued struggling with grammar until sophomore year of high school when I took a speech and grammar class, which taught me more about the rules that one has to follow in the English language.
I find that despite the grammatical rules in English, I can worry less about the spelling aspects of the language. Since Vietnamese is such a tonal language, I find myself worrying more about spelling within my native language in comparison to English. In Vietnamese, you can have similar sounding words such as “trâu” and “châu,” but are spelled differently with different translations, so if one accidentally writes down the wrong word, points will be deducted.
What has been your experience with writing at Carleton?
When it comes to writing, Carleton is much more demanding in comparison to my high school. I remember taking my first A&I course and receiving a lot of feedbacks from my professor. At some point, I had to meet with them to go over the third essay and what I should do moving forward. Granted, I think the result varies depending on who you have as a professor as some are stricter than others.
What are some of the benefits of being a multilingual writer/thinker?
You have so much more resources when you are a multilingual writer/thinker. In high school, I learned Spanish, and within the first two years at Carleton, I learned French. At the moment, I am learning Italian, and whenever I forget a word in Italian, I would substitute it with either Spanish or French, and 9/10, I was right.
Attached are some examples:
– “to eat” in French is manger, and in Italian, it’s mangiare.
– “to speak” in French is parler, and in Italian, it’s parlare.
– “to buy” in Spanish is comprar, and in Italian, it’s comprare.
Due to my knowledge of other languages, I find myself being able to comprehend works of literature in their original language and compare it to their translated counterparts
What resources have supported your development as a writer?
– Grammarly
– The Carleton Student’s Guide to Writing for English Courses
– Creative Writing classes offered in the English/CAMS department
– The Writing Center
– Sarah Lieberman, a Carleton alum who was my TA for the A&I course that I took during my first year.
What strategies have professors used to make writing a positive experience for you?
– Office Hour!
– Mandatory writing proposals!
– Agreeing to meet outside of their office hour to go over my draft or thesis!
– Constructive feedbacks
What kinds of challenges have you faced as a multilingual writer?
It’s a bit challenging for me to find the right words sometimes. Additionally, I often use the thesaurus in order to find synonyms for words that I have already utilized within my essays.
What advice would you give faculty to help them support multilingual writers?
Be patient with us! If our essays have a few errors in them, that does not mean that we did not proofread them.
If you’re an international student, what advice would you give another student from your country who is coming to study in the U.S.?
– Ask your friends to proofread your essays. A second (or even third or fourth) pair of eyes will be able to spot things that you might not.
– Read more!
– Go to office hours