France: Judith Tafur (An Impactful Moment)

A collection of moments throughout this experience have significantly impacted my perspective about language and self-worth. I have always been an active student and never really lacked the confidence to participate in class. However, when I started taking my courses in the university here, with a majority of native French speakers, I got a feeling of nerves and lack of confidence associated with speaking in class that I had never felt before. At the same time, the rational side of my brain kept telling myself: think of the international students at Madison, you would never judge then for having an accent or making linguistic mistakes, so there’s no reason to be ashamed of your French. Even so, it has still been a challenge to overcome this notion of insecurity and speak in class. I have had to tell myself, what matters is to get my idea across, it is okay to make a few mistakes.

This experience has also given me new perspective as to the struggles of international students and immigrants in the states, since I have realized that dominating a language has a lot to do with how we see ourselves and how others see us. In addition to my personal reflections about this, it has been interesting to take a linguistics class here in which I have learned a lot about linguistic insecurity and the judgements that we often make about people and their linguistic practices. These judgements which are often responsible for feelings of insecurity stem from the fact that we idealize the “standard” language and “proper” ways of speaking which are often defined by people in power, politicians, journalists, wealthy people, etc. The combination of this course and being here have made me rethink how I perceive the way others use language and how it may vary from my linguistic background.

 

Judith Tafur

Hometown: Cali, Columbia

Major: Molecular and Cell Biology; French; Certificate in Biocore

Program: Academic Program in Aix-en-Provence