English is the most important language that international students need to learn to fit in the college life. It may appear simple and a walk through the park for the students already familiar with it, but then again this comes as a tough area for most students that have spent their entire lives talking another language.
The light and simple words that we are used to change all the time. An innocent Chinese student will join a college in America, feeling ready and excited to start his/her new life, only to find out the years spent in college will be the toughest to ever experience. Hi, hello, goodbye, good morning are what we think is normal English. Try living life in a college as an international student and discover that these simple and straight forward words will be transformed due to the unexpected facts about the English language that a college student possesses.
Fitting in a university far away from home is a hard task in itself, not to mention the complicated changes made to English language that only the natives understand well enough. For instance, “to play booty” means “to play a game with the intention of losing.” To snirtle is to try to suppress a laugh, which is a word mostly, used by the youth. Can you find it in traditional English language books?
International students are mostly confused when it comes to communicating. But on the other hand, how do you expect them to communicate and mingle with the rest? I bet you wouldn’t walk a 100 meters through any college hallway not overhearing some slang being used. The use of these common words can be viewed as some sort of way to sideline oneself to a particular class of people or society. Abbreviated words like BRB meaning Be Right Back, TTYL standing for Talk to You Later, and WBY meaning What About You? are being used everywhere one goes. Though they are quite common to many, they become confusing when used in every day’s conversation especially to people whom are not well conversant with the communication liaison. For example, “Rebecca” is a verb meaning to destroy a gate. Who even knew that? To anyone’s concern, Rebecca is a girl’s name. Social networks like Facebook, MySpace, twitter to name a few are the leading places where unexpected abbreviations are formulated. It presents users with features that allow them to invite friends only in groups segregating themselves from the rest where the words they choose to communicate with is only understood by them. The pep for pep talk is an abbreviation for pepper. Really? Pupa phobia is said to be the fear of dolls and puppets. A callomaniac is word used to call someone who thinks that they’re more beautiful than they actually are. All this unexpected facts about English don’t make it easier for the international students to fit in.
It is apparent that the knowledge about this language must be freshened up all the time. But despite the random changes in the English language over the years, it remains an interesting language to all nationalities. Its changes and new words that come up every year show that it is a widely spoken language with many international students wanting to learn it.
