“Home Isn’t a Place, It’s the People”: Three Students Reflect on Language and Belonging

In this episode, ROOTS had the opportunity to speak to three students, currently residing in the United States, who come from different cultural backgrounds. 

As peers from the same secondary school, this piece aims to provide snapshots to explore the different ways these students express their identity. 

The first student comes from a Spanish-Basque background, where her sense of identity is strongly intertwined with her unique connection to three languages. 

What role does language play in your sense of identity or home?

That’s a pretty interesting question because I believe that, well, I speak three languages. I speak Spanish and Italian, which I use with my parents. Basque, which I use for school, is good with my parents.

In formal places, I speak English. I use English here in the U.S. because people typically speak English. I believe my personality is kind of the same in all three languages. But, for example, I feel that I’m smarter in Basque or Spanish. When I speak English at school, I associate the language with getting grades and being a good student. I always speak Basque in school, and I always do my school work in Basque. 

Yet, I also feel I can be more sociable when speaking English, because that’s what I’ve done since I came to the U.S. 

I feel more freedom to write in Spanish. I have always loved writing. 

What does home mean to you today? 

Right now, after being a student living without my family, I’ve realized that even though I like my bedroom, my belongings, and my school, those things aren’t what matter most. Material things are easy to replace and are available anywhere. What you can’t easily change or replace are the people closest to you: your friends and your family.

For me, home is made up of the people who make me feel comfortable, even here. That includes people I didn’t even know a year ago. People from Spain who are here make me feel safe and loved. Home isn’t a specific place or object, but the people who give you that sense of belonging.

The second student comes from a Ukrainian background. 

So how do you explain your identity when someone asks, where are you from?

So when someone asks me where I’m from, I always say Ukraine because almost all of my life, I have lived there, and I grew up there. I left the country when I was 13, and since then, uh, I lived in a few different countries, but it’s still my home. 

Can you tell me about where you grew up and where your family originally came from?

So, I’m from Ukraine. I grew up there and lived for 13 years. My parents are also Ukrainian. My grandfather is Polish, so I have been in Poland a lot, a lot, and I study the Polish language.

The third student comes from a Turkic ethnic group, while seeing herself as part Kazakh, with roots also extending to African culture. 

How would you describe your culture, background, or identity in your own words?

I am a girl who has a culture that came from a Turkic ethnic group. So, it is part of my life. Currently, I am sitting in an American High School, and I am a Kazakh. We share different similarities with other Central Asian countries, and I also identify myself as a Central Asian.

What role does language play in your sense of identity or home?

So, as a person who knows 3 languages and is currently learning my 4th language, it is very hard for me to connect because sometimes I could forget, uh, some of the words and know them in another language, which makes it really hard to communicate. But, uh, it is scary, taking me, sometimes I feel like, like, which is taking me away from my culture, a little, because I still have an accent and then English, and that is noticeable that I’m not from here.

However, in my native language, I sometimes have struggles with communicating and learning these languages. But it is a part of big part of my life since I communicated 3 languages.

I could use them at the time, and I find people that I can share my thoughts with in 3 different languages, and I really appreciate that. And I just love sharing my culture, knowing language, meeting people, and I speak the same language as I do again, plus currently exploring, and now that languages is very exciting for me, and that’s part of my little period, multiple languages, so I can communicate whatever I want with whoever I want, possibly finding more advantages around my life.

Through these short segments, we understand that identity manifests itself in different experiences, languages, and familial backgrounds.