Personal Narrative: My Experience With An Immigrant

I interviewed an immigrant from Japan, which I will call Ms. M in this essay. Ms. M is 48 years old and came to the United States in 2011. She left her home country with her husband and two daughters. She expected to adapt a completely different lifestyle in America. She also assumed that she and her two daughters would need to learn English when they arrive. When she arrived to the United States, she immediately struggled with language. She only learned simple English when she was young. Because she’s a mother, she went to public areas, like shops and bus stops. She always experienced troubles with understanding what the cashier said or what the other mothers were talking when she waited for her daughters at the bus stop. She quotes “English sounded like music rather than a language”. She was not only worried about herself, but she was also concerned with her daughters at school because she was not able to communicate with the teacher due to the language barrier. She oftentimes experienced discrimination when she went to the cashier at some stores. She would always say “Hello” to the cashier, but some do not reply. They treat her as though she is not a customer and when a white customer is next, the cashier changes his or her attitude and treat them politely. She sees these kinds of difference in attitude when she is in public. She
never experienced discrimination in Japan one because she was a native there, and two because the services in Japan were all nice and polite to any customer. Ms. M feels that being an American requires the love for America and its culture. She thinks the ethnicity or background of a person does not matter as long as they feel like they belong in the country. As an immigrant, Ms. M thinks America is a country supported by immigrants, so retaining one’s cultural traditions is nothing wrong and it should be retained to make America’s culture more rich. She believes that the United States should continue to have an open-door policy for anyone to sustain the rich culture supported by variety of immigrants. I can personally relate to Ms.
M’s experience because I did move from Japan a couple of years ago. I agree with her in that we faced challenges because of the language barrier. I did not learn English until I moved here so it was hard to adapt to the new culture. Although we are in a similar situation, I believe that Ms. M went through more challenges because she was not able to go to school. I went to a public middle school so I got to talk and listen to many English speaking people, so compared to her conditions in learning English, I had an advantage. I also did not experience any kind of discrimination due to my
nationality. In addition, I agree with Ms. M’s idea that America is supported by immigrants. I strongly believe that accepting a variety of immigrants have a positive effect on the country as a whole. It is true that some ethnicities or religious groups are undergoing constant discrimination, but it is important to understand and accept other cultures for the benefit of American culture. Through this interview I was able to hear another perspective of moving to America and share my experience as well.