Massamba 1

Sadi Massamba
Professor Corri10 Ditch
English 113B
11 February 2015
Multicultural Communication

My family lifes culture reveals deeper truth about my family member and I, it is
something that we cannot deny. It can also be detect in many ways such as acting, talking and
our ways of viewing. My family is extremely talkative in French, and when I came to Pasadena I
had few to communicate with , I love to communicate and, although I faced many initial
challenges, moving to Pasadena has allowed me to communicate with a much more diverse
population and this has enriched my life. Communication can not only help you to reveal
yourself but I think it can also help you to connect with people or places.
Family culture values communication. My family always communicate their belief,
value, feelings, prospective. My family station is really rich because of communication. Moving
to Pasadena was a huge transition of my life, everything was different comparing to the one I
was used to. It all started that day in November, nine years ago. I couldnt connect with people,
my culture was unrevealed, and the combination of two cultures Parisian and American made it
hard for me to connect with people I was living with. I was placed in a situation where I had to
learn two cultures. Coming from a French country I couldnt speak or write English, not only
that but nobody I knew spoke French. During that time my culture was unrevealed because of
lack of communication, as Anastacia Kurylo the author of the article Culture and Communication
states that Culture is a product of Communication practice, and it cannot exist without people
commutating it in other word Kurylo is simply saying that while communicating people can

Massamba 2

easily know or learn about your culture, he is also saying that communication is very important
.so because of that my parents decided to send me to Pasadena High School, so I can learn how
to speak and write effectively.
It wasnt easy, I faced many challenges such as getting bad grades, no understanding
what my teachers, friends and colleagues were saying, also many foreigners get isolate by lack of
communication , as Smith Jack the author of Student Center Ends Foreigners Isolation claim
that Ive been here a year without so much as one American speaking to me. Such isolation as
this. In other word Jack is saying lack of communication can lead to isolation, true and I dialed
with that, this really affected my feeling, just because of that, by the end of my first semester I
ended up with 0.00 GPA, but I overcome all the obstacle, I created my own way of learning and
communicating just like Fan Shen the writer of the article The Classroom and the Wider Culture
did she claims Here is how I created my new English self. I played a game similar to ones
played by mental therapist. Fist I made a list of features about writing associated with my old
identity. Shen is saying that there are always a way out regardless of the challenges we may
face, there are always strategies that we can use to overcome the obstacle.so I did the something
I created my new methods .
And through hard work and determination, therefor I learned how to communicate and
overcome many other cultural obstacles and boast of a 4.00GPA. Here is how I created my
communication self, I stayed after school for tutoring and I used dictionary to translate words
from, because I wanted a change in my way of communicating and viewing things.
Looking back, I realized that the process of learning how to connect or communicate is
in fact a process of creating and defining a new identity. The whole process taught me I am
capable, I can do anything that I set my mind for.

Massamba 3

My hard work helped me to improve educational effectiveness, now I can communicate, I

can express myself not only with people of my age but with adults, more potential people can
easily see the strategies that I use to learn both ways Parisian and American cultures without
neglecting or forgetting my own culture, identity. In some ways I am lucky to move between
two worlds.at least my hips get acknowledge as beautiful claims Alisa Valdes the author of My
Hips, My Caderas. Valdes is saying that all the struggles ,hard time, challenges and bad feelings
that she had, when she was trying to fit in, to another culture that she wasnt use to made her feel
proud, she finds the importance of learning both cultures.
This is exactly how I feel now, the experience allows to cultural enrichment, it also made
me realized that I am capable and lucky to live with two different cultures Parisian and
Americans. And in my point of view I strongly believe that learning new things enriched people.
I cant say the same of other Parisians people but I still, believe that communication plays a big
role in our culture.

Massamba 4

Work cited
Smith, Jack, Student Center Ends Foreigners Isolation: COMPUS CENTER Los Angeles
Times (1923-current File), (1960):A1
Shen, Fan. The Classroom and the Wider Culture: Identity as a Key to Learning English
Composition. College Composition and Communication, 40.4(1989):459-466
Valdes, Alisa. My Hip, My Caderas: The Dirty Girls Social Club . Article (2003)
Kurylo, Anastacia. Culture and Communication: Marymount Manhattan College. Article
(2001)

Massamba 5

Sadi Massamba
Professor Corri Ditch
English 113B
08May 2015
Multicultural Communication

My family lifes culture reveals deeper truths about my family members and me, it is
something that we cannot deny. Culture can also be detect in many ways such as acting, talking
and our ways of viewing. My family is extremely talkative in French, and when I came to
Pasadena I had few to communicate with ;I love to communicate and, although I faced many
initial challenges, moving to Pasadena has allowed me to communicate with a much more
diverse population and this has enriched my life. Communication which I considered as my
family culture shaped me to person I am today. The cultural space helped to reveal my capacity
of writing and communicating it also connect me with diverse people.
My family culture values communication. My family always communicate their beliefs,
values, feelings, and prospectives. My family station is really rich because of communication.
One day my father received a letter saying that he was transferred to USA to work for the
Mennonites church. We were happy to hear about the promotion that my father had, but the
whole family did not want to relocate because we knew that coming to USA will cause us to
learn new language, which is not easy. So my mother though about all the struggles we will face
as a newcomer, and she told my father that she will stay to Paris and take care of the children.
Nut that did not work because the visa was for the entire family. We were used to Parisian
culture. Moving to US to be more specific in Pasadena was a huge transition in my life;
everything was different compared to what I was used to. It all started that day in November,

Massamba 6

nine years ago. I could not connect with people, my culture was unrevealed, since I did not know
how to speak English so it was impossible for people to t know about my culture or know about
me personally. The combination of two cultures Parisian and American made it hard for me to
connect with people I was living with. I was placed in a situation where I had to learn two
cultures. Coming from a French country I could not speak or write English, not only that but
nobody I knew spoke French. During that time my culture was unrevealed because of lack of
communication, as Anastacia Kurylo the author of the article Culture and Communication states
that Culture is a product of communication practice, and it cannot exist without people
commutating it in other words Kurylo is simply saying that while communicating people can
easily know or learn about your culture, he is also saying that communication is very important
.so because of that my parents decided to send me to Pasadena High School, so I can learn how
to speak and write effectively. But the two separate cultural space Parisian and American affected
each other in such a way that I could not believe. One day I was asked to read to the whole class
and I could not pronounce the cognate words, I pronounced them in French instead of English
and the whole class laughed at me, it embarrassed me, not only that but it also affected my ability
to learn. I did not want to read anymore even if I was chosen, I felt shy and I did not want to
speak during class time.
In addition, it wasnt easy, I faced many challenges such as getting bad grades, not
understanding what my teachers, friends and colleagues were saying. Also many foreigners get
isolated by lack of communication as Jack Smith the author of Student Center Ends Foreigners
Isolation claims that Ive been here a year without as much as one American speaking to me.
Such isolation as this. In other words Jack is saying a lack of communication can lead to
isolation, true and I had to deal with that, there were time that I felt like interacting with friends

Massamba 7

but I could not, they were all looking at me like I was a person who come from a planet that did
not exist yet. This really affected my feelings, I had nobody to talk to, and that made me loose
the desire of going to school. I will wake up some days and do not want to go to school, and I
skipped or ditched classes. Because of that, by the end of my first semester I ended up with 0.00
GPA, seeing 0.00GPA in my official transcript made me feel bad and my parents felt badly also.
But I overcome all the obstacles, I decided to restart participating in class, I did not care whether
my classmate laugh at me or not, I focused on the most important things. So I created my own
way of learning and communicating just like Fan Shen the writer of the article The Classroom
and the Wider Culture did she claims Here is how I created my new English self. I played a
game similar to ones played by mental therapist. Fist I made a list of features about writing
associated with my old identity. Shen is saying that there are always a way out regardless of the
challenges we may face, also having a different background can help while learning new things.
There are always strategies that we can use to overcome the obstacle.so I did the something I
created my new methods. I allowed no room of excuses, I stayed after school, I ask for help and I
also used my dictionary to translate new words that I did not know.
And through hard work and determination, therefor I learned how to communicate and
overcome many other cultural obstacles and boast of a 4.00GPA. Here is how I created my
communication self, I stayed after school for tutoring and I used dictionary to translate words
from, because I wanted a change in my way of communicating and viewing things. The decision
that I took, made my parents proud and my teachers, classmate wanted to know what I did to
boast of a 4.00 GPA.
Looking back, I realize that the process of learning how to connect or communicate is in
fact a process of creating and defining a new identity. The whole process tough me that I am

Massamba 8

capable, I can do anything that I set my mind for. My hard work helped me to improve
educational effectiveness, now I can communicate effectively, I can express myself not only
with people of my age but with adults, more potential people can easily see the strategies that I
use to learn both ways Parisian and American cultures without neglecting or forgetting my own
culture, identity. Valdes Alisa the author of My Hips, My Caderas claims In some ways I am
lucky to move between two worlds.at least my hips get acknowledge as beautiful. Valdes is
saying that all the struggles ,hard time, challenges and bad feelings that she had, when she was
trying to fit in, to another culture that she was not use to made her feel proud, she finds the
importance of learning both cultures.
I can also say the same thing, I am lucky to move between two different cultures, the two
cultures had shaped me to the person I am today. Communicating or interacting was a huge
problem that I was thinking about and I was trying to find ways to break the obstacle that I was
facing and I finally escape from that struggle, now I can communicate in both languages (French
and English) without confusing myself with cognate words. I am now more comfortable with
both cultures and I find the importance of learning both cultures. The experience allows to
cultural enrichment, it also made me realize that I am capable and lucky to live with two
different cultures Parisian and Americans. And in my point of view I strongly believe that
learning new things enriched people. I cant say the same of other Parisians people but I still,
believe that communication plays a big role in our culture.

Massamba 9

Works cited
Smith, Jack, Student Center Ends Foreigners Isolation: COMPUS CENTER Los Angeles
Times (1923-current File), (1960):A1
Shen, Fan. The Classroom and the Wider Culture: Identity as a Key to Learning English
Composition. College Composition and Communication, 40.4(1989):459-466
Valdes, Alisa. My Hip, My Caderas: The Dirty Girls Social Club . Article (2003)
Kurylo, Anastacia. Culture and Communication: Marymount Manhattan College. Article
(2001)