Filed under:mylene
This weekend I’ll be celebrating 30 years in the USA. On January 8th, 1981 - my plane landed at JFK Airport in New York City. The USA became ‘home’ for me, although I did not know it at the time my plane had landed. My intentions were to learn English, go to a good advertising university, work for about 5 years, and then go back home,to Puerto Rico. However, life had other plans for me. It all began when I met my husband in our last semester in college, at Syracuse University. From that point on, my commitment to the USA became stronger and this country ended up becoming my home forever.
I can not believe that it has been 30 years now. My memories of the ‘big move’ to the ‘big apple’ are still pretty vivid. The road I’ve traveled in the USA has had its ‘ups and downs’, along with some curves, valleys, and numerous hills along the way (steep hills I should add) but I’ve traveled it all a-mile-at-a-time, and never losing the momentum needed to reach my final destination…my goals. I truly wouldn’t trade the road I’ve chosen for anything in the world. It’s been a good road thus far. Yes, it is true. The USA is the ‘land of opportunity’. If you have dreams, if you work hard and don’t deviate from those dreams, you can make them come true. Motivation, persistence, hard work and high standards have been my key to accomplishing my goals. Also, the people I have met along the way have been a blessing in my life, and have made it a better road for me. Since this blog has a bilingual theme to it, I’ve thought that to commemorate my special moving date, that I would share some of my personal stories, which I’ve included in previous blogs. Hope you can learn something from my experiences, and that they give you hope. May they help you in your path to becoming bilingual, help you in assisting someone who wants to become bilingual, or in accomplishing your own goals and dreams. Thank you for being an avid reader of this blog and for being a part of BilingualJobFair.com.
Below are some of my previous blogs, which include some of my personal stories:
HAPPY 2011. HERE’S A TOAST TO ANOTHER 30 YEARS IN THE USA!
January 7, 2011
The entire team at Bilingual Job Fair wishes you a Happy Holiday Season and a Happy New Year. May 2010 be a successful year in your life, and may you exceed each one of your goals!
December 23, 2009
After attending college for several months and taking the English course, it was time to spread my wings. The faculty at the college felt like our group had learned enough English and was ready for the real world in the United States. One of the things I realized was that I had to say good bye to many new friends. I was headed to Syracuse University and most of my new friends were staying near New York City, and continuing with their plans there. I also realized that my bus ride was coming to an end, because I was headed to upstate New York.
Saying good bye to Mr. Brown that morning was not going to be easy. It was the last day of my English course. He knew today was the last day I would be on his bus. So did I. We had discussed it a few times in the last several weeks.
Mr. Brown got to the bus stop a little earlier than usual this morning. Only two of us were waiting for him. I had already explained to the other passenger that today was my last day in school. I had seen her before and Mr. Brown had ‘made me’ talk to her, as well as to other bus passengers. I explained to the lady that this morning, I had to say good bye to my friend, Mr. Brown.
As he reached the bus stop, he opened the door and smiled at me and said, “Good morning, Mylene”. He was not quite himself this morning, I thought, because he didn’t quite give me his warm smile. I said, “Good morning” back to him, and entered the bus. We had to wait a few minutes for other passengers, since he was a little early. We started to talk about the last few months. He sounded kind of depressed and didn’t want to talk that much this morning. I tried to cheer him up by getting my camera out. Of course, I wanted a picture of ‘my first friend in the USA’!
Mr. Brown was so nice to me for all of these months. He didn’t really want me to take his picture but I did it anyway. About four other people entered the bus and we drove off. I said to myself: “My last ride with Mr. Brown has just begun”. I sat near the front, as I recall, but neither one of us said much. The only person that knew what was going on was the other lady, whom I had told before. The rest of the people didn’t know why Mr. Brown and I were so quiet this morning. We reached the college. As I walked by him, when I was leaving the bus, I gave him a hug and thanked him for being so nice to me. He said to me then, “You are going to be somebody, Mylene, because of your enthusiasm and your desire to succeed. You will see. One day you will be. Mark my words”. That’s how much Mr. Brown believed in me.
At this point, I thanked him again and we hugged each other. When I got out of the bus, I had a lump in my throat. I watched the bus ‘leave me’. “Adiós, Mr. Brown. And thanks for being a good friend.”
Our lives in America were about to go on. A ‘chapter’ of our lives was ending and a new chapter was about to begin.
***
(Part 1 of this story is here.)
September 15, 2009
Once I made the decision to move to the States, there was no turning back. My airplane, headed for New York, reached twenty five thousand feet altitude and I had just said good bye to my family and friends. At this point, I could no longer see the blue ocean that surrounds the island of Puerto Rico, or the palm trees, the tall buildings, or any roads in San Juan. What worried me the most though was leaving my loved ones behind. I was not going to be able to see them every day anymore… my parents, my friends, or my neighbors. I only knew about five people in the entire state of New York; and in the whole USA, for that matter. How was I going to make it? I did not know.
I guess the flight attendant could see the emotion in my face, and she smiled at me several times throughout the trip. I smiled back at her through my tears. It seemed like I had gone through about twenty tissues so far. But I kept encouraging myself because I was determined to learn English and to become bilingual.
As soon as I arrived in New York City, I looked for and enrolled in an intensive English course. On the day of my first class, after walking ten blocks and having to wait for the bus, I wanted to sit down. Well, I was out of luck this particular morning because the available seats were all in the very front of the bus, where I thought, handicapped and older people sat. The bus driver looked at me and offered me a seat in one of the front seats. He gestured for me to sit. So, I did. I smiled at him in return and he looked at me several times from his rear view mirror, to see how his ‘new passenger’ was doing. I think that he knew this ‘bus routine’ was all new to me. He was about fifty-five years old and a true gentleman. He had a very warm smile. Unbeknownst to him, he made me feel at ease with my first bus ride in New York City.
When I reached my college, I smiled at the bus driver when I was getting out of the bus, and he smiled back. The next morning, he was my bus driver again. This time, I noticed his name tag. His name was ‘Mr. Brown’. He remembered me from the day before, and smiled really big this time. The bus was kind of empty the second day. It turned out that the day before there was a mechanical problem with another bus and Mr. Brown had ‘inherited’ a lot of other passengers from the other bus. But they were not there this particular day. Today there was ‘Mr. Brown’ and about ten other passengers. There was a lot more room on the bus. But I sat in the front again anyway.
Mr. Brown looked at me and asked me, “What’s your name?” I understood that, and answered, “Mylene”. By my face, I guess he realized that I was afraid to speak English back to him. He then asked me, “Learning English?” I understood that too. I answered, “Yes, sir”. He smiled and kept driving the rest of the way. Every day, afterwards, I looked forward to seeing Mr. Brown.
As time went by, he kept asking me different things, about what I was learning in my classes, and about new words I had learned recently. I particularly remember when I was learning the alphabet; how I would practice with him and how he would ‘correct’ my English. I also remember when I was learning the names of different fruits. I would practice my pronunciation with him and he would be happy and proud for me. We also practiced ‘telling time’, as I was learning how to read my watch. He would always ask me, “What time is it, Mylene?” and I would look at my watch and respond. For months we did this. He enjoyed it as much as I did. I would pay for a seat on the bus, but I would never sit. I would just stand up near Mr. Brown, near a pole, in front of the bus, for the duration of the bus ride, about half an hour each and every morning.
Mr. Brown gave me so much courage to continue to learn and to do well. He would give me such big smiles when I pronounced words and phrases correctly.
By the end of three months, Mr. Brown kept saying that I had to stop talking to him and start talking to the other passengers on the bus. He kept saying that he loved talking to me but that I was ready for the rest of the world now. He was so pleased with my progress. He gave me so much positive reinforcement. More than he will ever know! Without him or me knowing it, he became my first friend in the USA! Mr. Brown, yes, he was my first friend in the United States. And I will never forget what he did for me, when I needed him the most.
Note: Part 2 of ‘My first friend in the US’ is coming. Mr. Brown’s story continues…
You can read about what motivated me to become bilingual here. I’ve written about the five stages you go through to become bilingual here.
September 10, 2009
Today I will share a personal story with you. A story that brings back lots of memories and one that changed the course of my life. This is the story of what motivated me to become bilingual.
First of all, let me share with you that when I was in high school, I was totally certain that knowing Spanish was good enough for me, and that I didn’t have to learn English to be successful. But my life took a different path when reality struck one Wednesday afternoon.
While finishing up my Associate degree with a concentration in advertising in Puerto Rico, I did an internship at a large advertising agency on the island. It was during my last semester.
From day one, I liked the people at the advertising agency and felt welcomed by everyone. I asked to be in the creative department of the agency because I wanted to write commercials, which is called ‘copywriter’ in the advertising industry.
One of the senior copywriters at the agency was Ms. Perez. She was creative and had earned the respect of everyone in the creative department. Ms. Perez was also bilingual… and I guess that she didn’t think much of people who were not.
Over the course of my internship, I participated in many creative projects and felt comfortable with my writing, with my ideas, and with what I was learning at the advertising agency. One of the things I noticed was that the copywriters had to translate their ads into English because most of the clients were American and only spoke English.
In the process, I kept joking with myself and everyone in the department about not knowing much English, and about being glad that I didn’t have to translate anything for the clients. However, after three months of the internship, I got a harsh reality check one afternoon.
This particular day, Ms. Perez told me that to complete my internship, I had to translate a Kraft Cheese commercial from Spanish into English. She said: “You keep saying that you don’t know English, and I want to test you to see just ‘how bad’ your English really is.” I laughed and replied: “You will find out.”
I went to a desk and started the translation. Soon thereafter, I realized that I hardly knew any of the words. Once I finished the Kraft Cheese translation of the print advertisement, I couldn’t help but notice that 90% of the words were blank. I simply didn’t know the words. I reviewed the ad one more time, and was still teasing myself, like “you see. I’m really bad. I don’t know much English.” Well, what happened next is what changed the course of my life.
Ms. Perez asked me to come in into her office. I gave her the piece of paper, the translated Kraft commercial… which had little lines across each row, which represented the words I didn’t know. Ms. Perez looked at the paper, and noticed the blank lines, and then looked at me in disbelief. She stared at the piece of paper, for what seemed like an hour to me. She finally looked up at me. Her face got red. Her eyes got big. And she said (I really should say ‘yelled’ here): “My son, who is four years old, knows more English than you do.” And then she threw the piece of paper across her desk, in what seemed to me like a state of fury. The jovial Mylene couldn’t believe what just happened. I didn’t know what to say or what to do next. She said it loud enough for everyone in the creative department to hear it. I was embarrassed, hurt, and shocked. I waited a few seconds (again, it seemed like an hour to me) and then I picked up my stuff and left Ms. Perez’s office. This was a Wednesday and I only had two more days to complete my internship.
My drive home was a very emotional one, to say the least. I had so many tears in my eyes that I could not see. Ms. Perez had just embarrassed me, but she had also told me the truth. A child who was four years old knew more English than me. I was quiet and subdued for the next few days.
Two weeks later, I announced to my parents, and to my sister & brother, over dinner: “I’m going to move to the States and learn English.” My Mother’s quick response was: “Yeah and we just hit the lottery jackpot last night.”
Over the next few weeks, my parents realized that I was not joking, that I was going to learn English, and that I was moving to the states. The family got behind my new dreams and we made plans for my big move to the US.
Initially, I thought that Ms. Perez had ruined my life, with her tough words. But soon after that rough afternoon, I realized that she was right; that I couldn’t make it in the advertising world without speaking English and becoming bilingual.
After the college internship, I moved to New York City and enrolled in an intensive English course. My fellow students were from all over the world. Our common thread was that we had just arrived in the US and we all wanted to learn English.
After the intensive English course, I continued on to get a BS Degree with an advertising major at Syracuse University. With only one semester left, guess what I did? I called Ms. Perez up and set up an appointment with her, while on a Christmas break in Puerto Rico. She was nice to me when I called her. I went to see her at the advertising agency. I took a piece of paper and imitated what she did to me, and I used the same words she used with me. She felt bad for what she had said. I told her that this was not my intention, to make her feel bad, but instead, that I wanted to thank her because if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have had the desire or the courage to become bilingual. We had a great meeting, and she realized that I was thankful for her frankness, and for what she had done for my life.
This story serves to show all of us; life can make you bitter or can make you better. I chose the latter. I became bilingual, worked in the radio market in Virginia (in English), and later on, formed my bilingual advertising company and the Bilingual Job Fair, where we connect employers and bilingual candidates.
Thank you Ms. Perez. You truly changed the course of my life… and made me better prepared for the world.
Today I’m fully bilingual. I went through five steps to become bilingual, which I shared in this post. Also, if you want to learn more about the advantages of being bilingual, you can read more here.
September 3, 2009
Most people have the desire to learn two languages and realize that it takes a large degree of commitment to be able to do so. Becoming bilingual is a process. I have broken the process down into five stages, and explained each one below.
Here are the 5 stages I believe people go through before becoming bilingual:
STAGE 1: The Terrified Stage
You want to learn the new language, yet you are afraid to speak it. You want to ‘try it’ but are frightened that you will not sound right or that people will laugh at you, or that they won’t understand what you’re saying. You freeze up and do not try. You get a bit frustrated with yourself because you feel like you’re not trying hard enough. You surround yourself with people who speak your original language, so you can stay in your comfort zone. In the meantime, you’re not learning as much as you should because you’re only associating yourself with people who speak your native language.
STAGE 2: The ‘Try a Bit More’ Stage
You are still afraid, but you try to speak the new language sometimes. When you say something wrong, or people don’t understand you, they say: “Pardon me, can you say that again?” or “What was that again?” or “Excuse me. Can you say that again?” And you repeat what you said. In the process, you get a bit of what I call a ‘complex’, because you know that people do not understand what you’re saying. You also understand that you have an accent, which leads to…
STAGE 3: The ‘I am different and I have an accent’ Syndrome Stage
You realize that you sound different among the people who speak your new language and you develop a concern about it. You want to sound ‘normal’ and not to be asked “where are you from?” or be told “you sound so cute”. By people saying this to you, it makes you realize over and over that you’re ‘different’ and that everyone realizes that you are not from ‘around here’. At this stage you realize that you must try harder and start speaking in the new language. You are starting to form a new world speaking a new language, while keeping in touch with your old world and with your native tongue.
STAGE 4: The Assimilation Stage
You realize that yes, you are ‘different’ but that you will be okay. You start talking more and more in the new language and your ‘accent syndrome’ starts going away. Acceptance sets in. You become fluent in the second language and start feeling comfortable with who you are and how you talk to others. You are now feeling better about your new skill.
STAGE 5: The Bilingual Stage
Yes, you have made it. You can now switch from language to language. Sometimes you realize that your thoughts came into your head in the new language, and you smile. You come to terms with the fact that you might have an accent, but it doesn’t really matter! You are proud that you persevered and learned a new language. Lots of people want to do it, but you got it done.
It takes an enormous amount of time, discipline, commitment, and desire to be able to learn a new language. Lots of people want to do it, but not all learn to be bilingual. Congratulations if you did – and congratulations if you made it to ‘Stage 5’. It’s a good feeling, isn’t it? Been there, done that… and I feel proud of it myself.
If you recognize these stages, if you categorized the stages differently, or if you have any funny stories or thoughts, please share them!
August 25, 2009
When I was growing up, my parents’ best friend was totally bilingual. She was fluent in English and in Spanish. I remember hearing her switch languages at the blink of an eye. It seemed to come naturally to her. I remember saying to myself “wouldn’t it be great to speak two languages.” But of course, like many people, I wasn’t disciplined enough to ‘study English’. It wasn’t until I entered the advertising world that I had to learn English. Now, I’m so glad to be bilingual.
Here are some of the advantages I found:
- You can have a bilingual business and offer services in two languages. I have a translation and an advertising business. New doors opened for me.
- I’m able to do complete advertising campaigns in two languages.
- I can interpret. One incident that comes to mind happened in the New York City subway. A Spanish speaking person passed out and as they came to, I was able to interpret the person’s symptoms, for the paramedics, on the spot. I’ve been in many situations like this. When someone calls out ‘does anyone speak Spanish?’ I have been able to help.
- When my husband and I went to Spain, I was able to communicate with everyone and learn more about their culture. It was fun to go to the Tapas bars in Barcelona and Madrid, and be able to surprise the wait staff, by switching from talking to my husband in English, to speaking to the wait staff in Spanish. My parents’ best friend came to mind. Now, I was able to do it as well.
- Because I speak Spanish, I can also understand some Italian and some Portuguese.
- And the advantages go on and on.
Am I glad that I learned English? Yes. No doubts. It’s been a wonderful new life to be bilingual. Hablo inglés y español. Y me gusta. Thank you. Muchas gracias.
Please share your comments as to what you find beneficial about being bilingual.
July 13, 2009
When you call a lot of companies these days; you get the same message: “For Spanish – Press 2”. What does this mean to you if you are bilingual and speak English & Spanish? It means more employment opportunities.
There are many fields for bilingual people these days, such as nursing, (hospitals in general; customer service, billing, ER, and others), retailers need bilingual people, telecommunications companies, insurance companies, banks, human resources departments, call centers; to name a few.
Share your thoughts on being bilingual and the experiences you’ve had in which being bilingual was advantageous. Did you interpret on the scene for someone sick? Did you help someone with directions, or were you able to help someone at the store?
June 30, 2009
When we brainstormed for our Bilingual Job Fair slogan, we came up with a couple of dozen good choices, and in the end, we selected “Changing Lives” because that’s what we all wanted to do. Our goal has always been to connect good bilingual candidates with great companies. From the stories we’ve heard in the last couple of years, I would say that we have been successful.
Following are a couple of stories, where we ‘changed lives’. First, I will share a story of a bilingual candidate. Then, I’ll share a story about a major US company, which was having a hard time finding qualified bilingual employees.
The first story is about the bilingual candidate, seeking employment, at one of our Bilingual Job Fair events. I was being interviewed by a local radio station, and I noticed this young man watching the interview, while I was talking live on the air. When we completed the interview, the young man approached me and said: “I just asked in the registration area who was the creator and organizer of this great event, and they told me that it was you. Is that correct?” I said, “Yes, how can I help you?” The young gentleman proceeded to thank me for putting the event together, for the great idea – and for thinking of the bilingual people of the world. He spoke English and Spanish and was American. I told him that based on the responses I had received, that I was glad to have done it. Then I asked him, not expecting the response I would get, “Well, did you get yourself a job today?”
To my surprise, he said “As a matter of fact, I just did.” And he was smiling big. At first, I thought that he was kidding and I asked him “Are you serious?” And he said “Yes, I start training next Tuesday”…at _____ (he mentioned one of the major banks in the US). When I realized that he wasn’t joking, I couldn’t help myself but to give him a congratulatory hug.
That night, I was exhausted, after being up for 19 straight hours; and I thought to myself “It was all worthwhile. Many candidates connected with companies and some even found new jobs today. We did help that gentleman’s life.”
Another story that I heard relates to a major telecommunications company in the USA. The HR manager told me that in the previous year, they had spent something like ten (or twenty) thousand dollars while trying to locate and hire bilingual employees. She said that at the Bilingual Job Fair, it took her two hours to have the same number of qualified applicants than it did the whole previous year put together. Then she said, “You let us know of future Bilingual Job Fairs and we will be there.”
When we hear stories like these, we realize that we are truly ‘changing lives’. That recruiter’s life had just become easier. The young gentleman might have found his dream job. Yes, we are ‘changing lives’ – and our team wouldn’t have it any other way.
June 25, 2009
