Page 10 - ADU Voice Volume 3 Issue 2

10 voice · FALL 2023

But having never lived in
Pakistan, I am nowhere near

as fluent as my parents are,
nor do I sound like a native
speaker. I am also an interme-
diate Arabic speaker, having
lived in an Arab country for
half of my life. The capacity
to adapt to different contexts
and effectively communicate
with immigrant elders and
peers via multiple languages
comes at the cost of master-
ing any one language. For

third culture children, this
frequently results in sound-
ing less like their community
of origin, and more like the
dominant group in the host
country.

Personally, I am not Arab in

any way; however, I have
spent the last nine years of my
life on Arab soil, experienc-
ing Arab culture, and learning
how to speak Arabic. Although
I have no claim on the culture, it has still made children find it hard to relate or relocate to
a significant, irreversible impact on my per- their passport country because they have
sonality, and I find myself identifying with attained so many experiences, while missing
it more and more every day. This attribute out on the key childhood events experienced
of understanding and relating with a third by nationals. To some extent, I find it easy to
culture is what differentiates me and other relate to other Pakistani-Americans; how-
third culture children from our SGI counter- ever, it is easy to feel like an outlier among

parts who have not lived abroad. SGIs and people who have had a different childhood
third culture children have very different environment than you. Fortunately, having
relationships with their respective passport lived in an Arab country, I am now better
countries. An SGI is born and raised within able to relate to my Arab American friends,
the same country which creates a grounded and find it easier to grasp the cultural differ-
sense of patriotism. However, third culture ences between both groups.