Question by : PLEASE help. Studying Overseas. Need translation help from students who don’t like me. What do I do?
Me: Born and bred in USA, but studying Med in another country (my parents sent me here, but I chose to do med).
I found it very hard to integrate with everyone, as they’re culturally very conservative, and totally different to me. I’m now in 3rd year, and entered the clinical phase, which requires us to clerk history from the patients. I’m trying to learn the language but I just can’t talk fluently or understand what the patients say and really need someone to translate.
Problem: I’ve been sidelined in my batch since first year (as did the few other foreigners, who either ended up quitting or dropping year). I tried mixing with my fellow group mates, but they all tend to just ignore me and throw me aside. It’s like they look for every tiny excuse they can find to pick a fight with me (e.g. them calling me a liar if they find me doing better than them at an exam, claiming that I pretended I never studied; my fluency in english and american accent equate to me showing off; etc etc). When they find a reason to argue, if I stand up for myself, they refuse to translate all together. They’ll refuse to discuss anything with me. Unlike in USA, resources aren’t available on an intranet..we have to rely on seniors or fellow students..and that’s the problem.
In summary, I’m forced to rely on people who deliberately ignore me. It’s a classic case of workplace mobbing or bullying, because I’m the odd one out and I have nothing to offer them (e.g. I won’t be specializing in their country to refer patients to them; nor do I have a car with the local license so that I can offer a lift; etc.). All this is causing me a great deal of stress, but I don’t want to give up, because I came this far, and really want to be a doctor. This college doesn’t have any counsellor who can intervene, or any real system in place to deal with this kind of stuff.
Please…any sensible suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Best answer:
Answer by marys.momma
It sounds as though you’ve been doing well in your class work so far. It’s mainly conversational skills in the foreign language that are the problem now.
My suggestion: Get hold of some language CDs or tapes and allocate time to study the language. Your accent and vocabulary will improve, and you’ll be able to construct sentences and questions. When I studied a foreign language, I memorized quite a few “model sentences”, each of which illustrated several points of grammar. They were a good learning device.
Don’t argue or fight with your classmates – it’s not worth the trouble. There was a movie that came out last year: “Karate Kid” starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith. A black, pre-teen boy travels to China with his mom, who has a new job there. He’s enrolled in a Chinese school, but is shunned and bullied by the other boys, and eventually even attacked. Jackie Chan, in the role of a maintenance man, rescues him and befriends him, gradually teaching him more and more advanced martial arts skills. Eventually he gets good enough to compete in a high-level tournament, and wins the respect of his former tormentors. He had to adapt to the culture and learn the language, to earn the respect of the other students.
With your evident intelligence and sophistication, I believe you can overcome the obstacles facing you. Don’t give up! You’re doing very, very well under difficult circumstances.
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