Living Through Language

Jakub Havlik Jakub Havlik, a second year student from Mnichovo, Hradiště, Czechia (The Czech Republic) on exchange from University Vysoka Skola Ekonomicka (Prague University of Economics and Business) says he has “always been surrounded by different aspects of his culture his entire life.”

With a Czech background from his father and Slovakian from his mother, although growing up in Czechia, his mother always maintained their Slovakian traditions. “She was very adamant about us not watching many of the American programs such as Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. She didn’t care much for them, and she much rather preferred that we watch our Slovakian fairytales and programs to become more in-tune with our Slovakian language,” says Havlik.

“As we were once occupied by Russia and Germany, we fought for our country and our language and I’m proud that our people were able to come together to do so,” says Havlik. He says as children, because there were so many rules with the language it was difficult to have that drive to want to learn just because of how specific things were, but looking back at it he’s glad he put in the work to grasp it fully.

“It’s special, and when I can communicate with my friends and family through [Czech] and speaking it gives me a sense of home,” says Havlik.

His knowledge of Hawaiian culture and language was very limited at first but like the others, he is so interested in learning more about it.

Caitlyn O’Dell Caitlyn O’Dell, a third year student from Horseheads, New York on exchange from Ithaca college says as an American, she has made it her responsibility to immerse herself in the culture by “interacting with people who have lived here for most of their life or just recently and spend time with them.” With a vaguely Scottish background, O’Dell says that experiencing their culture through Scottish people is what matters most.

“From joining one of the clubs here, I was able to befriend a woman named Ivana who has lived here for quite some time and have dinner with her and another friend of hers who brought a traditional Scottish dessert made from her grandmother’s recipe. From this experience alone, learning the different aspects of their culture has been so great thus far,” she says. She shares that there isn’t much about the Hawaiian culture that she knows, but she’s so interested in learning much more about it.

“Other than the stereotypical tropical nature you see on TV, there isn’t much that I know but I would be so interested to expand my knowledge beyond a surface level of understanding,” says O’Dell.

Some of the traditions she shares curiosity about are our traditional practices, what aspects create our identity, how birthdays and other celebrations are celebrated, and simply how day to day life is lived.

She understands the importance of identity with language, and the traditional Gaelic language of the Scottish people not being very common is something that deeply saddens her.

“The idea of that language going extinct is very sad because it is a part of people’s history and losing that is very important, it’s a part of people and their identity. Even if you’re not a part of, it’s interesting to learn about and always has been to humans as a whole,” says O’Dell. As an American, she has a great sense of the privilege she obtains in this ever changing world. In terms of colonisation of other countries, she shares that “we as Americans don’t know everything.”

“America has this idea that we know what we’re talking about when it comes to nearly everything. I think our government sees it as the best option for everyone and that’s why they try to make other country’s influence affect the way we do things with them. We don’t know everything and it’s not our right to influence the way other people exist, especially when they don’t ask us to,” says O’Dell.

Hannah Mros Hannah Mros, a first year Graduate student from Växjö, Sweden on exchange from University of Gothenburg says, “I like that my culture is very open and accepting of people in general.”

“I think we as a people are very open about different ideas, cultures, things changing and forward thinking. There’s also not a lot of people who speak Swedish, and to me it’s a very happy sounding language,” says Mros.

In order to maintain her connection to her Swedish roots while away, she says “I try to listen to a lot of Swedish podcasts and such and also calling people and speaking in my native tongue.”

Her knowledge of Hawaiʻi is very surface level, for example all of the different islands, the diversity in nature and the people that live there, and how each place has its own identity.

Similarly to OʻDell, she is interested in broadening her awareness of Hawaiian culture through our traditions, holidays and values.

“I imagine that it would be a culture where its people and the land they live off of are interconnected, and I would love to learn more about that especially as it isn’t something I grew up learning,” says Mros.

She says that having an understanding of your culture and language plays a big part with your identity.

“With language I feel like I’m pretty fluent in English but I know I won’t be able to grasp everything fully because it isn’t my native language. Since English is so common, you have to learn it. You won’t get anywhere without it,” says Mros.

Kathryn Douglas Kathryn Douglas, a third year student from West Chester, Pennsylvania on exchange from Susquehanna University says, “culture has also been something I have sought out.” Although living in America, she stays true to her other heritages despite not living and growing up in the environments they took up.

“Living in America, it feels like we don’t have much of a culture. I am 50% Scottish, 45% Irish, 3% Welsh and 2% Norwegian and I wasn’t able to learn much about it growing up, so I had to seek it out and learn about it myself.”

She has a good foundation of understanding of Hawaiian culture, and similarly to the others she is more than willing to learn more. “I know that you guys were forcibly colonized and do not identify as Americans. A couple of years ago, I had also seen people saying native Hawaiians didn’t want tourists going to Hawaiʻi, and the increasing amount of your homeless population,” says Douglas.

She says that food would be the number one thing she would love to learn more about Hawaiian culture.

“I feel like food says a lot about general culture. Potatoes are important to Irish culture because that’s all we had, and with haggis it’s important because we were colonized and were so poor. Every item has a story and I would love to learn more about Hawaiʻi’s,” she shares.

She says that the importance of cultivating all aspects of someone’s culture is that it captures history. In terms of colonisation to her own culture, Douglas says that, “The British committed a genocide against the Irish. It was not a famine it was a genocide. The Brits took the potatoes and sold them for profit instead of feeding their own people.”

She also adds that “I think I have a lot of empathy and rage on behalf of other oppressed people because of my heritage and how my ancestors were victims of British colonialism. As a white woman in America, I want to help stand up against oppression in the U.S”.

“I am an activist in every sense,” says Douglas.