Saniya: "I Would Be A Complete Different Person If Not My Multicultural Background."

Interviewer 记者: Benetta

Translator 翻译: Benetta

Editor 编辑: Benetta

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ENGLISH VERSION

Could you tell me more about your cultural background? My parents both immigrated from Maharashtra, India, and I was born in the States. I used to live in Boston and moved to Texas in elementary school. When I was in Boston, there weren't too many Indian people that went to my school; however, after moving to Texas, a large proportion of my school's population is Indian. It was very different since I suddenly went from being rare to not so rare. Also, I guess if you're from India, you share a lot of similarities with the people who are also from India. Do you feel any conflicts between your American identity and Indian identity? Definitely. It's like, when I'm in America, I don't feel American enough, but when I'm in India, I don't feel Indian enough. If you were to share your culture with people who are not familiar with it, how would you describe it? I would talk about the festivals like Diwali and the food such as samosa, paneer, and whatever they serve at the restaurants. What were some difficulties you faced because of your multicultural background? A difficulty I faced was that, since I was born here, I feel very American. My parents didn't really make me learn their language (Marathi), so I'm very bad at it. Whenever I go to India, everyone can't understand what I'm saying. One time I was trying to tell someone I play the violin, but I guess I pronounced it wrong, so they couldn't get what I was saying. It was very awkward. How do you think your multicultural experience changed you? I would be a complete different person if not my multicultural background. For example, my family always eats Indian food and we don't eat burgers and macaroni all the time.

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中文版本

可以分享一下你的文化背景吗？ 我的父母都是从印度的马哈拉施特拉邦移民过来的，而我出生在美国。 我以前住在波士顿，上小学时搬到了德克萨斯州。当我在波士顿的时候，没有太多的印度人到我的学校上学;然而，搬到德克萨斯州后，我们学校的很大一部分人口是印度人。这很不一样，因为我突然从稀有变成了不那么稀有。 另外，我想如果你来自印度，你和印度人有很多相似之处。 你觉得你的美国身份和印度身份之间有冲突吗? 肯定的。当我在美国的时候，我觉得自己不太像美国人，但当我在印度的时候，我又觉得自己不太像印度人。 你会如何向不熟悉你文化的人描述你的文化？ 我会谈论像排灯节这样的节日，还有像萨莫萨、印度奶酪这样的食物，以及印度餐厅提供的那些食物。 多文化背景有给你带来什么困难或者困扰吗？ 我面临的一个困难是，因为我出生在这里，我觉得自己很受美国文化影响。我的父母并没有让我学习他们的语言(马拉地语)，所以我对此非常不擅长。每次我去印度，每个人都听不懂我在说什么。有一次我想告诉别人我是拉小提琴的，但我想我发音错了，所以他们听不懂我在说什么。当时情况非常尴尬。 你有因为你的多文化背景经历而发生什么变化吗？ 如果没有多元文化背景，我会是一个完全不同的人。例如，我的家人总是吃印度食物，我们不是一直吃汉堡和通心粉。