A Chinese Student in England

I’m an international student studying in the United Kingdom. It’s my first time here.

I have good English. Not to boast, but I did get top scores in English Language in my local diploma exam. Here, however, that amounts to nothing. How do I compete in all the things that I had been good at with native English speakers? English writing, writing newspapers, academic research — all of this I had learnt, had trained in, but most of the people here have been born with it.

So, why not join the Chinese societies here? For one, mandarin is my third language — I’m fluent in it, but I make a lot of mistakes. For two, I go to their socials and stand in the background — they’re too traditional, or colloquial. I can barely keep up with their conversations, let alone take part.

Soon they dismiss me.

Then where does that leave me? My English is too good for me to be considered as part of the Chinese — but my English isn’t good enough to stake myself a claim in the world of British talents.