What is the most humbling experience you have ever had?

In August of 2016 I moved to Norway from Australia to be with my boyfriend. By the time I moved to Norway, I had lived in 3 different countries and 6 different cities, so the moving across the world part wasn’t as daunting as one may think. But this move was a bit different to the others. I became an immigrant in a country that has a similar culture to my own, but spoke a different language. I went from sounding smart and educated, to sounding like a 2 year old learning to talk.

Obviously there are various challenges with moving country, there are a lot of differences, making new friends, finding a job, setting up bank accounts, the list goes on. I knew learning the language was going to be a challenge, but I never anticipated the impact this process would have on me.

Yes, Norwegians are pretty brilliant at english, however, to integrate yourself into society learning the local language is an important step. Hands down, trying to learn Norwegian has been, and still is, my most humbling experience so far. My mother-tongue is english, so I am lucky, as this is not the case for many people who immigrate or find refuge in Norway. With english, I have a backup for when I need to be understood and can’t find the right words in Norwegian. For many others, English may be their third or fourth language, Norwegian their fifth.

In my language class, there are people from: Syria, Eritrea, USA, England, Philippines, Ghana, Romania, Somalia, Peru, Russia…the list goes on. These classes are the base of the humbling experience. Not only are we all trying to overcome the same challenge, you also get a great appreciation of everyone’s different backgrounds. I have never felt so grounded. There are people in my class who had to leave behind their families, run over mountains for 11 hours to escape their government in the hope to find a better life for their family. They’ve made it out to get this new life ready, but their family still remains behind. I can’t even begin to fathom this reality let alone relate to it. But here we are, sitting in the same class, trying to figure out if the table is a male, female or neutral when structuring our Norwegian sentences. (It’s neutral, for the record, “et bord”). Everyone is nice, helpful and approachable. Everyone helps each other out. One of the best parts of these classes is when we bring in food from our homeland to share…Vegemite anyone?

Ludwig Wittgenstein said: “The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” When I am in an Norwegian speaking environment, I am naturally more quiet. I just don’t have the range in vocabulary that I need to express what I want. This forces me to listen more, which is a great thing. People who meet me in a Norwegian setting sometimes assume that I am a quiet person, so then are surprised when they then meet me in an english setting where I am able to communicate more comfortably.

When I was on the hunt for a new job, I quickly came to the realisation that one of my greatest strengths, communication, was essentially turned into a weakness. In a new language, I was no longer able to communicate as efficiently or effectively as I can in english. This will be the biggest challenge for me for more years to come, but the important part is that I try and people appreciate it when you do.

Despite the challenges and frustrations of learning Norwegian, I do really enjoy it. I get beyond frustrated with the vowel sounds and when I can’t remember which similarly spelt word means what; or I get the pronunciation wrong and it ends up as the other word that I didn’t want to say. Just as an example: skjedde = happened; skjede = vagina; kjede = chain.

I have a new found respect to all those people in the world who speak multiple languages, (and I am not jealous of anyone who has to learn english as a second/third/fourth language)! This on-going experience has shifted my view, tested my patience and given me a new appreciation of the array of challenges immigrants face across the globe.

This was never intended to be a long post. I merely wanted to share the most humbling experience that I have to date and would love to hear from others. I don’t think it is often we think about humbling experiences, but they do certainly keep things in perspective.

Takk for meg!