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Are you a TCK? Impact on your languages | ||
Tags: Third Culture Kid (TCK) | Living abroad | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes  Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 17 of 32 22 August 2009 at 12:14pm | IP Logged | ||
Volte, you sound like an extreme case of TCK! :-) There is a forum for it, if you ever feel you need to discuss it. My younger sister had a problem with feeling that she really didn't fit in or belong anywhere; She says this forum helped her get a perspective and stop feeling that way. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Noir Bilingual Hexaglot Newbie Sweden Joined 5756 days ago 20 posts - 22 votes Speaks: Portuguese, Belarusian*, Russian*, English, Spanish, Norwegian Studies: Japanese, Korean, Armenian, Kazakh | Message 18 of 32 24 August 2009 at 2:51am | IP Logged | ||
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I have been around so many cultures they all are so familiar but none are my own. Where ever I go, no matter whether I speak the local language like a local or not, I feel foreign.
Soon I will be moving to Sweden, I kind of jumped the gun on my profile ;), but I truly feel that with each new place I move to I get farther and farther away from knowing what/where is home. I also find that my friendships become distant since I move and don't have the means to come back for a while. People say they wish they were me, I am grateful for the traveling and living I have done, although I do not think they realize I have some massive issues in regards with who I am. I have been: Belarus>Brazil>Mexico>U.S.>Norway>Spain>U. S. and soon to be Sweden. Edited by Noir on 24 August 2009 at 3:02am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 19 of 32 24 August 2009 at 2:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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Noir - this is incredible! It's not hard to imagine that you have some troubles relating to any particular country. These are wildly different countries too. I hope you'll enjoy Sweden - that's where I'm from. Make sure to check some cultural references about Swedish people first. They are a lot more similar to ppl from Russia than for example Brazilians or Americans that you are used to.
Check this forum for TCK ppl of all ages: http://www.tckid.com/group/ 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Russianbear Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6775 days ago 358 posts - 422 votes 1 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, Ukrainian Studies: Spanish | Message 20 of 32 24 August 2009 at 6:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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I consider myself a TCK, too. My family have traveled quite a bit around the former USSR and then we moved to the US. I can identify with most of the things that were mentioned in the OP, like the part about the sense of not really belonging anywhere. Well, maybe that is too negative: maybe it is more of the case that I think I belong everywhere, it is just that I don't feel completely at home anywhere.
I guess being TCK is kinda like the Odyssey: you keep searching for a place you can call home, but years pass and you come to realize that perhaps there is no such place as "home"; it is the journey itself that is your real home; at which point you relax and enjoy the ride :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6272 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 21 of 32 27 August 2009 at 3:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am one myself (mixed ethnic background) and I had a rather peripatetic youth, first learning some German during an early stay in Germany. I was surprised in fact to find that there were people who lived in the same country, even the same town, all their lives. This was remote from my own experience.
I think there are advantages and disadvantages. They have been touched on by others. The children of James Joyce were perhaps classic examples of the phenomenon. Lucia developed mental illness, which some attribute to a restless childhood in which she kept having to change language and environment. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Noir Bilingual Hexaglot Newbie Sweden Joined 5756 days ago 20 posts - 22 votes Speaks: Portuguese, Belarusian*, Russian*, English, Spanish, Norwegian Studies: Japanese, Korean, Armenian, Kazakh | Message 22 of 32 12 September 2009 at 7:12pm | IP Logged | ||
Thank you! I will join right away. :) I will read up on Swedish cultural differences of course. Thanks again. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6552 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes 1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 23 of 32 26 October 2009 at 6:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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Add another TCK here.
Not only that, but I am a third or forth generation TCK (me: FR>MX>USA>MX>USA>CH>FR>DE, rinse and repeat and parenst have (ES/PL) granparents (SL/RU), etc.) and I am doing the same thing to my children as I think it gives us an edge. The wikipedia article, when I first read it, sounded like a good description except I've never had issues adjusting and see no need for 'support' of any kind - face to face or via forums, although I do see that some people do benefit from that; many of my close friends are TCK and some do complain about never fitting. Anyone read the book Ada or Ardour? That's a TCK childhood, too. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Iolanthe Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5641 days ago 410 posts - 482 votes Speaks: English*, DutchC1 Studies: Turkish, French | Message 24 of 32 26 October 2009 at 7:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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I can relate to the description even though I spent my first 18 years in the same country. I always wanted to move to a foreign country and learn it's language and did it this year. I don't feel like I really belong anywhere but I can be nationalistic about Britain. I already feel like I'm half Dutch after spending only 6 months here since I've found a new family through moving here. I've always felt more mature than my peers but I don't want to follow the normal path of university, job, settle down. Maybe I'm a wannabe TCK. :)
1 person has voted this message useful |
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