Who taught: Rachel, Emily, Liz and Nadire

Chips (source: http://www.donotyet.com/)

Spring is here! Yesterday was warm and beautiful in Pittsburgh. How about where you are? Hope you enjoy a lot today!

Today’s story is Nadire’s. If I remember correctly, she is from Turkey and has been in the U.S. for only a month. She lives with Rachel, Emily and Liz. A few days ago, they decided to have a small party at home. As Emily prepared the party, Nadire asked Emily, “Hey, Emily! Is there anything I need to do or bring?” “No, not really! Maybe if you can chip in with a bottle of wine, that would be great but do not worry about it too much,” said Emily. It is a very typical answer, right? Nothing special or hard for you, my American friends. A few hours later, Rachel saw bunch of chips and asked Emliy, “What are these chips? I do not think we bought them.”

I guess you probably realize it now. That is right. When Nadire heard Emily saying, “chip in,” she thought Emily want her to buy chips for the party. FYI, “chip in” means “contribute money or labor.” I think it is from the usage of chips for gambling. At least, that is my feeling about its etymology but I might be wrong.

Anyway, this is very possible. Nadire! If you get to read this post, do not worry about it too much. I have been here in the U.S. for about 5 years and I still have the same issue you just experienced. It will take time and you need patience. And also, most of all, you need to ask a lot of questions. In my case, whenever I am with my American friends, I do ask a lot of questions to them about expressions they use. Rachel and Emily said they now realize that native English speakers use a lot of expressions that might be hard for non-native English speakers to understand.

Admitting that you are a non-native English speaker and asking a lot of questions is the most important step to take to be able to learn new expressions. A lot of times, non-native English speakers are afraid of what native English speakers would think if they ask questions about expressions. They would think I am stupid. I think that thought itself is more stupid. If someone who is non-native Korean speaker would try to learn Korean, asking many questions, I would really do my best to explain expressions to them.

So, be always open to learn and ask questions to learn new expressions and probably use them later. I now get to use some of the expressions I learned from my friends. I feel very thrilled when I use them to my friends who taught them to me. I am sure they are proud of me too. Learning new things is so much fun. Keep up your good work, Nadire!