Doing a PhD in a second language

Mario gave me more than just a warm fuzzy feeling. It gave me an idea about my current situation.

By Busra Kizik, 2nd Year PhD candidate in Psychology at Keele University

A few weeks ago, I saw the short video from “Super Mario” on Twitter. Fire bars were everywhere. And Mario, the hero in our story, was trying to pass through a hugely difficult part of the game. He had to avoid these deadly fire bars by jumping from one place of safety to another. It looked almost impossible. I have always been a fan of Super Mario. So, when I saw the video, I loved it and watched it again and again and again.

This video of Mario gave me more than just a warm fuzzy feeling. It gave me an idea about my current situation.

I am an international student at Keele University in my second year of my doctoral studies. And yes, I feel like Mario while doing my PhD in a second language. My situation was also no different from Mario here and like him, I was trying to survive as a fresher PhD student between “fire bars” such as deadlines, papers, reports, conferences, and presentations.

I am originally from Turkey. But, to be honest, except for the language class experience in high school, I’ve started learning English and living in the UK since my mid-twenties. Learning a new language is a quite complicated and difficult process, especially when you need to develop your academic skills at the same time. And if you are an international student in any country, it means that you chose to get, and do all of this complicated learning, outside of your comfort zone. They say the magic happens outside of your comfort zone. I totally agree. But it should be remembered that also some different things might be happening outside of your comfort zone: anxiety, stress, worry and so on.

If you are a student who doesn’t speak English as your first language, any kind of tasks in your academic life can be a source of some anxiety. Preparing to make a presentation in a conference, for instance, takes 3 hours for any native English speaker. Let’s say this takes at least 10 hours for me, with added stress and worries about the language gap.

I always feel stressed by the language gap in every aspect of my work. I have my first-year progression panel next week and I worry about only my English, not my PhD research plan. I am confident what I am doing about my research project but there is always a huge gap between what I want to say and what I say because of the language. I am always trying to fill this gap. But it never goes away.

For my mindfulness and also my mental health, I have some pieces of advice for myself. I would like to share them with all international students who feel sometimes like me. We should hang this list on a place where we can see every single day.

1. Writing a PhD is hard for even my native English-speaking peers. Not only for you.
2. You don’t need to worry so much about writing a PhD. You need to just write it.
3. Remember that you are not alone. So many international students have the same difficulties as you. Get in touch more with them and share your experience.
4. Please don’t underestimate the successes you have already achieved. You are trying to survive in the out of your comfort zone and it’s great.
5. Keep writing, speaking, listening, reading. Also, keep fighting as Super Mario :). Everything is going to be ok day by day.

All in all, I am trying to do my best. Super Mario is my hero and I really want to finish the game successfully like him. In this case, the game will be my doctoral thesis. After my viva, I would like to see all of the fireworks in the world in the sky.

Twitter: @busrakizikk