I’m Getting Worse at My Native Language. Here’s Why I’m Not Sad.

I find myself using phrases like “lowkey” and “it’s not that deep” that just years ago were totally foreign to me.

We don’t have those words in my native Greek. I still don’t fully understand what the first one means and, me being the overthinker that I am, the second one never truly applies.

Yes, the feelings of aversion and confusion that come with the unconscious integration of more and more Gen Z English slang into my vocabulary is mitigated by the comforting thought of fitting into a new environment. But this sense of acceptance comes at a cost: When speaking in Greek, I’ve begun to make mistakes. Albeit small, these were mistakes I would have mocked a year ago. I force American phrases into Greek and use fewer traditional proverbs. Indeed, distance affects language, and no WhatsApp conversations with friends or family back home can change this truth.

Now this isn’t a plea for more affinity or cultural groups on campus, nor is it a lament of the woes of international student life. Actually, what this experience has given me is an opportunity to connect with my roots in a different way: as a student.

It began in my calculus class, where I found joy in seeing the familiar characters of chi, alpha, and beta. Analyzing the etymology of words with Greek origins soon became my personal Wordle. Eventually, deepening my understanding of Ancient Greek and specifically the Homeric texts led to new insights into the nature and importance of oral tradition. Similarly, learning about Aristotelian natural philosophy and its flaws in a History of Science class allowed me to comprehend Eurocentrism and all its harms.

Harvard’s transformational promise doesn’t lie exclusively in introducing new academic interests. True metamorphosis can also look like forming fresh perspectives on things that feel old, like our language, culture, and roots. Becoming independent thinkers and critically assessing the world we come from is what will form us into great leaders and citizens — this institution’s primary goal.

Harvard can and should play a role in this transformation. An easy place for it to start is its international students. Our cultures are studied here in the 100 different languages taught in the College and beyond. The relationship between international students and these various language units and departments — everything from East Asian Languages to Civilizations and Classics and their international students, for example, must be strengthened. In their courses, students from countries relevant to certain disciplines can find environments to study their native languages, find appreciation for their cultural heritage, and discuss and evaluate their image of their home country.

In turn, international students can enrich the classes and departments that study their cultures. The linguistic fluency and cultural expertise someone can achieve in four years has limits, just like the resources of these small departments. The insights of international students — citizens of these places — can fill the gaps, help update class material and contribute a personal, modern perspective. Interactions between native speakers and language learners can also serve as a valuable immersive experience for those interested.

International students have their own unique academic interests and should not be reduced to their national identities, or expected to center the entirety of their college careers around them. However, at an institution that values diversity and requires everyone to learn a language, it feels strange that our cultural heritage is only present in our academic lives as a fun fact we share in class instead of a precious and unique set of beliefs and insights.

Holding on to heritage can’t just happen in our clubs and social lives. As we strive for transformation, we must construct a culture of honoring where we came from by studying it, too.

Olga Kerameos ’27, a Crimson Editorial editor, is a Social Studies concentrator in Mather House.