Blog 29: From Lost in translation / Eva Hoffman

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 Blog 29: From Lost in Translation / Eva Hoffman

Jordan Miles 

Lost in Translation by Eva Hoffman is her memoir about being a Polish immigrant in Canada and the US. Her parents were Jewish and had survived the Holocaust by hiding in Ukraine. In 1959, during the Cold War, her parents, Eva at age thirteen, and her sister "Alinka" at age nine immigrated to Vancouver, Canada.  Throughout her story, she struggles with identity and finding a sense of belonging. She demonstrated how she felt torn between these cultures, where she belongs, and what she thinks. She also shows how her past has shaped who she is today after immigration. She describes her move as "It was like entering a parallel universe where everything was slightly but insistently askew." She is brave to be able to start in a whole new environment that is completely foreign to her.  An example is the language barrier. It hindered her ability to communicate and understand. She showed the importance of communication and being able to translate. There are a lot of tensions that rise when adapting to a foreign place.  She went on to overcome these barriers of language and identity struggles and receive a prestigious education at schools like Rice University, the Yale School of Music, and Harvard. She eventually received a Ph.D. in English and American literature. She continued to show and share her findings and insights by becoming a professor. I liked how she was able to come to terms with what makes her unique and show her self-acceptance as well as be successful in a place she was first intimidated. 

Comments

  1. Rebeka OgrenApril 17, 2023 at 6:45 AM

    I really admired Eva for being able to overcome the difficulties she faced within her immigration story. Having to learn a whole new language at such a young age, while also trying to be kid and make friends, must have been so difficult. She spoke a lot about the language barrier and how words in English didn't often make sense to her because of their complicated usage or sound. I have a lot of friends who speak multiple different languages and they all say that English is by far the most complicated! This just goes to show much tenacity and determination she had at such a young age.

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