Lost in Translation

Since I did my presentation on "Lost in Translation", I know that I read it more thoroughly than I did the other three stories. I thought of the stories we read, even though it wasn't my favorite, I could definitely relate to it more than the others. Eva Hoffman's experience was obviously significant, but at the same time, they are the same as so many other people's. It made me think of my first few weeks of high school because I went to a huge public school where I didn't know anyone after I'd been at a tiny private school for eight years, and all of my friends went on to high school there as well. Hoffman's situation is much more extreme than mine was, but I remember how hard it was to try to adjust to this new group of people, who had all been friends before I came into their crowd. I remember trying so hard to be funny, and when I would say something and no one laughed, I would get so mad at myself. Hoffman's story is just so easy to identify with when she talks about her feelings of isolation, even though she is dealing with moving to a new country and adapting a new culture while I just went to a new school. Hoffman's focusing a lot of her writing on her struggle with two languages. It reminded me a lot of "Meatless Days" in the way that the author uses food to tell her story. I loved when Hoffman talked about having to decide if she wanted to write her diary in English or in Polish. It just perfectly captures her conflict of clinging to her past while trying to adapt a new lifestyle.