Editors’ Letters: International students are not unsociable

“They don’t talk to White people, they only ever socialise with their own kind.”

There seems to be a common perception that many international students are ‘unsociable’. Consequently, international students that are able to mingle with home students are often seen as ‘sociable’. This, however, demonstrates a refusal to understand international students and the circumstances they are in.

It aggravates me that all these assumptions revolving around racial discrimination are made about those who socialise inside or outside their own ethnic circles.

But has anyone stopped to think that maybe – just maybe – they are in their friendship groups simply because they ‘click’ together better?

From my own experience, I know that there are cultural and language barriers which make it hard for international students to successfully mingle with home students.

It aggravates me that all these assumptions revolving around racial discrimination are made about those who socialise inside or outside their own ethnic circles.

For some, there is the difficulty with language. Imagine being thrown into a room with people who speak a language you understand but which you are not a native speaker of – you would not be as talkative then.

I myself can speak Cantonese well, but not well enough. It is hard for me to sustain a conversation in Cantonese and I’m less motivated to speak up in a group of people.

For the majority of international students who speak English fluently, there is the added cultural barrier. I am not talking about surface barriers like food preferences and cultural experiences, I am talking about deeply ingrained ideas and experiences that form personalities and social habits.

But what many people fail to realise is that cultural differences can lead to incompatible personalities. Many from the east, for example, cannot accept the idea of casual relationships and casual sex, and this could cause conflict with those who are open to these concepts.

As a Hong Konger who never really conformed to the mainstream ideas of the place, I never really felt in my own skin living in Hong Kong – I found it almost uncomfortable. So I can understand how some international students would feel more at home with those from similar cultural backgrounds.

This does not mean, however, that it is right to cut off any effort to mingle cross-culturally, all I am saying is that I understand the ease and comfort that many international students may find in socialising with their own kind.

So think again before condemning international students for ‘only sticking to their own kind’.

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Header Image Courtesy of: Warwick Media Library