One of the strongest desires we humans have is the need to belong. Even the most individualistic people – the ones who like being alone and working on their own – strive to have a community of like-minded peers with whom they can share their views, ideas, and passions. As I was on my way […]
Declining fluency in your native language?
Your English, my English: the global lingua franca
When I worked for a tech startup in Silicon Valley several years ago, one day my coworker, a native English speaker, turned to our new French employee, Zack, and asked: “zacker zakry?” Zack had just arrived from France the previous week and wasn’t used to the American accent yet. He turned to me with a […]
You in a new culture: to blend in or to stand out?
Is it better to blend in or to stand out? As a little child growing up in communistic Bulgaria, I always wanted to blend in. Not that there were many opportunities to stand out anyway. Everyone was wearing almost the same clothes, watching the same TV programs (no wonder, we only had two TV channels […]
