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Aziz Ansari Research Paper

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“Dude, let me tell you right now,” he says as he wipes down the counter in his host family’s basement, “learning English suuucks.” Aziz Ansari (the alias he chose for himself) has been living and attending school in the United States for about four and a half years now, but his journey to slowly learning English began nine years ago. Born in Indonesia and raised in Malaysia, Aziz grew up in a wealthy family, who already had it planned for him that he would eventually make his way to America, whether through immigrating or attending school. His parents prepared him for his move by sending him to international English academy for the majority of his higher education, starting around seventh grade. Along with speaking English, Aziz also speaks French, Indonesian, Malaysian (his first language), and Spanish, but he claims that learning English was his most frustrating to learn. Aziz and I met about two years ago when we worked together in a chain steakhouse. We became great friends almost immediately; although we’ve drifted far apart, since I left my …show more content…

He said that in addition to English breaking its own rules, he is also frustrated by, what he called, regional synonyms. He doesn’t see the point in different parts of the country calling the same item a different name. For example, while he was visiting a friend in Tennessee, they went to Walmart and Aziz was in charge of pushing the “buggy,” but yet when he goes to the grocery store here in Evansville, he uses a cart, then there’s also his fraternity brother from New York who calls it a wagon, and another brother who calls it a carriage. Millington actually mentions this in her article Lost In Translation: Overcoming The Language Barrier As A Brit In America that, “The next time you think you’ve communicated effectively, think “soda” or “pop” and check with your audience for

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